I have always had a hard time getting into stories where the main character is unlikable...until I read this book. Maurice Swift is easily one of my least favorite characters ever, but I couldn’t stop reading! He was easy to hate and it was a bit like watching a train wreck - I couldn’t look away. I was furiously flipping pages hoping for his comeuppance.

I think what saved me from being turned off by this unlikable main character is that the story was told through other people’s point of view. The structure was unique - it was told in multiple parts that alternated narrators and included interludes, which is something I had never seen before.

It was interesting to see how Maurice inserted himself in people’s lives and the wrath he left behind. I don’t want to say too much because this one is probably best when you go into it pretty clueless. I don’t even think I read the synopsis before getting the book, I trusted that John Boyne wouldn’t let me down, and I was right!

I also need to point out that I read this one via print and audio and the narration is fantastic! There are multiple narrators for the different POVs and each of them gave a stellar performance.

Maurice Swift is a handsome young man, working in a West Berlin restaurant as a waiter. He is also a writer who craves literary fame. He is a decent writer who cannot come up with original story ideas.
He meets the prominent author, Erich Ackermann, as he dines in the establishment one night. Maurice takes advantage of Ackermann's attraction to him and becomes his assistant, traveling and spending time with the older man.
Enthralled by Maurice's good looks, Erich tells him the story of his early life in Germany. How he fell in love with his friend Oskar. When Oskar told him he could not reciprocate his love, and that he had a Jewish girlfriend, Erich betrayed them to the Nazis.
Maurice uses his tale for the plot of his first novel.
Ackermann is shunned by society when his account is revealed and Maurice distances himself from their connection. Erich is a broken man.
The story continues with his meeting the renowned Gore Vidal and how Gore sees through Swift's facade.
Then Maurice marries novelist Edith Camberley. After her well received first book, she is working on her second during their marriage.
As his hunger for fame increases, so do the lengths Maurice will go, to realize his dreams of success.
In the end, Maurice may get what he deserves, but will never learn a lesson from it.
A brilliantly written story that immediately draws you in and doesn't let go!
I really loved The Heart's Invisible Furies, and I was putting off reading this, worried that the main character was such a ruthless villain, that hating him would ruin the book for me. But despite his negative traits, he is mesmerizing!
Thank you to Crown Publishing / Hogarth and NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an hones review.

A Ladder to the Sky is my maiden voyage with this author and I devoured it with gusto. I think it was a good place for me, specifically, to start because Maurice Swift is a sociopath. There are no "good" mental illnesses but there are ones far more interesting than others to me. Maurice is many things-amoral, narcissistic, brutally ambitious-but he's not boring. My first reaction to him as a twenty year old ingratiating himself to the aged, lonely and slightly pitiful Erich Ackermann was, 'oh, you're a nasty one, aren't you?'.

He is. He has no redeeming qualities. To be a famous author and a father are the only two things he's ever wanted. Both of which he lacks the necessary skills to attain success either for lack of creativity or lack of empathy. One would think that in and of itself would be some sort of poetic justice but is there such a thing as justice when it comes to a sociopath?

For me, that's what the book came to be about rather than his relentless climb toward fame and fortune at any cost, and in that regard, Boyne really distinguished himself by staying true to the characterization rather than serving up some sort of insipid claptrap.

Maurice is diabolical and lives his life inveigling ideas from others for his own personal gain without remorse. He has several weapons in his arsenal. The most powerful of which are his considerable good looks, sex or the withholding of it, his affection, his time, his money, his business nothing is off-limits. They're all just a means to an end, people are disposable to him and this is his story told in three parts, covering most of his lifespan and how he increasingly contravenes morality to get what he wants.

The first part is told from Ackermann and Gore Vidal's perspectives. There aren't enough superlatives to describe how much I loved this part. Ackermann is a sympathetic character who did a terrible thing but his motivation for doing so is what separates him from Maurice.

Gore Vidal, though, is having none of Maurice Swift and it was fantastic! A long time ago I bought a copy of "Vanity Fair". I'm sure there was some celebrity on the cover that I just had to know all the things about but what I wound up discovering was Dominick Dunne. Immediately charmed by him and his particular brand of storytelling, I found myself signing up for a subscription. Every month I couldn't wait to see what stories Dominick would tell me. He knew EVERYONE and everyone knew him; he was a urbane and people gravitated toward him, myself included. Gore reminded me of Dominick and I found myself feeling bereft that I'd missed out on the Gore Vidal experience. This is not a humorous book but some of what came out of his mouth not to mention his thoughts had me snorting.

