This is my first book by John Boyne. I really enjoyed it. He kept me reading fast right til the end.

My favorite parts of the book were all the parts that showed his vast knowledge of World War II. I need to read more of his books that delve more deeply into that part of his writing.

In this book he took a completely flawed character and made us hate him and feel empathy for him at the same time. The ending was amazing. He pulled the whole story together in such a fascinating way!

This is such a fascinating storyline masterfully to.d by author John Boyne. Unputdownable. I felt like I was inside the main characters body. Viscerally stunning. Would read another book by him out of curiosity of his writing style.

A Ladder to the Sky is a masterpiece of deceit and theft starring Maurice Swift the villain. It reminds me of the Netfix movie series I recently viewed, "Inventing Anna" Both stars were masterminds at deception and quite entertaining. I relished Boyne' s work.

Though it didn't move me the same way The Heart's Invisible Furies did earlier this year (still an absolute favorite read of 2019), A Ladder to the Sky is a beautifully written, frankly near flawless novel that I won't be quick to forget. Boyne has such a fabulous talent for creating memorable and very real characters that just stick with you. I loved that the book had such a quiet tone, with these bursts of shocking events dispersed throughout, while, at it heart, remaining deeply focused on the central and fascinatingly despicable protagonist Maurice. What an exceptional book with which to begin my autumn reading! Absolutely recommended!

This novel was not at all what I expected—a risk you run when reading another title by a beloved author. Maurice Swift is as despicable a character as you’ll find, a fact that at first irritated me, but eventually just awed me. The depths of his ambition and narcissism know no limit. If you’re unbothered by an unpleasant protagonist, the ending offers a real payoff. I felt there was excessive lewdness that didn’t advance the story, but Boyne’s writing is superb as ever.

John Boyne is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. His books are usually huge tomes that span decades, but they feel instantly accessible to the reader. The book revolves around a writer named Maurice Swift whose ambition to be famous leaves a trail of brokenhearted people behind him. Each section is told from a different perspective, which helped to move the plot along as well as provide a variety of tones for the story. The vibe ranges from bitterly funny to disturbing with a perfect pace.

Readers often complain of not caring for main characters who are unlikable, but Boyne deals with this issue so deftly. Maurice is quite despicable, but I never tired of hearing his point of view. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a masterfully-told story that will suck them in with twists and turns. I can't wait to read more of his writing now!

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I need to learn not to read Boyne in any form other than strictly print. I just can't get into his work. I couldn't finish this as an ebook or an audiobook. My apologies.

Masterfully manipulative. Cunning. Ingenious. Exceptional.

There are times when the sheer cleverness involved with what I’ve just read requires time to ruminate before some semblance of coherent thought can be strung together. So, here I sit—two months post-read—hoping to express just how impressive I found this creative gem to be. If the fact that this book is still lingering in the forefront of my mind after so long—and a dozen other books in-between—isn’t a testament to John Boyne’s level of storytelling, I don’t know what is.

They say you should write for no other reason than because you love the craft. That freeing feeling of turning ideas into words driven by some internal passion; sharing your stories with no one or anyone a choice to consider later. The thought of being published—let alone fame—should be the furthest thing from your mind during the process. But what do they know anyway?

For Maurice Swift, fame packaged as The Prize is his ultimate literary goal. And he’s willing to go to just about any length to get what he wants. Sure, he tries his hand at writing the epic novel a few times, but there’s always one crucial obstacle he can’t seem to surmount—coming up with an idea creative enough to inspire a prize-winning story. Forget plotting, characterization or theme, it all centers around the idea and without it, there's no hope.

Although starting out on somewhat of an unassuming note, the storyline quickly takes a turn, morphing into something much darker. Picking up this book means surrendering to a master manipulator and his deviously deceptive antics. Without a doubt, Maurice is as despicable as they come. But, he’s also incredibly charming, ambitious as hell and handsome; which means it’s all too easy to succumb. Only to realize when it’s far too late that he’s stolen your words, your life, your very essence of being.

Set amongst the publishing world, Boyne gives readers a look at what the so-called ladder climb to the sky of literary success often entails. Boyne’s play on perspective, dark humor and the constant moral questioning the self-rationalizing protagonist manages to provoke, makes for an utterly engaging experience. Writing so lovely in fact, it reiterated why the written word has become such a passion in my own life.

