Five teens from a small Scottish town become caught up in the maelstrom of WWI. The story opens in 1915; the war has been going on for almost a year, and no one now expects a swift and easy victory. The wealthy and well-bred Charlotte Armstrong-Barnes defies her mother by taking up nursing to join the cause; her brother Francis does the same by refusing to take a commission. Storekeeper’s son John Malcolm Dundas looks forward to coming of age to join up, as does his younger brother Alex; meanwhile, sister Maggie begins to question the assumed role of women in society and starts to dream of greater things. The expected love interests ensue: Charlotte and John Malcolm fall head-over-heels, but their romance is cut tragically short by German fire; Francis and Maggie enjoy a slowly burgeoning relationship of the mind that becomes love as they take their separate parts in the struggle in France. New to the American market, Carnegie Medalist (Whispers in the Graveyard) Breslin’s narrative moves back and forth to give each character’s perspective, occasionally allowing them to speak directly via letters, but the two who come most to life are the theoretically inclined Francis and Maggie. Charlotte, having lost love early, takes on a virtually saintly mien, and Alex rarely emerges as his own character. A tendency to tell rather than show—“The jingoistic tones of the headlines contrasting with the constant news of death lowered [Francis’s] spirits. He felt helpless in the face of what he saw as some desperate intent by civilization to destroy itself . . . ”—keeps the reader at arm’s length and hinders involvement in what could have been a three-hanky story. As it is, it remains a perfectly serviceable historical novel, but nothing more. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2002
ISBN: 0-385-73015-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2002
When Death tells a story, you pay attention. Liesel Meminger is a young girl growing up outside of Munich in Nazi Germany, and Death tells her story as “an attempt—a flying jump of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.” When her foster father helps her learn to read and she discovers the power of words, Liesel begins stealing books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor’s wife’s library. As she becomes a better reader, she becomes a writer, writing a book about her life in such a miserable time. Liesel’s experiences move Death to say, “I am haunted by humans.” How could the human race be “so ugly and so glorious” at the same time? This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it’s a work to read slowly and savor. Beautiful and important. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: March 14, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83100-2
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point.
After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin.
The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyne’s narrative; others will believe it was the wrong choice.
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-75106-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
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SEEN & HEARD
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