Day 244 - He looked around the schoolroom at his coronation posters, his readers and his portrait of the young Queen (pg 320)

Friend and Philosopher by Noel Braun is one of the original 21 that I chose myself from the Warragul library book sale. I was not a fan. All of the elements are there for a great story but for some reason it falls short.

Set in the 1950s, the story is about a young man from Melbourne who has just finished teachers college and heads out to country Victoria to make a difference at a small school. He leaves the life he knows behind and enters a very different world. He lives at the local post office and takes charge of the school which has 10 pupils on a good day.

I was all ready to read about how this young man would set himself up, make his mark and inspire the children. Instead there are many comments about what a great job he’s doing and how pleased he is with himself but little of what it is he is actually doing. The character is very weak and manages, by being led, to get himself into all kinds of trouble and is gone within about a month.

I really don’t feel that the character left a lasting impression on the town, nor that the town left a lasting impression on him. Perhaps it is a little too autobiographical...

37 days remaining, 12 books to go.