What I Was

infobox Book |
name = What I Was


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Meg Rosoff
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Young adult
publisher = Puffin
pub_date = 30 August 2007
pages = 208 pp
isbn = ISBN 978-0141383439
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"What I Was" is Meg Rosoff's third novel for young adults. It was published in 2007. It was shortlisted for both the Costa Children's Book Award [ [http://www.awardannals.com/wiki/Annal:2007_Costa_Book_Award_for_Children%27s_Book Annal:2007 Costa Book Award for Children's Book] ] and the Carnegie Medal. [ [http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/ The CILIP Carnegie Medal & Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards] ]

Plot introduction

This book tells the story of a secret friendship between two teenagers, an unhappy public school boy and Finn, who lives an independent life on the beach near the school. It is set on the East Anglian coast in 1962.

Plot summary

The book is framed as the reminiscence of an old man recalling the year he discovered love. It is written as a first-person narrative, with vivid memories interspersed with bittersweet hindsight. The novel opens as a sixteen-year-old boy arrives at a grim East Anglian boarding school in 1962 after being twice expelled. He has no interest in study, no aptitude for sports and a positive dislike of his schoolmates. He experiences the school as a prison and finds his life in general stifling.

When slacking on a school run, he meets Finn, who lives alone in an beachside shack, fishing, sailing and working at the market. The schoolboy thinks Finn has the ideal life, and admires and envies him. He works hard at becoming friends with the silent, enigmatic boy, and they are able to spend some afternoons together. He lies to his parents and the school so that he can stay at the shack during the Easter holidays.

One day he realises Finn is ill, and suspects he may have given his friend glandular fever, which is all over the school. He tries to look after the sick boy himself but after a while becomes frightened and calls the emergency services. Finn is taken to hospital, and there it is revealed that Finn is really a girl.

Both schoolboys and adults misunderstand the innocent nature of their friendship. He leaves the school and does not see Finn again for a long time. Eventually he returns to the coast, stays in Finn's abandoned shack, and realises his dream of "becoming" Finn.

References to history and geography

There are frequent references to the Dark Ages, the period being taught at the school. The teacher stresses the battles and the brutality which appeal to the schoolboys, but Finn's life represents the other side of the ancient way of life.

The sinking of England's eastern coastline is also often mentioned. The sunken city and Roman fort are the focus of a sailing expedition. Finn's shack is later flooded, and in the closing chapter the old man's boat passes over the sunken school.

References