THE ABSOLUTIST by John Boyne
★★★★★
Other Press, 2012
The Absolutist is a tender and harrowing exploration of love, betrayal, bravery, and cowardice, set in the trenches in France during World War I. The story begins in 1919, with twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler making a trip to Norwich to deliver some letters to the sister of a man who had died in the war, Will Bancroft. Through a series of flashbacks, Boyne explores the relationship between Tristan and Will, and while it’s clear from the beginning that there isn’t going to be a happy ending, it ended up being even more devastating than I had expected. This book ripped my heart out, so naturally, I loved it.
Tristan Sadler is everything I could want from a narrator – complex, sympathetic, flawed, and seeking atonement, and though his guilt is present from the first page, it isn’t until you’re deep into the story that you really understand the extent of it. Tristan’s struggle with his identity as a gay man provides the novel with its central conflict, which Boyne addresses with sensitivity and nuance.
Boyne’s prose is understated and compelling, as he deftly weaves together this complex tale, whose barely-300-pages belies its thematic richness. From the synopsis I was expecting a rather cut and dry love story, but the reality of this novel is more intricate and unexpected, and a lot sadder.
This is only the second John Boyne novel I’ve read after The Heart’s Invisible Furies, but both left me awestruck, devastated, and wanting to pick up another Boyne novel immediately. The Absolutist and its characters will haunt me.
This sounds awesome! I generally don’t like war books, but I might have to make an exception for this one 🙂
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You should!!! It’s more of a character study than a war novel anyway. The war bits are well researched, but never really take center stage.
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I really must read some more Boyne, and I think this will be top of the list. Seems like he could be on his way to becoming one of your favourite authors!
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Which one(s) have you read? I don’t have enough good things to say about this and The Heart’s Invisible Furies, and I am definitely looking forward to reading more from him! He also cracked me up with this response to my torment on twitter: https://twitter.com/john_boyne/status/930894282944282625
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I’ve only read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and it was years ago, but I’ve only heard good things since then (not least from you, of course).
Haha; writes good books AND is funny on Twitter? +10 author points to Mr Boyne.
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I haven’t read that! I’m kind of wary since I don’t usually enjoy middle grade, but it’s so popular that I have to admit I’m curious…
It definitely never hurts when authors have a good online persona!
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I don’t pick up middle grade very often either. In fairness, it’s been a long time since I read it, so I’m not sure how much weight to put on my opinion, but I did really enjoy it at the time, and it has stuck pretty vividly in my mind, so I suppose that’s a good sign.
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Ahhhhhh I can’t wait to read this, great review!! It’s books like these that make me think of that line in the 3rd Harry Potter book when Ron says, “You’re going to suffer, but you’ll be happy about it.”
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I’m pretty sure that’s the GIF that sums up the three of us best!
Definitely planning on reading this in Decenber now! The first four books I was planning to read for the month all happen to be red or green covers too, so obviously now I have to go with it for the aesthetic.
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Omg I’m so mad, I was going to have ALL red/orange/pink covers this month but then I went and read a Greek tragedy and I can’t find a cover for it that fits my color scheme!!! ALAS
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Omg that will be so satisfying in your December wrap up
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It’s almost sad how accurate that is………. why do we delight in torturing ourselves.
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[…] 7. The hardest reviews for me to write are the ones where I loved the book. I end up feeling like I’m just using the same superlative adjectives over and over. I struggle with this even more than reviews where I just found the book sort of okay. Those tend to be easy for me for whatever reason. (This fact is brought to you by: the ungodly long time it took me to write my ridiculously short review of The Absolutist.) […]
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[…] The Absolutist by John Boyne on Pace, Amore, Libri (historical fiction) […]
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