The second part is told from Maurice's wife, Edith's perspective. This was the weakest section of the book to me and not for the obvious reasons. It encompasses her work as a newly successful author and professor which made sense since it's her story too but it also involved her family. She has a pathological sister, Rebecca, who is embroiled in a divorce/custody battle that took a significant amount of page time and I couldn't make heads or tails of why it was necessary to the narrative. To illustrate how sociopaths come in all shapes, sizes and genders? True, but not crucial to the story, in my opinion. I liked Edith and her voice but the family drama I could've done without.

The third part we delve into the mind of the sociopath. Entertaining, thy name is Maurice Swift. Truthfully, I could probably write a short story about Maurice but I'll refrain and just say he's ruthless, contemptible and obnoxious, but also cunning and charismatic when he chooses to be, thus is the nature of the sociopath. If I said I wasn't absorbed by him, it would be a lie.

Each section was given its own tone and voice which is what I was most dazzled by. Even the writing style changes to fit each person. If that's not embodying a character, I've no idea what is. I did notice the words 'crestfallen' and 'daresay' often but maybe these are mainstays of the literary types? A minor quibble in an otherwise outstanding and infinitely readable story. Flow is certainly in Boyne's wheelhouse and I would recommend A Ladder to the Sky to those who can appreciate an unsympathetic protagonist.

Also, to whomever came up with this tongue in cheek cover, you're a genius.

A copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Brilliant and deliciously devious, John Boyne tells the story of a narcissist wanna-be author and how he uses people to climb to success. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Although this story takes places across multiple decades, it also moves at breakneck speed. This is one of the best thriller's I've read in a long time and the body count rivals a Game of Thrones episode!

A Ladder to the Sky is a brilliant piece of historical fiction written by John Boyne. After reading The Heart’s Invisible Furies, I instantly fell in love with John Boyne’s prose and this latest book did not disappoint.

Book Summary:
“I want to be a success. It’s all that matters to me. I’ll do whatever it takes to succeed.” Maurice Swift is a man of his word.

Maurice Swift is a fascinating yet talentless, fame-climber and egotist who preys upon others to elevate himself as a writer. Once given a taste of fame as a writer, Maurice proves that he’ll stop at nothing to climb higher and higher. Not caring who his devices affect or the turmoil and ruined lives he leaves in his path, Maurice will stop at nothing to catapult himself to the fame he believes he deserves. Will Maurice ever climb high enough to satisfy his ego and is there a price to be paid for the devastation he leaves in your wake?

My Opinion:
I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it. It is both well written and has phenomenal characterizations. You’ll love some of the characters and despise others but the juxtaposition of them is quite intriguing and brilliant. The plot is both unexpected and original with multiple parts told from multiple points of view; which is no easy feat and it’s done to perfection.

I thought this book was unputdownable and I just couldn’t read the pages fast enough. I needed to know what Maurice would do next. Also, a fan of John Boyne’s other work, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, I appreciated the nod to Boyne’s fictional character, Maude Avery in the book as well.

“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.”

The Ladder to the Sky is a brilliant, well-written, unputdownable work of historical fiction.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Synopsis from the Publisher/NetGalley.com
Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent – but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own.

Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel.

Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall…

Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso.

Boyne’s “Heart’s Invisible Furies” is one of my top books—ever. I had VERY high expectations for this book. What threw me off is that this plot/main character can’t even compare to the previous book because they are polar opposites. The only connection is the vast timeframe the book spans. That is one of Boyne’s gifts. Wow. He can tell a story that spans decades and not lose us. Amazing.

Maurice is the QUINTESSENTIAL anti-hero: our main character we can’t stand, but someone has a tiny minutiae of honor. Maurice wanted fame as a writer. He was driven (similar to Victor Frankenstein wanting fame as a scientist.) I couldn’t believe how into this book I was with such a despicable main character.

The point of view of this text was interesting. In the three parts, we experienced 3rd person, 2nd person, then 1st person. I can’t think of a plot structure/point of view structure that can be comparable.

