A Ladder to the Sky-5 stars

[Susan]

It’ll be a rough day and no one to blame but myself, because I stayed up most of the night reading A Ladder to the Sky. The plot grabbed me early and never let go. The main character is Maurice Swift, a fiction writer who is desperately ambitious but not quite talented enough to reach his goals. He’s short of plot ideas but, having no conscience at all, he finds ways around his deficit. The author paints a picture of the literary world that is not flattering to writers or publishers and I found myself wondering if there was some axe grinding involved – nothing wrong with that. The book covers most of Maurice’s life, starting when he is a 20-year-old struggling to write his first novel. The structure is 3 stories covering 3 main periods of Maurice’s life spanning 30 + years, with an interlude. It’s all about the irresistibly handsome Maurice, but each of the 3 sections is a different POV, which provides interesting perspectives. I was annoyed at first by the switches in POV -especially the unusual use of 2nd person in one section, but the author had a good reason for this and it worked to enhance the story. Boyne’s written the sort of book I like best – gripping plot, interesting well-developed characters, and a meaningful theme. Great storytelling. I’m getting more of his books right away.

[Sue]

I read this one last year and loved it too!

John Boyne has some wonderful books - I've read a couple and have a bunch on my TBR.

[Susan]

Sue wrote: "I read this one last year and loved it too!

John Boyne has some wonderful books - I've read a couple and have a bunch on my TBR."

Just started Heart's Invisible Furies! Bumped to the top of the TBR as I needed a sure thing right now.

[Sue]

Heart's Invisible Furies is absolutely wonderful. Enjoy!

[Shelly]

This was a 5 star read for me as well, as was A Heart's Invisible Furies. Both remarkable stories and incredible writing!

[Amy]

I also considered it a five star read. Gripping!