{"product_id":"breaking-of-bumbo-book-andrew-sinclair-9780571251162","title":"The Breaking of Bumbo","description":"The Breaking of Bumbo was first published fifty years ago when the author was twenty-two. It was an immense success and caused something of stir.  To quote from the original blurb, 'Bumbo Bailey is a coward and a bit of a hero; a martyr, an egoist, a clown, a debs' delight and a Suez mutineer; a non-conformist Old Etonian Guardee . Partly his own victim, and partly the victim of his own small world, he is Made, and has his Season; and is Broken. Bumbo pursues his career from Caterham to an Officers' Training School; from the Officers' Training School to Wellington Barracks; and from Wellington Barracks to any number of wildly assorted parties. He learns a lot about Sex and Love and Discipline - and a little about himself; in the end he behaves very oddly indeed; and faces, in his own way, the consequences.'  This however is more than a period piece, the social milieu it describes may have vanished, but the novel's satirical brio lifts it above its immediate provenance; it continues to read freshly.  'This bitter, ironical and very clever first novel paints a devastating portrait of an upper-class misfit, half clown, half Hamlet . . .' Evening Standard  'Gruesomely funny . . . a violent virility that is infectious' Tatler","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49561010569489,"sku":"GOR002686827","price":12.39,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571251161.jpg?v=1750782948","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/breaking-of-bumbo-book-andrew-sinclair-9780571251162","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}