Overall, I can’t think of a contemporary writer who can hold a candle to Boyne. He’s profound and thought-provoking. And the end of his second part will stay with me forever. (OMG!) Boyne, you are my idol.

This wasn’t “Heart’s Invisible Furies,” and I’m glad it wasn’t. Unlike Maurice, Boyne’s imagination is ripe. I can’t wait to see what else (what completely different gems) he will bestow to us! And like “HIF,” “Ladder” will stay with me for awhile!

“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 Ladder to the Sky is the second book by John Boyne I’ve read. And while I feel it wasn’t quite as good as last year’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies, it was still an intriguing look at a ruthless writer.

A Ladder to the Sky followed the story of Maurice Swift, an ambitious young writer who launches his literary career at the expense of another. There is only one problem: because he doesn’t really have the talent, he will do whatever he has to in order to feed his literary ambition. Maurice’s character is so at odds with Cyril’s from The Heart’s Invisible Furies; while both characters are constantly making mistakes, Cyril was a sympathetic character who at least had some redeeming qualities to his character.

Maurice, though a complex character, didn’t have any redeeming qualities. His only two ambitions in life were to be a writer and a father, though we don’t really find out the reasons or motivations behind either of these desires. By telling of Maurice’s life from other viewpoints, the author keeps us at an arm’s length from the character. Even when Maurice finally tells his story with his own words, there is still that marked distance between Maurice and the reader, and even when he imparts a lot of intimate knowledge, it feels somewhat clinical.

Overall, I really liked this book. I was hooked in the first part, and though I knew where the story was going, it was still surprising that someone could be so callous and ruthless. That second part, though – it absolutely blew me away. I read the whole section in a night, thinking I would read only a little but ended up staying up until the wee hours of the morning because I had to finish. It was such an engrossing read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for a copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review.

Ambition in all its ugliness. The storytelling here is great, as I have come to expect from Mr. Boyne. The structure of the book, particularly the last part, is very clever and served to tie up the story fairly neatly. However... I found several of the earlier sections predictable and almost flat. The overall book is entertaining, but it's not my favorite of his books.

With A Ladder to the Sky, John Boyne is now one of my favorite authors and now has a place on my auto-buy list. His talent and creativity blow me away. Each of his novels that I have read is distinctively different, and he is just as comfortable and successful narrating from a little boy's perspective from the 1940s as he is from a woman's in the present day. All of his characters are alive in a way that makes them more real than your neighbor, and his stories are always compelling regardless of complexity.

The main character in A Ladder to the Sky is completely unlike any of his previous characters by the mere fact that he is more the villain than the hero. You find yourself loathing Maurice Swift even though he has a tendency to raise good questions about intellectual property and ownership. Yet, for all your dislike of Maurice, the story is compulsively readable. You want to find out how he could possibly become an even more deplorable human than he has already revealed himself to be all while anticipating the moment when his peers realize the truth. It is a novel which makes you question the answer to the age-old question of how authors come by the ideas for their stories just as it makes you wonder about the veracity of the picture of the publishing world Mr. Boyne, through Maurice, presents. I loved every minute of it.

I really wanted to love this book because I loved both The Boy In The Striped Pajamas and The Heart’s Invisible Furies. Boyne’s writing once again grabs my attention from the beginning, a dark story with its’ characters caught up in a web of deceit and manipulation. I was curious to read ahead and eager to play along. I was hopeful that Maurice would get his just deserts. A compulsively readable book.

This was a very enjoyable read, unique and unexpected. It caught my attention and kept me reading with its griplit twists, but it was also well-written and literary. Highly recommend.

Fabulous storytelling!

One of the most fascinating main characters that I have ever read. Would recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Crown Publishing & John Boyne for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

4 stars! Maurice - you conniving, selfish scoundrel! Never have I ever been so intrigued by such a nasty and repulsive main character. Wow!

This novel follows Maurice Swift in his rise to fame. We are introduced to Maurice as a handsome young man whose goal in life is to become a famous writer. He will stop at nothing to get ahead, latching on to countless people to use them for all he can get. As the story progresses, we witness just how greedy, manipulative and destructive he can be.

This story is unpredictable, outrageous, fascinating and jaw-dropping. I felt like I was in a constant state of shock, never knowing what to anticipate next. The author, John Boyne, has such a unique and enthralling way with words. He created a highly unlikeable main character with such an addictive and engrossing storyline that you can’t help but be intrigued and curious throughout. The writing is brilliant, the characters are unforgettable, the storyline is unique and shocking.