Maurice Swift took a notebook from his bag... and began to make some notes.
"What?" asked Erich, "Did I say something particularly wise?"
"I'm writing something down about balance. You seem to have struck a good equilibrium between your work life and your artistic life," said Maurice.
"You can't write all the time, Maurice. There's more to life than words and stories."
"Not for me there isn't," says Maurice.

And believe me, this diabolical sociopath really means it.

In 2018, I was granted an advance copy of a reprint of John Boyne's A Ladder to the Sky. I have always enjoyed his works including the 2006 young adult book, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and the wonderful 2017 novel, The Heart's Invisible Furies. But somehow this book became buried in my TBR stack. Now that I have read A Ladder to the Sky, I could kick myself for waiting so long to read and review it.

Truth be known, I can't remember when I intensely disliked a protagonist more than Maurice Swift. I found myself hissing and booing but totally unable to put the book down. We have all met people that are manipulative and taken advantage of us. They have the uncanny ability to upset our resolves and get us to reveal our deepest insecurities or darkest secrets. Sometimes they seem to enjoy causing pain or harm to us for no reason other than they can do it.

Maurice Swift has always wanted to be a writer. And not just any writer. The best of the best. Someone that history will remember as a literary great and whose books will never go out of print. But he has one problem. He can put together the words on paper but he is incapable of generating the original idea; he lacks imagination.

Maurice is well aware of his assets. He was gifted at birth with a Hollywood attractiveness that he used to his best advantage throughout his life. He was also born an undiagnosed sociopath with a innate ability for furthering his long-term goals with charismatic charm, flattery, and deceitful behavior. His early books rejected or published with little success didn't deter his goal. He just had to find someone with a story and steal it.
The novel offers three views into Swift's life. The first begins as a novella of an aging German-American novelist. There's a melancholy edge to his story. Narrated in the first person, Erich Ackermann speaks to us about his childhood, his literary career development and his modest successes. The narrative darkens as he relates meeting a sexy barkeeper who tells Erich that he hopes to become a successful author himself one day. Like a frog placed in a pan of tepid water on the stove, Erich doesn't sense the danger until he is sucked into Maurice's dangerous web and is unable to extricate himself. It is too late when he is tricked into sharing a dark secret from his own youth in Nazi Germany. Erich's worst nightmare from the the past is exposed in Swift's highly successful fiction entitled, Two Germans.

The second part of the book, to me, was the most interesting. Maurice Swift, accompanying his latest victim, American author, Dash Hardy, unexpectedly met the renowned Gore Vidal at his home in Italian villa, The Swallow's Nest. This serendipitous encounter exposed Swift's wiles as he tried to vandalism Vidal's life and ingratiate himself into his social community; if successful there would be no need to squander his unproductive time with Dash. The world-wise Vidal recognized Maurice's tactics. The acerbic literary elder sparred with Swift and privately let him know that wasn't blind to the young man's game; he couldn't out-master the master.

“Dash, poor defenseless Dash, was obviously besotted. . . Gore lamented quietly, his heart grieving for the pain that this young man would inevitably cause his friend.”
The third part of the novel begins with Swift, now recognized for his successful fiction, Two Germans, celebrating his fifth wedding anniversary with his wife, Edith. After five years, Maurice hasn't achieved the second of his two life ambitions -becoming a father. Edith has been unable to produce a child having suffered four miscarriages.
To add insult to injury in Maurice's mind, Edith, also an author, has recently published her first novel, Fear, to rave reviews. It has been eleven years since Maurice published Two Germans and he is beginning to be perceived as a has-been. When Edith announces that she has begun a second novel, the wheels come off the bus.

In the end, Maurice Swift earns his just reward, landing in Dante's Ninth Circle of Hell after a lifetime of treachery.

I rarely give a book 5 stars. Giving a book a perfect score usually requires me to be transported to a different place and/or time. There were flaws in this book, but I have found myself reflecting on many aspects long after I finished reading it. Why did his mentors, sensing his disloyalty, turn into simpering snivelers grasping at his ankles as he pulled away. But of more import to me revolved around the question -where do ideas for a book come from? When is it right or wrong to use something overheard or told by someone? And does anyone understand why a narcissistic sociopath would set being a father as a life ambition?

