Monday 18 July 2011

Stunningly good.....

I have loved all of John Boyne's books - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has to be one of my all time favourite reads - so I knew, when I started this book yesterday, that I was in for real treat and, wow ....what a treat it was to read...




So, here's my review :




My rating: 5 of 5 stars
jaffa's rating 5paws - he kept very still the whole time we were reading....



From the start of The Absolutist, I was engrossed in Tristan and Will's story, and found myself really hurrying the pages to see what happened next.

The description of the time in the trenches is poignant, desperately sad, and hugely horrific, but never without tender philosophy.I loved both characters, and wanted everything to work out for them - but like all those who fought and died in the Great war, nothing would ever be the same again.


John Boyne is a master storyteller, who manages in a few short sentences to convey a complete world, and a time and place that really exists in your subconscious, with characters that come to life, and who live on in your memory, long after the last page is turned.


I stayed up long and late to finish this book, reading all 309 precious pages in a day, simply because I could not put it down. I loved every word of it , and it has to be up there in my Top Ten reads for 2011.

Read it if you can .....


2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for the recommendation. I have just finished reading this complex and powerful book. Having limited imagination myself, I have huge admiration for someone who was born in 1971 but who can describe in such gripping and moving detail what life was must have been like in the trenches of the First World War! And the interweaving of the prejudice of the time against homosexuality and class snobbery is done with a light but telling hand. Wonderful!

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  2. Hi - HClaireB - I'm glad you enjoyed the story - I think this is one book everyone should read !!

    Thanks for letting me know...

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Thanks for taking the time to comment - Jaffareadstoo appreciates your interest.