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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom by John Boyne

23/7/2020

10 Comments

 
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From his birth of the night King Herod’s men slaughter baby boys, we follow the unnamed narrator through multiple incarnations across numerous countries to election night in North America and the unlikely presidency of Donald Trump. Scorned by his soldier father, bullied by his beefy brother, betrayed by his beloved cousin, he survives to be thrice widowed, imprisoned for murder and to make a success of a creative career. Braving war, slavery, colonialism, he finds temporary respite in monasteries Christian and Buddhist, and fathers a son who will send a rocket to the moon.
With each short chapter jumping time and place, and with renamed characters, it’s extremely disorientating initially, but perseverance pays off. The common threads soon reveal themselves, particularly in continuity of character, as our narrator strives to live a moral life in violent times. Like art that speaks to us across the centuries, context and cultures may change, but human sentiments are eternal. This makes the author’s twelfth novel for adults and excellent primer for apprentice writers: it’s the emotional narrative that keeps us turning the page.
 
In a novel that encompasses almost everything, themes of sexuality and gender inequalities loom large. The narrator’s tenderness, and his passion for projects traditionally the female province, means he’ll never earn his father’s approval, while his sister, who fits the masculine stereotype perfectly, is ignored, destined for motherhood and marriage to men she would not choose. Meanwhile, same-sex couplings, while officially non-existent and often invisible to the narrator, crop up again and again. (Must remember this for LGBT history month in February.)
 
I’m a great fan of John Boyne’s fiction[1], but it’s not exempt from my metaphorical red pen. Some form of the phrase expressions … on their faces cropped up in several chapters, which would have been irritating even without the redundant on their faces. Although there’s probably humour from the beginning, I didn’t note it until the narrator meets Shakespeare about three quarters of the way through. But as we approached the twentieth century, the humour seemed to get sillier[2], although I enjoyed the in-joke about Maude Avery, the fictional novelist from one of his previous novels[3]. Thanks to publishers Doubleday for my review copy.


[1] See my review of A History of Loneliness and of the others listed here:
[2] Much as I enjoyed it overall, I had a similar criticism of The Heart's Invisible Furies
[3] One of Maude's books also adorns the shelves in A Ladder to the Sky
 


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Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
10 Comments
Norah Colvin
26/7/2020 11:31:16 am

I was intrigued immediately by the title, Anne. It's captivating. I think John Boyne must be an expert at titles (for me anyway) as I said the same thing about his Ladder to the Sky which I read (and enjoyed) as an audiobook, thanks to your recommendation. I think I'd find his other books that follow the titles quite interesting too. This one sounds particularly so, even if a little confusing. Thanks for your review. Another on the list. :)

Reply
Anne
28/7/2020 10:11:02 am

He does have some fabulous titles, doesn't he? Glad you enjoyed Ladder to the Sky and would be interested in your verdict on this one if/when you get around to it.

Reply
Norah Colvin
20/9/2020 12:05:59 pm

I've just downloaded it and started listening, Anne. I'm pleased you explained here about each chapter jumping to a different incantation. Not knowing where a chapter begins and ends in an audiobook makes that a little more confusing but I think I'll do better now that I know. I was finding the inconsistencies with names and ages difficult and thought the author or narrator had made mistakes and wondered how an editor didn't pick up what was, for me, so obvious. I'll give you my opinion at a later time.

Anne Goodwin
21/9/2020 04:34:05 pm

Yes, it's extremely disconcerting as the new names are always similar – to keep the continuity – but when everything is new it can be confusing.
I'm interested that it isn't clear what chapter has ended and another begun because these all have chapter names, locations and dates – but maybe they don't register as well as the story.

Norah Colvin
30/9/2020 12:18:57 pm

I've realised the chapters do have headings of locations and dates. I think it took me a few chapters to realise that I need to take more notice of them. Sometimes a new chapter seems to pick up where the previous one left off so it takes me a little while to twig to what's going on. I think that a disadvantage of listening rather than reading this type of book.
I find the similarity between the life stories in each of the chapters interesting. It's quite a different way of showing the connectedness of life and the journey of humanity.
It reminds me a little of Sunwielder by D. Wallace Peach. I don't know if you've read it. Each time the character lost a life, he returned to a time in his life prior to losing it for a new chance and a different outcome.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
2/10/2020 12:46:50 pm

I think there are a few novels that do that, eg Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, although I can't think of any I've actually read. How does this compare with Sunwielder?

Reply
Norah Colvin
18/10/2020 11:54:50 am

I finally finished listening last week, Anne. Though I think my audiobook may have skipped a few centuries (unintentionally) for me. I'm not sure that I lost a whole lot by doing so as the changes in each life were only incremental and I seemed to pick up pretty much where I left off. I did miss the Shakespeare bit, though, which may be unfortunate. I did enjoy the last few chapters and the epilogue. You mentioned a dislike for the phrase 'on their faces'. I didn't notice it, but what annoyed me was that he often found himself somewhere. He hadn't even told me he was lost! Anyway, am pleased to have heard what I did and am happy to move on to something else. This time I am listening to All our Shimmering Skies, the second book by Australian author Trent Dalton. I think I mentioned his first to you a while ago - Boy Swallows Universe, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Anne Goodwin
22/10/2020 01:11:37 pm

Didn't find that one myself. Maybe I find I'm doing the same to my characters. Hope I'll find myself watching out for it!

Norah Colvin
25/10/2020 11:15:32 am

Haha. I think that, Anne. I'm sure you will find yourself. :)

Reply
Anne Goodwin
27/10/2020 06:49:26 am

Life's a process of losing and finding and losing again!

Reply



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