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Behind the Lines

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Behind the Lines

By: Ian Patrick
Narrated by: Ian Patrick
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About this listen

These eight short stories are works of fiction but reflect the author's real personal experiences while undergoing compulsory military training during his youth in apartheid South Africa. The stories are all based on real events but the characters are the products of creative imagination, however rooted in reality they might be. Listeners will enjoy a range of humour and unusual incidents - frequently hilarious - along with perceptive insights into the trials and tribulations faced by a young man seeking an identity in a confusing world of military discipline and rigid conformity.

©2017 Ian Patrick (P)2017 Ian Patrick Anthologies & Short Stories Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Short Stories Witty Funny Heartfelt Military Thought-Provoking

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All stars
Most relevant  
This is a lovely journey through the formative period of this young man's life. We see him grow from awkward teenager to mature young man, growing in intelligence and maturity through the passage of the short stories. They are all gems. Subtle and nuanced and clever.

I love the fact that he meets his match in a bright young woman who will take both him and herself very far in life.

A really enjoyable set of stories.

Lovely passage through early life

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Where does Behind the Lines rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top of the bunch

What was one of the most memorable moments of Behind the Lines?

The night in the watch-tower was great. What an experience.

What does Ian Patrick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Believable and plausible all the way.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both, to tell truth.

Any additional comments?

I had fun reading and listening to this collection of short stories. I took a little bit of time to get into it, but once I was with it I felt it under my skin. The attitude to the world of a young man like that was well captured. The moments in my youth when I linked experience to music – Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Stones and Honk-Tonk Women – and the memories of the moon landing, and the memories of tentative flirtation are all still precious to me (so different nowadays, so much more fraught with danger for an innocent young man trying to learn about life). This is a set of short stories to savour.

a set of stories to savour

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Wonderful short stories. How delightful. Really enjoyed them. Nice short gentle humorous insights into a young man at a crucial stage in his life. Very funny. I read them two years ago and now have listened to them on audio. Lovely.

Very enjoyable short shorts

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Very good stories, these. Nice and compact and busting at the seams with honesty and humility. The leading man is a gem. Clumsy and inarticulate and filled with self-doubt, he grows over the course of these stories into something approaching a mature young man who will make good in a troubled society. The literate and subtle genuflections to history and real time are most impressive. It's a slim volume, but by no means in respect of quality. Interesting writer, this. I think I'll sample his crime thriller, too, on the basis of this booklet and the audiobook.

Literate and subtle

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Very enjoyable stories. What an amazing set of adventures in an amazingly awful time in his country. The protagonist is a lovely flawed young man who learns about life in the army (and outside the army too). His interaction with officers, girlfriends, older people, are all truly delightful. A lovely collection of laugh-out loud (and touchingly moving at times) stories about - well - life in general.

The afterword (or preface, I suppose) is very, very good. The link with The Great Gatsby is super.

Super short stories

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I liked this a lot. I've read this author's crime thrillers (more like police procedurals tinged with thriller, that is), and liked them a great deal. The writing is very good, but the audible versions of his work are what really intrigue me. I had mixed feelings about the audible version of his " Mashego File" because the narrator in that case seemed to be a second-language speaker (probably Zulu, but I don't really know) and then I stuck with it and it became really moving and authentic, and the second-language thing became really important for the whole experience.

In this case the voice - the author's own - suits these stories perfectly and it is all done with obvious experience of the characters and situations - some of them hilarious, others tender and gentle - which lends everything a real air of believability. Very enjoyable, I must say.

Interesting different genre for this author

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Would you listen to Behind the Lines again? Why?

This was a pleasure. Clever stories, well told, with lots of humour. But serious. Very serious. All about coming of age and dealing with one’s insecurities, the inarticulacy of youth, the political immaturity and the gradual awakening.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The old Indian market gardener. What a nice journey that was through the night where he gets an education from the old man.

What about Ian Patrick’s performance did you like?

No nonsense with the voice. He tells it easily and clearly with no tricks.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Marching on.

Any additional comments?

Beautiful. I enjoyed these stories so much.

Clever stories well told with lots of humour

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Very amusing and well written. Intriguing characters and lots of warmth. Intelligent insights. I could identify with all of these people, and ended up understanding a lot more about military training under boot-camp conditions. Nice clear voice with the correct accents, too.

Warm and insightful

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I'm pleased I didn't have to serve in the apartheid army. This young white man survived. Good for him. His values were correct, but he suffered. And won.

Most enjoyable

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Where does Behind the Lines rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

First in line, for sure.

What other book might you compare Behind the Lines to, and why?

Short stories by Herman Charles Bosman, because they have the same intelligent humour behind them, and always end with such a nice simple sentence.

What about Ian Patrick’s performance did you like?

He reads well and his diction is good and his voice is warm and cosy.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both. My parents listened to these stories with me. They come from the same era, and knew people who went through experiences like this. They loved the stories. We all laughed at the poor young guy’s mistakes and misunderstandings, his naivety and his immaturity, but we loved it as he came to awareness and eventually got the better of the system.

Any additional comments?

This was an intelligent and very entertaining set of memories, casting lots of light on an awful period in South African history. The final section, where the author reflects on how he came to write the stories, is very good. I loved the echo, at the very end, from Scott Fitzgerald, too. That was a lovely moment.

An intelligent and very entertaining set of memori

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