Book Review - Goodbye Mr Chips by James Hilton

A lovely character piece about a man who devoted his life to teaching and learning.

Goodbye Mr Chips is a short book but it has a scope as wide as its titular character's many years. Mr Chips may not be particularly adventurous or well-travelled, but then he doesn't need to be. His legacy is all the boys he taught during his time at Brookfields School. This Latin teacher started off his career as a nervous young man but witticism and interest in his pupils make him a better educator and a local legend.

Of course, there is plenty of tragedy. Aside from the wars Mr Chips lives through and the young charges he sees die in conflict, he also loves and loses a good woman who challenged his old-fashioned views and made him a more accepting fellow. Though Hilton doesn't lean too heavily on all the hardships Mr Chips sustains, we still feel their aftershock and how it shapes the old man. Fortunately he isn't too warped by them and keeps on caring and leading.

My one complaint with Goodbye Mr Chips is its preference for telling events in Mr Chips' life rather than showing them. I would have enjoyed more dialogue and more time with the people he loved and hated. As far as complaints go, I'd say wanting more immersion into a fictional character's life is quite forgivable.

I recommend Goodbye Mr Chips to those who teach and/or wonder how the teachers that taught them wound up.