I'm The King of the Castle - Susan Hill

I studied book at school in year 9 and after reading it, I had a slight obssession trying to find it in shops. This book was truly amazing, and really affected me. It is about a young boy named kingsely who is forced to live in a strange house with another boy named hooper and his father, because kingsley's mother takes on the job of being their housekeeper. While kingsely is there, he is horribly bullied by hooper and has no escape. You must read the book to find out how kingsely managed to end his torment. This book is fairly easy to read and really does make you ...  Read the complete review

I first read Susan Hill's book "I'm The King Of The Castle" in the mid 1970s. Within the first two sentences, my attention was not just held, but gripped in a vice to the point where I couldn't put the book down until I'd read it from cover to cover. "I'm The King Of The Castle" tells the story of a boy (Kingshaw) and his widowed mother falling upon financial hard times. Mother manages to secure a job as a live-in housekeeper to a widower who lives in a large country house, and has a son (Hooper), the same age as Kingshaw. Kingshaw and his mother arrive at the house, and immediately, Hooper starts his vicious, but ...  Read the complete review

I studied this book for A Level English and had to study the writing in great detail. I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book and that I was transfixed by it. It tells a tale of a boy named Kingshaw who comes to stay at the Hoopers' house. Edmund Hooper, the young boy who lives there does not want a companion. As soon as Kingshaw arrives, Hooper watches him and terrorises him, with different things that scare Kingshaw. Susan Hill has created Edmund Hooper to be a bully, who works in many different ways, he either physically abuses Kingshaw (not sexually or anything like that) and also mentally abuses him. He is the epitome of a bully and you could ...  Read the complete review

Well I dont want to spoil this book for anyone by giving away the plot however i will give a basic out line of the story.It is a tale that shows the relationship of two young boys and thier parents when charles kingshaw moves into edmund hoopers house. Hooper does not want Kingshaw to move into his house and begins to terrorise him as soon as he arrives whilst pretending to be an angel to his father. The relationship that forms between the parents is also a good insight into a life bound by acts of convenience rather than those things we really want to do. I found this book to be somewhat predictable and although some parts are written in the ...  Read the complete review