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A review by jenpaul13
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
4.0
Ambition is generally seen as a positive thing, but when a necessary component, such as talent, is missing as it is for one character in A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne, the path to success and fame can be filled with manipulation.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
A handsome and charming man, Maurice Swift believes that he is destined for great things, if only it weren't for his lack of talent. Undeterred by a key component to creative success, Maurice manages to befriend and benefit from the stories that other writers tell about their lives or generic plots they have yet to develop into a novel. Starting off his cycle of appropriating other people's ideas is a chance encounter with author Erich Ackermann in 1988, where Maurice was able to ingratiate himself into his life as an assistant for Erich's latest book tour and slowly tease out an incredibly personal war story that he later uses for his well-received book. Having experienced the glories of literary success, Maurice continues to find ways to continue capturing that high, deceiving and manipulating many people along the way.
A detestable character and an engaging plot drive this story that's comprised of well-crafted prose. Covering a wide range of time, the narrative demonstrates the lengths, sometimes extreme, that Maurice has gone, and is willing to go to, in order to secure the level of notoriety he believes he deserves from writing and within the publishing industry. While the three parts of the novel work well together to create a cohesive representation of Maurice at the end, when initially reading through I found that the perspectives of Erich and Maurice's wife Edith were tonally so distinct that they greatly impacted the pacing and felt as if they belonged to a different story altogether.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
A handsome and charming man, Maurice Swift believes that he is destined for great things, if only it weren't for his lack of talent. Undeterred by a key component to creative success, Maurice manages to befriend and benefit from the stories that other writers tell about their lives or generic plots they have yet to develop into a novel. Starting off his cycle of appropriating other people's ideas is a chance encounter with author Erich Ackermann in 1988, where Maurice was able to ingratiate himself into his life as an assistant for Erich's latest book tour and slowly tease out an incredibly personal war story that he later uses for his well-received book. Having experienced the glories of literary success, Maurice continues to find ways to continue capturing that high, deceiving and manipulating many people along the way.
A detestable character and an engaging plot drive this story that's comprised of well-crafted prose. Covering a wide range of time, the narrative demonstrates the lengths, sometimes extreme, that Maurice has gone, and is willing to go to, in order to secure the level of notoriety he believes he deserves from writing and within the publishing industry. While the three parts of the novel work well together to create a cohesive representation of Maurice at the end, when initially reading through I found that the perspectives of Erich and Maurice's wife Edith were tonally so distinct that they greatly impacted the pacing and felt as if they belonged to a different story altogether.