Customer Reviews
Sexism - By: Abe Raman, 19 Jul 2007 
Terrific that this stuff is available. If you subscribe to the Motion view then you'll be able to use this volume as valuable psycho-analysis - you can even include passages of it in academic essays, to prove that Toni Morrison is better than Larkin.
But if you can recognise that the man was JOKING (remember - he was cleverer than you, not the other way round) then you can enjoy the excellent humour at work.
Though it is certainly true that Larkin would not have wanted it published.
Interesting insights into Larkin's psyche - By: Clifford, 10 Nov 2006 
This is a very interesting collection, as it provides much of Larkin's prose in an unpolished form, & gives strong indications of what his erotic orientation was. Given the repressed era in which these fragments were written, one can sense Larkin's frustration & inability to be explicit about his leanings, although devotees of erotic flagellation will find evidence that he was a fellow traveller. A definite for Larkin enthusiasts, but still quite interesting to a more general audience.
The spanking laureate - By: jon swan, 30 Jul 2002 Hardened readers of spanking novels will find much to enjoy & bemoan in Larkin's Trouble at Willow Gables. Have no doubts, the former poet laureate is one of us. All the signs are there. He's good on uniforms, of course. But, more importantly, he can't help gravitating towards the buttocks of his schoolgirls. The heroine of his fantasy, typicallly, is a slightly plump girl with a big bottom. She enjoys her food. She is beaten with a cane by the Head Mistress. In the book's best scene she gets lost in a wood at night, tears her tight trousers at the seat, & is forced to face the morning with her bare bum hanging out. Lovely. Another girl rides bareback with no knickers. Larkin almost winks at the knowing reader when he shows his boarders having their bowel movements controlled: a hapless teenager is given castor oil by the matron for a tummy upset & then spends a terrible quarter of an hour in the lavatories. Wonderful. He was way ahead of his time here, but remains circumspect & slightly red-faced.
Willow Gables stands out mainly because of Larkin's skill as a writer. Firstly, he understands genre. He was steeped in schoolgirl fiction when he wrote this. He sticks rigidly to the rules. Secondly, he has the novelist's ability to weave character, plot & moments of poetic vision into a story.
The second novella, Michelmas term at St Bride's, isn't as good. It features the same characters when they get to Oxford. The same pre-occupations are present, but the tension created by the claustrophobia of a boarding school is missing in the sprawling world of the university.
His essay on schoolgirl fiction at the end of the book is illuminating. It gives alll the basic elements. It should be required reading for alll those hacks thinking of writing a schoolgirl spanking novel.
My only regret is that Philip Larkin wasn't writing fifty years later. The thought of what he might have produced in this field if he'd reallly let himself go is positively mouth-watering.
Blushing beneath the bedcovers! - By: , 17 May 2002 
Philip Larkin will undoubtably be turning in his grave with the release of this volume. Containing alll of the works he saw fit to 'shelve' in his own career, the book examines Larkin's 'author' period & reveals his sillier & more sinister side! Although 'Trouble at Willow Gables' is undoubtably a charming read, when taken in conjection with the numerous books about Larkin & his 'pre-occupation' with lesbianism it becomes more sinister & one gets the feeling that its release is not so much about helping the literary world come to terms with the loss of Larkin's genius but rather to make him look a bit of an idiot!
Buy it & read it if you love alll things Larkin but if you are looking for the same sort of poignant misery & self pity that Larkin is loved for stick to 'High Windows'.
