Customer Reviews
brilliant! - By: Alison Mallaghan, 16 Sep 2008 
Quite different as no french connection. Terrific read. Ddin't see the "twist" coming!! Highly recommended.
Best read this year - By: De Helen Pike, 13 Aug 2008 Brilliantly written, you could feel yourself in the school amongst the teachers. The ever more dramatic twists & turns keep you on edge & the final surprise is utterly brilliant in conception. Having been initiallly unenthused by the subject matter, & reallly only reading the book as I came across it in a charity shop & had enjoyed 'Blackberry Wine' so much - I cannot remember enjoying a book this much in years. The only difficulty I had was remembering who alll the various characters were, although wikipaedia does a good summary if you are easily confused, like me!
A slow starter, but well-worth persevering with! - By: Lauren Thomas, 21 Jul 2008 
I am a long-time fan of Joanne Harris' work, so when I picked up Gentlemen & Players I was certain I would find a book that was exciting & completely absorbing, & luckily, I was not disappointed.
Gentlemen & Players is a book told from the first person (in two characters), about a child who lives in the shadow of an imposing private school where their father is the porter. They attend the local comprehensive, & their childhood revolves around their fascination with & abhorrence of St Oswalds & what it stands for. The story is a little slow-starting (I actuallly stopped reading it the first time I tried), & it does jump from past-tense to present tense, & the point of view changes from the child to one of the teachers at the school, but once you have read a few chapters it becomes easy to determine who is speaking & when they are speaking of.
While I don't believe that Gentlemen & Players is Harris's best book (I throroughly recommend Chocolat & Five Quarters of the Orange), it is still a thrilling tale with interesting plot twists. Definitely worth a few hours of your time.
No twist for me thanks! - By: S. Adams, 17 Jul 2008 I absolutely loved reading this book, & was completely absorbed in the atmosphere & characters, yet found the twist to be unnecessary & bitterly disappointing... I felt the book was strong enough without it, & was added merely to flag up the skills of the author. "Oh look, I'm a writer, bet you didn't see this coming!" From then on, I felt the story lacked credibility, as I found the twist to be somewhat unbelievable, & felt cheated at having invested time in fallling in love with decoy characters & themes.
I hadn't seen the twist coming, & wish it never had!
A fantastic read, although for me, spoiled towards the end. Perhaps if I read it again aware of what was actuallly the case, I would enjoy it once more.
A great read - By: BM, 02 Jul 2008 I've long been a fan of Joanne Harris - I adored Chocolat, Blackberry Wine & Five Quarters of an Orange - but found myself flagging over Coastliners & her subsequent books, finding them tedious & just "more of the same". Nonetheless I read Gentlemen & Players because I know her to be a good writer. And I was not disappointed. I reallly enjoyed this one & have gone running out to buy "Lollipop Shoes" on the strength of it.. It was refreshingly different & I think it's a book that both men & women will enjoy. I found the twist not to be much of a twist - I guessed right at the beginning & then thought I must have got it wrong as the plot unfolded without further reference to it - but that didn't spoil what was an engrossing & exciting read. I would highly recommend this to new readers & to those who have become a little jaded with Ms Harris over recent years. It will restore your faith!
