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Michael Frayn Spies - please reply quickly!

who else is doing this book for AS? I hav to write two essays on it by the end of the month - have finished the book but still got to work through about ten topics for chapter support. would really appreciate someone else's view on it to compare notes! :smile:

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Reply 1
I am sitting the exam on it on Tuesday. Up until last Tueday I had pretty much only read the book so I think I may fail..... :frown:

I have written one essay and done some note now though...

There's always June I guess.
Reply 2
i am doing it for my english course what help do u need
Reply 3
Can anyone point me in the direction of a plot synopsis? If not, could anyone kindly summarise the plot for me?
Reply 4
sunshine_6
i am doing it for my english course what help do u need


Well i have to write 750 words on what i think of the opening passage as a start to the book, and another 750 on how the women in the text are presented, by next week. haven't actually reached chapter four of the supporting text but hey.. the thing is i didn't do gcse's but went straight into A levels and its all a bit above and beyond...basically i'd quite like to know what your impression of it was. also i am doing my exams from home so i don't get any feedback from other students, and i hate only having the course guide as i can't discuss it, and don't know anyone whos reading this book.
i've looked up reviews and stuff but opinion seems quite divided - kind of feeling a bit out of my depth as to what i need to focus on. My essays tend to be quite to the point, but then they are too short and i end up filling it out with a load of rubbish to get it up to the number, or thats how it feels...
Reply 5
arghhh--- spies is so boring.. our school's studying it too. And everyonez so bored. I'm dreading the exam in summer.
Reply 6
Chung
arghhh--- spies is so boring.. our school's studying it too. And everyonez so bored. I'm dreading the exam in summer.


unfortunately we're stuck with it...
Reply 7
Im glad im not the only one who hates it i think its rubbish!! I've told my teacher that as well. I've read all these reviews on it and I'm like did they read the same book!!??

I need a synopsis my teacher has set us as hwk to re-write the book in 400 words not leaving any of the plot out seeing as I've only read it once and lost the will to live i can't remember it very well!

We whent to a seminar in London about Spies with Frayn there. It was the biggest watse of time ever!! People were asking him questions and he didn't have a clue what to say half the time. He was like sayin well i didnt write the book to be studied so i've never looked at it in great detail and im sitting there thinking if the author doesn't know about his own book how are we ment to!!
Reply 8
Katie-o
Im glad im not the only one who hates it i think its rubbish!! I've told my teacher that as well. I've read all these reviews on it and I'm like did they read the same book!!??

I need a synopsis my teacher has set us as hwk to re-write the book in 400 words not leaving any of the plot out seeing as I've only read it once and lost the will to live i can't remember it very well!

We whent to a seminar in London about Spies with Frayn there. It was the biggest watse of time ever!! People were asking him questions and he didn't have a clue what to say half the time. He was like sayin well i didnt write the book to be studied so i've never looked at it in great detail and im sitting there thinking if the author doesn't know about his own book how are we ment to!!


tell me about it. I hate how there's so much reading into it when theres not a lot to read into, frankly. seminar sounds like fun...
Reply 9
Exactly, Im trying to write an essay about how Mrs Haywood is presented in the novel theres only so much u can say. she woz honest then she had an affair and turned decietfull end of essay lol
Katie-o
Exactly, Im trying to write an essay about how Mrs Haywood is presented in the novel theres only so much u can say. she woz honest then she had an affair and turned decietfull end of essay lol


There's much, much more to it than that. I mean it was a ****ing exam question. Perhaps look at how she's perceived by Ste- the recurrent repetition of "soft" and what that represents- and also her family situation- locks?
Reply 11
Thanks, I got a C for the essay in the end not too bad room for improvement!
This is one of the worst books ive ever read. Why cant we read stuff like the diceman or da vincis code??
anyway, i need some help on why frayn called it spies.. cheers
Reply 13
Hi! I'm new. You guys are really supportive of each other. I have to confess that the only way I got inspired by my work last year was to hire a tutor to come to my house. I live in London and found a great agency. They helped me see other ways at looking at these boring texts! And I got an A!

Worth considering if you've lost momentum!:smile:
Reply 14
I hated 'Spies' after my first read and I had no clue on what it was about. However, after reading and analysing chapter by chapter, the novel grows more and more interesting ^_^

Opening: Motif of the 'privet', theme: memory, adulthood/childhood, POV: old Stephen (looking back on childhood, hence links the two together), and of course, the purpose of the opening is to make the readers want to read on (go on, lie shamelessly on how it provokes reader's interests...)

Mrs. Hayward: There's a ton to be said about her. Her transformation, her relationship with Keith and Stephen, her role as an adult and a woman in the novel... etc

Hope this helps and is not too late!
Reply 15
We aren't allowed to say "makes the reader want to read on" or say how Frayn has done such and such well in the words of my teacher "It's an AS level book we know he can write well or we wouldn't be studying it" i beg to differ but never mind!
Reply 16
Katie-o
We aren't allowed to say "makes the reader want to read on" or say how Frayn has done such and such well in the words of my teacher "It's an AS level book we know he can write well or we wouldn't be studying it" i beg to differ but never mind!


O__o If you can't say how Frayn has done sth then what can you write about when it comes to techniques? My teacher's been urging us to use a million 'Frayn...' in our essays

(urrgh, I have one due this afternoon, and I'm only half way through, and I'm still loittering around here!)
Reply 17
Heh, I was thinking about making a thread on Spies...

I quite liked Spies as a book, but I hate studying it. It evidently wasn't intended to be studied, and all the exam and essay questions on it that I've seen are ambiguous and difficult to answer properly (maybe something to do with this being a very new addition to the syllabus?). And closed book?! Argh. If we're going to be studying a modern novel then I wish it were one with more clearly-defined themes... I had to do an essay about how Frayn presents "the theme of loyalty and betrayal". I'm not joking when I say the teacher made the title up on the spot. Grrr. This is why I prefer older books and plays for English Lit.

So yes, I'm also having a bit of trouble thinking about how I'm going to revise this. I would post something a bit more discussion-sparking, but now I need to get back to my Lear coursework... which is eating my brain, although in a surprisingly fun way.
Reply 18
Does anyone know where you can get any extra study notes or guides for this text?

Emma - Are you studying with the NEC? I had to do the exact same essays :smile:
Reply 19
Lizalittle
Hi! I'm new. You guys are really supportive of each other. I have to confess that the only way I got inspired by my work last year was to hire a tutor to come to my house. I live in London and found a great agency. They helped me see other ways at looking at these boring texts! And I got an A!

Worth considering if you've lost momentum!:smile:


And if you're loaded!

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