Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers Paperback – August 12, 2013

The book was good, although this is probably the original "Freaky Friday" the theme is now ubiquitous. Still, it was a pleasurable read, free and wonderful on the kindle.Public Domain books on Kindle have increased the quality of my life. I can not give enough praise. I listen while I drive and exercise and read on my Kindle at others.I am an active 50 something person and these books give me joy throughout my day.

This is a highly enjoyable story. Mr. Bultitude is quite an unlikely protagonist, but by the end of the book one's heart has noticeably warmed towards him. The wonderful dignity of the style provides an illuminating counterpoint to the humorous plot, and the dialogue is quite sharply realized (though I did think the lower-class dialect was the least successful undertaking).

A hilarious view into English boys' boarding schools in 1887. Like Freaky Friday, a father and son switch places with the aid of a mysterious magical stone. The diction in which the story is written adds to the fun!!!

This book helps parents realize what life is like for children. Childhood isn't as easy as some parents may perceive it to be. Children will find the book amusing to see the father struggle. It also is a good book to open the lines of discussion on bullying. Which is currently a big issue in schools.

Hilarious! Why, in heaven's name has this book never been before brought to my attention? If Thackery himself had not mentioned it in one of his works, I would have never heard of it. A lucky chance to my eternal benefit.

An old story told nicely. Would that there are more like it today. Got a pointer to it in the NYT.

excellent

C.S. Lewis in his autobiographical SURPRISED BY JOY calls VICE VERSA “the only truthful school story in existence.” Pretty high praise from someone of his scholarly stature.

There is a subtle humour that is most enjoyable.

Thomas Anstey Guthrie (8 August 1856 - 10 March 1934) was an English novelist and journalist, who wrote his comic novels under the pseudonym F. Anstey.This is an early example of the body swap comedy, a school boy and his father swap bodies as a result of a magical talisman. The story sticks with the father, now forced back into what some fools might call the happiest days of his life. The humour is gentle enough but with a sharp edge at time. It is the mark of a great writer that they can bring alive and give interest to a quiet moment, a tired father dozing in his sitting room, or unenthusiastic school boys amusing themselves when they are ostensibly playing football on a pitch that dwarfs them.This books holds up well today and is certainly well worth a read.

First published in 1882, Vice Versa quickly became a classic of Victorian children's literature, as may be inferred from the fact that it went into its 50th impression in 1915, & another twelve after that, the last in 1962. I suspect has now been almost completely forgotten. It tells how, due to the mischief of his son Dick in manipulating the powers of a magic Indian stone, Mr Bultitude, a pompous & overbearing father, is transmogrified into the likeness of Dick, while Dick takes on the form of the old man. The main part of the book describes Mr Bultitude's vicissitudes on his return to boarding school at the end of the holidays, & his frantic---but needless to say fruitless---efforts to make the school authorities aware of his predicament. Equally needless to say, he makes no effort to fit into the activities & preoccupations of his school-mates, instead earning their opprobrium by his total lack of understanding of their ethos, & forfeiting the affection which the real Dick has aroused in the breast of Dulcie, the headmaster's daughter. Well, all gets sorted out in the end, & the restored Mr Bultitude is a much mellower man than his former self, while Dick has learned that life as a grown-up involves responsibilities as well as pleasure. Contemporary readers, especially children, may be put off by the heavy Victorian diction which is a pity, as the thoroughly uplifting moral doesn't detract from the fun of the book.

I first read this book as a teenager in the late 50s. and thought it very entertaining. I remember being glad the mean dad was having such a hard time. Now over half a century later, though I still find the difficulties Mr Bultitude had adapting to his new life as a schoolboy, hilarious,but I.m a bit more sympathetic. I,m glad I decided to read it again!

It's an old-fashioned, Victorian comic novel, which I first read about sixty years ago as a young boy. Since then, it's lost none of its charm.It once, when more widely known, used to be very popular and, though it's now out of fashion, is actually a gently amusing moral tale that's well worth a look.