Review of To Serve Them All My Days

The television series lacks any real focus or direction since it is quite clearly in the wrong media form; one of the integral parts of the book is the anecdotes and character histories, something which is sadly lost when putting this great story onto film. Consequently, without this clarity, the series can appear a little slow and tedious at times. Nonetheless, the story combines the Arnoldian lessons of 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'with an apparently more mature protagonist. Powlett-Jones is very rash, however, and seemingly very naive for someone as worldly wise as a survivor of the war; whether this is an idiosyncrasy attributable to Delderfield, the author, or the film makers is irrelevant, ultimately, PJ often alienates himself from the viewers and it is the supporting characters that become more important, and justifiably so. The story is how a school, which epitomises England- or Britain- can rehabilitate those affected by war, and not so much what Powlett-Jones has brought to the school. Despite its faults this book is worth reading and series worth watching, although, annoyingly, it is written with the hindsight gained after the Second World War, and hence gives a righteous view of the 'Thirties and the failures of the political world, which is mainly anachronistic and not a fair reflection of people's views of the period. A parallel can be seen in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie', which comments about Fascism and the storyline echoes the European political climate. Read, watch, or interact in some way with this story- its failings are certainly outweighed by the strong message of youth and coming of age. If I had attended this school I would have felt cheated out of an education, but glad to have known these people.