Recommended.

All the stars! Why did I wait so long to read this book. John Boyne never lets me down. A story about a truly despicable, loathsome yet charming author who will do whatever it takes to make his way to the top of the publishing food chain, and will take down (or steal from!) whomever gets in his way. I love Boyne's writing: it's funny and heartfelt and just fun to read. For sure worth checking out if you haven't already (I might be last!).

Maurice is one of the most dislikable characters I’ve ever come across in fiction - I loved to hate him and was constantly appalled (and increasingly so as the plot progressed!) at his “antics.” I felt I saw some of the early twists coming (perhaps the reader was meant to) so was worried it would just be an average read quite honestly. Towards the end I was still undecided if this would be a complete train-wreck of a book, or pure brilliance. I will say, Boyne completely nailed the pacing of this and had me so intrigued (albeit horrified!) throughout, and the ending was just superb! Expertly written and just a completely brilliant story!

Headline
I’m two for two on 5 star books by John Boyne…though, A Ladder to the Sky is much darker and not necessarily for the exact same type of reader as The Heart’s Invisible Furies.

Plot Summary
Maurice Swift is single-mindedly focused on becoming a world famous author (despite having trouble coming up with story ideas) and will use anything and anyone to get there.

Why I Read It
Because The Heart’s Invisible Furies (my review), obviously!

Major Themes
Ambition, literary world, using people, relationships, writing process

What I Liked:
- Y’all know I loved Boyne’s 2017 novel, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, so A Ladder to the Sky had huge shoes to fill! While it didn’t fill that exact pair of shoes, it did fill a pair of equal size, just in a different style.
- It’s much darker (I don’t mean sadder…I mean more messed up) than The Heart’s Invisible Furies. For that reason, I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone who loved The Heart’s Invisible Furies, but Boyne’s writing style is absolutely there and I 5 star-loved it.
- Maurice is an operator / manipulator to a degree I don’t think I’ve seen all that much in fiction. He’s much like many of Herman Koch’s characters in that he’ll say incredibly unsettling things that most regular people may not even think, much less say aloud. He’s not the least bit likable (readers who want to see likable characters in your reading, this is your warning!), but he sure is disturbingly fascinating.
- A Ladder to the Sky, particularly its structure, unfolds brilliantly. Each section is told from the perspective of someone Maurice impacted on his quest for literary dominance…including the real life literary legend, Gore Vidal. These sections feel a bit like extremely interconnected novellas. I loved it more and more with each new section.
- The story begins in the 1980’s and moves forward, but a large chunk of the opening section is told through flashbacks to World War II in Germany. Parts of the book felt like historical fiction and parts felt very contemporary. Y’all know I have a finicky relationship with Historical Fiction, but I loved this mash-up of the historical and contemporary.
- I loved the look into the dark side of publishing and the literary world. I’m hoping Boyne’s portrayal is a bit exaggerated, but it made for delicious reading. I can’t help but wonder how much of this stuff actually goes on in real life.
- This one could’ve gone on my list of 16 Character-Driven Novels I Couldn’t Put Down and my list of 12 Memorable Villains of Fiction if I’d read it in time!
- This would be an excellent book club selection!

What I Didn’t Like:
- This isn’t truly a criticism…more of a nit-picky observation about A Ladder to the Sky compared to The Heart’s Invisible Furies. But, one of the things I loved most about The Heart’s Invisible Furies is that it made me feel a wide range of emotions (joy, sadness, delight, amusement, etc.). A Ladder to the Sky is not that kind of book…it’s more like watching a series of massive betrayals one after the other. You know it’s coming, the surprise is in what form it will take. The prevailing emotion throughout the whole thing is horrified incredulity.

