The Tightrope Walkers

Dominic Hall is a boy, growing up, on the edges of a shipyard, on the northern coast of England. His father, toils in that shipyard and like many of the working class, of that era, ('60s) barely keeps his family afloat.
Dominic makes friends with a smart and gifted girl, named Holly and they make an instant bond. She dreams of being a tightrope walker and is a stable presence for Dominic, giving him focus and hope. Unfortunately, he also is drawn to the local bad boy, Vincent McAlinden, who begins to take Dom, down a much darker path, leaving Holly farther and farther behind. This edgy triangle, is the heart of the tale.
This coming of age story, really grew on me, as it went along and I was swept along with these young lives. Almond show more based some of this on his own childhood experiences and he really evokes a perfect sense of time and place. show less

Dominic Hall is growing up in a pebbledashed home in northern England in the post-WWII years. His father, a caulker in the shipyards, is a tough but fair and loving man. After the war, England has changed and opportunity exists for Dominic, who is well-behaved, does well in school, and has a fluency as a wordsmith that gets him noticed. Dom and his best friend, Holly, are admitted to a good school that will prepare them to be the first in their families to attend university. After a circus visits, Holly and Dominic put up a tight-rope, and Dom's mother shows them how to balance and walk the wire. Holly paints and Dom writes poetry and both succeed admirably in school. But an animal part of Dom lies untended. The boy feels a pull toward show more the local delinquent, Vincent McAlinden, with whom he begins to thieve, kill small animals and create mayhem. Dom walks a tight-rope, both literally and metaphorically. In which world does he belong?
Almond's writing is crisp and beautiful. From the slang of the shipyard to recitations in the poetry-bookshop, Almond shows through language the dichotomy that exists in Dom. The Tight-Rope Walker has clever symbolism and handles big ideas, but the plot moves slowly in places. Although I don't agree with Almond's conclusions about what it means to be human, I admire his literary finesse with the question. Dom's struggles to understand who he is and who he could become will ring true to many adolescents. show less

"Bliddy" beautiful bildungsroman set in northern England during the 1950s and '60s. Lyrical, poetic story of a boy growing up in the working class family of a ship welder. There is a girl next-door, his best friend, and a half-crazy, half-wild boy the boy is drawn to. This is marketed as a story for young adults, but I cannot imagine it being read by any teens I know. It is a great read for adults, however.

THE TIGHTROPE WALKERS by David Almond is the coming-of-age story of a boy torn between two very different friendships in the mid-20th century. While Holly represents artist freedom, Vincent reflects the wild, violent side of life.

Based on the memories of the author growing up in northern England, this work of realistic fiction is told through very short chapters making it a quick read. The well-developed characters, use of local dialects, and authentic settings add to the appeal. Although technically a work of historical fiction, the story transcends time.

From beauty and creativity to violence and death, Almond’s exploration of both the dark and light side of everyday life make this book special. The novel’s many metaphors and show more other literary elements make it an excellent book for young adult discussions. However because of the mature themes this book is not designed for children.

Published by Candlewick Press in March 2015. show less

This is something different than I normally read, and I had a hard time getting into the book. It definitely wasn't very fast paced, and I couldn't seem to find any common ground with the characters. This doesn't mean that is was necessarily poorly written, just something that didn't really work for me.

Dominic Hall lives in the shipyards in northern England, where he traverses between two different worlds: one with Holly Stroud, where they live in stories, art, and dreams of being tightrope walkers, and one with Vincent McAlinden, full of danger, recklessness, and rebellion. Dominic must learn to balance between the two before he finally becomes a man.

Though I personally couldn't get into this book, there were some beautiful moments; show more the writing itself was quite lyrical and poetic, actually, like the quote I included above. But there was just one major thing that bothered me throughout the entire novel, the way the dialogue was used. Almond used an English dialect within his text that was hard to read at times, and while I understand the effect that he was going for, I think the book would have worked just as well without it.

The other aspect of the book that threw me off was the pacing of events in the story. It felt incredibly slow moving at the beginning, and it took awhile for me to find the driving conflict of the story. It made the book really hard to get engaged in. But I finished it none-the-less! I always try to finish books, to get the full effect. show less

A book full of nostalgia. Growing up on Tyneside in the sixties. Fiction or autobiography? A bit of both. Enjoyable but a bit like a sixth form English Literature exercise of which the central character would be proud.

Dominic Hall is a teen growing up in northern England. He is torn between his attraction to teen artist Holly Stroud who lives next door and bully Vincent McAlinden. The relationships are complex, and so are their lives as they move to a final resolution. I really still can’t decide if I enjoyed reading it or not.