This is my second novel by John Boyne and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend checking out this book and author!

This was a Traveling Sister read with Brenda and Norma.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crown Publishing and John Boyne for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A Ladder To The Sky is available now!

Published by Crown Publishing/Hogarth on November 13, 2018

A Ladder to the Sky is a novel about writers, some real but most imagined, which means it is a book about people with frail egos who spend much of their time sniping at each other. I enjoyed that. The story raises issues of karma and justice, and I liked that even more than the sniping.

A word of caution, however, to readers who do not like novels unless the characters are likable. The protagonist, Maurice Swift, is a talented wordsmith but is incapable of contriving plots, a deficiency he overcomes by stealing them. Even worse, while Maurice is charming and clever, he is also despicable: an ambitious, narcissistic sociopath who advances his career without regard to how he harms the people in his life. He is, in fact, one of the vilest characters ever to play a starring role in a literary novel.

Many of the other characters are writers and while they are typically portrayed as self-involved and somewhat pitiable, none approach Maurice’s malevolence. I enjoyed being appalled by Maurice. Evil characters tend to be more interesting than icons of virtue and Maurice is a fascinating train wreck of a person. Other readers might not be able to stomach an unlikable protagonist.

Point of view shifts throughout the novel. The story is only sometimes narrated by Maurice. As the novel begins, Maurice appears to be a secondary character, a young man worming his way into the life of Erich Ackerman, a literature professor at Cambridge who left his home in Germany at the war’s end, and who hoped to leave his secrets in the Fatherland. Ackerman achieved literary recognition at the age of 66 with the publication of his sixth novel. Ackerman meets Maurice in Berlin on a book tour, then makes Maurice the sole member of his entourage. Ackerman is gay and feels an unspoken yearning for Maurice, who claims not to have given his sexuality much thought.

Maurice longs for literary fame of his own. Ackerman, acting as his mentor, honestly appraises Maurice as an excellent technician who fails to tell compelling stories. Maurice finds his way to literary fame by betraying Ackerman in a way that will put an end to his mentor’s literary career. Perhaps Ackerman deserves that fate — whether Ackerman merits harsh judgment is one of the book’s important questions — but Ackerman has balanced his youthful misdeeds with an adult life that is exemplary. Many readers will feel sympathy for Ackerman, although other readers probably won’t.

Maurice uses another gay writer, Dash Hardy, in much the same way, leading to an intriguing literary interval involving an acerbic but perceptive Gore Vidal before the book moves to Maurice’s marriage and the next stage of his life. One dramatic section of the book involves Maurice’s wife; another involves his son, although the nature of the latter dramatic episode is hidden until the story nears its end. Under other circumstances, a reader would feel compassion for Maurice given the pain an ordinary person would endure in a tragic life, but Maurice is no ordinary person.

Maurice meets a young man near the novel’s end who reminds him of his lost son and their interaction suggests that Maurice may be capable of feeling well-deserved guilt, if only at a subconscious level. While many of the characters are distasteful, Boyne balances the pack with a few sympathetic characters, including Maurice’s wife, who play key roles. In any event, karma makes the novel likable even if the protagonist is not.

A Ladder to the Sky is a compelling novel, not because it creates empathy for its protagonist (John Boyne does quite the opposite) but because the story is absorbing and truth-telling. The novel’s theme is that some talented people cannot be happy with success on its own terms but wish to rise above their peers, to be seen as the best, even if they must tear down their peers to achieve that end. The story advances the quotation that is generally attributed to Gore Vidal (and that Vidal attributed to himself): “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” Stated differently, the notion is that ambition is a pointless waste of energy, like setting a ladder to the sky. The book is honest and provocative. It is also immensely satisfying.

RECOMMENDED

John Boyne has a reputation as an excellent storyteller and I would say after reading this book that it is well deserved.

This is the story of Maurice Swift, a handsome but despicable man, a psychopath, whose ambition is to be a successful writer and make the shortlist for the Prize: "It's all that matters to me. I'll do whatever it takes to succeed." He can indeed write quite well but unfortunately he never has an original thought of his own and so must steal the ideas and stories of others. He is a man with absolutely no conscience and, as we learn, he will stop at nothing to get what he wants--even if he destroys himself in the process.