A Defining Quote
“And you’ve heard the old proverb about ambition, haven’t you?”
He shook his head.
“That it’s like setting a ladder to the sky. A pointless waste of energy. […]”

Good for People Who Like…
Dark stories, dislikable characters, a memorable villain, stories set in the literary world

Wow! This book had probably one of the most despicable characters I have ever read about in Maurice! I thought it was so impactful to have his character revealed through the voices of those he jilted. And there were many! I truly hope characters like this only live in fiction and not in the real world, although I believe sadly they do. I thought this was an interesting look at writing and a compelling look at the human condition.

I love John Boyne’s writing! And he does not disappoint with this book.
A story of writers and the publishing industri comes alive with characters so interesting, so flawed, that the story and the ((often) horror of what occurs unfolds believably.
Boyne has the ability to write the darkest, most abominal characters, in this case a main character, and still keep people reading. In the hands of another writer, i might have thrown this book across the room.
But Borne kept me reading and engaged until,the very end in this wonderful, disturbing book.

4 stars

After a couple of failed starts with Ladder to the Sky, I finally cracked it open for the final time and got swept away in Boyne’s magnificent story telling. It has been a long time since I have read a book where the author created a character so despicable that I was actually wishing for Maurice to get his comeuppance and a swift (pun intended) kick in the…, well, I’ll leave that up to you to fill in the blank.

This book is full of rich and developed characters and the stories and horrors they tell had me captivated and glued to my Kindle. My favorite “story” was the one narrated by Edith. In some aspects, I knew what was going to happen (but not all!) and like a train wreck, I could not turn away. I was so captivated by this section of the book.

All in all, this book was an amazing read; the writing is flawless and the story flows. But I just couldn’t give this 5 stars because I did feel like there were some “draggy” parts and the ending basically made me want to throw my Kindle against the wall. I am sure that was what Boyne intended, but for me, I needed something different.

I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Crown Publishing for my copy of this book via NetGalley

I wasn't sure that I wanted to continue this book initially, but after the first chapter, I was hooked. This book was an incredible character study in the mind of an attractive, manipulative sociopath who is the most unlikable character that I have come across. John Boyne paced his character study perfectly, including real people as well as fictitious ones as the book followed Maurice Swift's rise and fall.
I felt put off by him as he stole from Erich Ackermann, but recognized his craft as he preys on another person's weakness, reels him or her in, then discards the person once he/she has given him what he wants. He is singularly focused on obtaining The Prize, without regret or conscience. The book could have been called Ambition - after the proverb, "Ambition is like setting a ladder to the sky" but the title is so much richer than the proverb.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just who is Maurice Swift, the protagonist and sociopath, of this delightful literary novel? We first meet him in 1988 when he is working as a waiter at a West Berlin hotel's restaurant. He's a guy who wants to a writer but, he's lazy and has no talent; he does have charm though. He figures he doesn't have to give up on his dreams to become a success, why not just find another way to achieve his goal.

His first opportunity to achieve that literary success is when he meets a somewhat famous, but lonely, older novelist named Erich Ackermann. Maurice is full of charm and compliments and quickly has won the trust of Ackermann who in a weak moment shares some private, secrets from his past which Maurice sees as excellent material for a successful novel. He takes what he's learned and turns it into his own successful book. He isn't satisfied just yet either, certainly he's certain he's capable of even more literary success, and you can be sure he'll find another unsuspecting, talented victim soon.

I thoroughly enjoyed this delicious novel. The handsome, but sinister Maurice is not a character I will easily forget. Was he unlikeable, yes, but memorable all the same. This is a guy who knows when and what buttons to push to manipulate others for his own personal gain. There were a few parts which were a bit slow, but overall, this a pleasant treat. I must say that I loved the ending as well. Try It!

It took me a little while to get into this, but it was such an interesting storyline that I felt compelled to keep reading to find out how it all ended up. Maurice Swift is one of the most unlikable characters I've ever read about, so I am basing the 4 stars solely on the interesting and unbelievable plot. John Boyne has quite a way with words. The format and how this book jumped around also took a bit to get used to, but it was a bit similar to The Heart's Invisible Furies in that way (though the similarities mostly end there).
I definitely recommend this - I typically don't enjoy unlikable characters but this one was worth the read.

This is a book full of unlikable characters, yet you cannot stop reading. John Boyne is a great writer and his new novel is engaging. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the book world. It is amazing to learn about the steps the main character took to become a famous author.