John Boyne

Gretel, the narrator of this story, is a 91 year old woman living in an elegant flat in London. Her neighbor, Heidi, is approaching 70 and is in the early stages of dementia. They are both curious and concerned about who will be moving into the recently vacated flat below them.

Gretel's life is revealed to us gradually beginning with her escape from Nazi Germany after the war as a 15 year old. She and her mother live in Paris under assumed identities, fearing retribution as her father was an show more administrator of one of the death camps and was executed at Nuremberg.

With constant fear her past being exposed, Gretel goes to Australia after her mother's death, then flees back to England. The author uses this character to explore themes of guilt, grief, and dread that dominate Gretel's life as she carefully guards the secrets of her past.

These all come to bear when she observes horrible abuse of the wife and young son by the father of the new family that moved into the flat below her. Will she risk exposing her past life in order to save the young son from his monster of a father?

Gretel is not a hero in any sense, she is flawed and at times ruthless. But the essence of the book comes in one of her statements: In war, there are no winners. show less

Earth is the second in the Elements quartet of novellas by John Boyne. Evan Keogh appeared in Water, the first book, as a minor character but here he takes centre stage as a young footballer accused of assisting a serious sexual assault carried out by his teammate, Robbie. Throughout the story we follow the trial but in alternate chapters we also see the trajectory of Evan's life after he escaped his troubled family life on the small island of his birth. It's not pretty!

It's not difficult to show more feel some level of sympathy for Evan and his difficult upbringing, but by the same token I found him hard to like. Life has given him sharp edges to protect his delicate inner and it now feels like he is incapable of feeling anything much at all. Boyne invites the reader to walk the fine line between nature and nurture, of culpability versus abdication of responsibility, morality against self-preservation. As always, this incredibly talented author has written a compelling and incredibly powerful account of the murky depths of the human psyche which has left me thinking about the characters afterwards.

John Boyne is one of my all-time favourite writers and I enjoyed Earth very much, despite the thorny subject matter. The writing is thought-provoking, disturbing but accurate, and it's produced to great effect to challenge the reader. I'm looking forward to Fire next, which takes a minor character from this book and tells their story. show less

To my mind, this is nearly a perfect book. The story and characters are thoroughly absorbing, the tone is close to perfect throughout, the writing is masterful, and the book unfolds beautifully.

So, all that praise in mind, a few things worth noting:

- It is certainly a very dark book, with outcomes ranging from sad to tragic for almost every character. But as I said above, the tone of the book helps elevate it. Without losing a sense of the gravity of what’s happening, there is enough show more levity to keep it from being a wallow.

- Odran’s credulous innocence does seem like quite a stretch, and there were times I found myself pretty frustrated both with him and with the book. By the end of the story, though, I thought this character flaw was both credible and powerfully thought-provoking. It was nothing as simple as saying “Well, he was in denial”—there was something more complicated and interesting at work, and it deepens the novel. As a reader, though, it occasionally took some tenacity for me to put up with it along the way. The fact that I was enjoying the writing is probably the only reason I did so.

- The one part of the book that rang a bit flat was Odran’s time in Rome, especially the hinted assassination of the pope. But the exposition that Boyne achieved through those sections helped tie Odran’s story to a much larger narrative, and again, I think it made the novel more powerful overall. And it never bothered me that much, in any case. show less

Maurice Swift has always wanted to be an acclaimed author. He is obsessed with it. He can write well. The only problem is that his books are boring. He has trouble coming up with ideas. What to do?

This is not a book for anyone looking for a likeable protagonist. We spend a lot of time in the head of a narcissist. We also get the perspective of Swift’s wife and an acclaimed author he met early in his career. The perspectives are chosen to gradually reveal Swift’s character and schemes.

I show more am quite surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. In addition to an entertaining story, albeit dark and disturbing in parts, it is also a clever send-up of the world of book prizes. It is hard to say too much without spoiling. It is well-written, well-crafted, the characters are deeply drawn, and the execution is brilliant! show less