The title comes from something that he quotes as an old proverb about ambition: "That it's like setting a ladder to the sky. A pointless waste of energy." Whenever one hears about the extreme efforts criminals go through to commit their crimes, one has to wonder what they could have accomplished if they'd put their time, talents and energy to better use. And so it is with Maurice.

I received an arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for my honest review. It is my introduction to John Boyne's writing and I am so grateful for having been given the opportunity.

In November Hogarth Press will release "A Ladder to the Sky." You may want to put your name on the wait list now! Boyne's latest is just that good; it's a psychological thriller that will stir up bile in your stomach, and it's a book lover's dream, a novel about novelists, their insecurities, their outsized egos, their petty jealousies, and the lengths some will go to for fame and recognition. It isn't pretty.

Maurice Swift, a young waiter in a Berlin bierhaus, aspires to be a writer. All too aware of his physical beauty and gender-fluid attributes, Maurice flatters and seduces both men and women as he taps into their imaginations seeking stories he's incapable of conjuring up on his own.

The opening section of the book is told from the perspective of Maurice's first victim, Erich Ackermann, an older writer whose career is experiencing a rebirth since the publication of his first novel in years. Maurice is adept at pinpointing the older man's weakness, a desire for love that was subsumed years earlier after an unrequited affair ended in a tragic betrayal. Making himself both desirable and indispensable, Maurice becomes Ackermann's paid assistant, traveling from one literary festival to another, gaining access to elite writers, publishers, and agents.

Boyne has a gift for ratcheting up the tension. As readers, we begin to suspect Maurice of evil intent even as we think, no, he wouldn't, he couldn't, could he?Boyne reveals Maurice's character through the observations of others, even taking us to Gore Vidal's idyllic home on the Amalfi coast where Swift displays his true nature to the wiser, older writer.

Early reviews compare this novel of Boyne's to Patricia Highsmith's depiction of amorality in "The Talented Mr. Ripley." I wouldn't disagree. Literary and suspenseful, brimming with insider knowledge of the publishing industry, John Boyne deftly examines the effects of unbridled ambition and misplaced trust. I could not put this book down!


Posted by Sallyb at 1:51 PM 1 comment:






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Boyne is a terrific storyteller but this new novel is weaker than the previous one, which was fresh, comic at times and touching. This life of a literary monster is deft but seems crude in comparison, with its predictable and melodramatic murders and chilly, not-too-persuasive central character. I read it all, of course, but won’t cherish the memory this time.

There's nothing better than beginning a book and realizing pretty early on that it will be like nothing you've read before. A Ladder to the Sky is a slow and quiet read, but at the same time, whenever I was reading it I was so immersed I didn't want to put it down. In this way it reminded me a lot of a A Gentleman in Moscow by Amos Towles, but the comparisons stop there. The story of Maurice Swift, a talentless writer on an endless search for notoriety and fame, was both dark and funny, and by the end completely unnerving. It has a satirical feel to it as well, considering the author is writing about the ruthlessness of the publishing industry despite being in the industry himself.

I'm going to describe this one as a "quiet psychological thriller," because it really messes with your mind without pulling out all the stops like a lot of more mainstream thrillers do. It's a slow build - Maurice starts out as a seemingly over-ambitious young writer and nothing more, but things become gradually more shocking as you go along. I really don't want to say more than that, because going into this relatively blind about what it was about made it all the more riveting.

John Boyne has created the most perfect “Despicable Me” character in Maurice Swift. He is a boy who arrives in other people lives, preys upon their weaknesses, sucks out their story, recreates it as his own, reaps the laurels, ultimately destroys the host and moves on to the next always justifying his rightness, never admitting his treachery. Well, that may not be totally accurate as early in the story Swift states that being a success is all that matters and he would do whatever it takes to succeed. Who would have thought that it would be that and that and that.

The story is told by varying characters and what makes the writing so extraordinary is that it fits the author’s definition of what a writer does: “ ‘Uses his or her imagination. Tries to understand how it feels to be alive in a moment that never existed with a person who never lived, saying words that were never spoken aloud’ “

But where to find a title that fits - sometimes it is drawn from a proverb and only at the end does it all make perfect sense. The title, the characters, the writing, simply superb.

Thank you NetGalley and Crown Publishing for a copy of this most amazing book.