“The Elements” by John Boyne is a devastating and brilliantly written group of four novellas that deal with the brutal topic of sexual abuse. As a warning for anyone sensitive to this issue these characters and stories may not be for you. That being said, it’s hard to put this book down. These four stories are interconnected and the theme of generational trauma inflicted upon perpetrator to victim so compelling that it forces the reader to focus on how we treat each other and the role of community and its inability to take action.
This novel is important as it forces you to think about the subject matter. I commend the author for always tackling these difficult subjects with such spectacular writing and insight.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

WATER. When Vanessa Carvin arrives on a remote island off of Ireland, the first thing she does is change her name to Willow Hale. A new start in her self exile, a way of escaping her life and the viscous gossip that has tormented her for the past year. Her husband (ex) is in prison, her eldest daughter has passed away and her youngest will not send more than a one word text message. The question of guilt lies heavy on her heart, self punishment - her solution. FIRE. Freya is a well known surgeon who specializes in burns. She is a role model and mentor with a dark buried past. Raised on her own due to a dangerously negligent mother and barely there grandmother - Freya has had to fend for herself as far back as she can remember. When the reader learns the chilling truth of her bizarre and dangerous behavior outside of work it is hard to comprehend how Freya became this way. EARTH. Features two famous footballers caught up in sexual assault charges. They are good looking, popular and surrounded by boys will be boys attitudes. Since Evan left the small Irish island he grew up on he has excelled to attain the dreams of his father while secretly and quietly hiding his sexuality and lifelong desire to be a painter. In a short span of time this story manages to cover difficult topics and ethical dilemmas. How far would you go to save yourself? AIR. Aaron is on a long flight with his 15 year old son Emmett. After all these years living in Sidney, Australia, he is heading back to where it all began. No-one is expecting them, in fact Rebecca will be quite shocked to see them. But it is important for his son and somehow Aaron just knows it is the right thing to do. As they fly across the world he slowly reveals his painful past, and can finally imagine a new future. Four novellas. All FIVE stars!!! DO NOT MISS THIS!!!!!

This is in Boyne’s classic style. It deals with some light themes, some very dark themes, with humanity and humor.

I’m a Boyne fan. There’s a smooth capability to his storytelling that’s usually seductive and often gripping. Those skills are visible here, but hitched to a rather histrionic loop of narrative that visits sexual abuse in a manner that’s often seems way over the top. The villains are so villainous that there’s more than a touch of melodrama to the proceedings. And that undermines the integrity of tackling such a grave subject - child sexual abuse, and lifelong trauma.
Also, the format, of connected lives and stories is a tad too neat and tidy. The plot machinery is too close to the surface. And the book is VERY long.
Having said all that, I did read it all, so that says something. But it’s not his best work.

This is a heavy, introspective novel that looks at guilt, trauma, and the long-term impact of the roles people play in each other’s lives. The story unfolds through multiple perspectives, and each one adds a layer of complexity that makes you reflect on what it really means to take responsibility—or avoid it. It’s not an easy read emotionally, but the writing is strong and the characters feel painfully real. It stays with you even after you finished the book. I definitely recommend it.

The four storylines intertwined worked well. This isn't usually my favorite kind of story structure, but if anyone is capable, it is John Boyne. I also liked that all four perspectives felt like different people--not any easy feat to accomplish. I loved The Heart's Invisible Furies, it was one of my favorite books of all time. I was very excited to read this one and it didn't disappoint whatsoever. Sexual abuse is always a very difficult topic for me to read, but it is extremely necessary that we talk about it.

I have been wanting to read Boyne's novels since I first found out about them. They were published in England individually over the last few years but never made it here to the US. Now that I've read it, I think having them published all together is actually so much more powerful than reading them one by one, a year apart.

This was an incredibly powerful read. Boyne's ability to create three-dimensional characters is incredible. In 170 or so pages, the reader gets to know the characters so deeply well that it can evoke all sorts of emotions. I loved how there's always a tie-in from story to story, I loved how the lens changes with each story and you're experiencing a totally different perspective and you feel frustration, sorrow, anger, despair and so much more for each character at different times. I love how much these stories stretch your mind and show you that people are complex, stories are complex, we are all flawed in ways big and small.

It makes you think about your own boundaries with what's forgivable and what's not. About grief and it's lasting impact. About trauma and it's ability to stain all that comes after it. About forgiveness. And I love that the last story brings everything back full cycle.

Boyne is an incredibly talented author. These are hard stories to read, all of them. And they are also really really powerful.

with gratitude to netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

This is not an easy book to read. There is a lot of trauma regarding sexual abuse. The book is divided into 4 parts that are loosely connected.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I have been a John Boyne fan for years, anxiously awaiting his next novel. This one did not disappoint!! Wonderful characters, eventually intertwined. Don't miss this one!!

I am so disappointed in this book. I am such a fan of John Boyne's writing and the writing here is not the problem for me. I loved the first of the four novellas. But the second and third went off the rails. I do not have trouble with, and often adore, an unlikeable narrator, but I could not stand being in the heads of these child abusers. I also thought the story lines were quite predictable. And while I understand the social issues addressed, I found the treatment overly simple.

I feel bad giving a book about sexual abuse a 5, but it deserves it.
I requested an ARC from Netgalley as soon as I heard there was a new John Boyne. Between that and starting it, I started to think "short stories? About child molesters and rapists? Nope." I'm happy I didn't listen to myself.
The book is more than a collection of short stories, they are all connected in many ways. The first one feels especially alienating- "oh, it's a short story, about sexual abuse, AND she's on a remote island to be alone??" And yet, the beauty and soul of the writing pulls one in, making me almost breathless at its beauty. It is not a quick read because you want to read and savor every word, but it doesn't matter because you are incapsulated in it, you want to stay longer. When she finally gets ready to depart the island, you're not ready to leave it or her.
I thought he got lucky with that first story, but even with the shifts each new story demands, Boyne held me in his thrall. The characters of other stories come back to say hello and the characters of future stories make appearance you don't realize until later.
It's not all sunshine and roses. The book is about child molesters and rapists. But they are also clearly the villains. He makes a couple of them sympathetic but doesn't feel bad about destroying them. At some point in the 4th book, an author talks about what makes a good story and he clearly believes it. Everyone gets the ending they deserve.
You can't put too much thought into the logistics of the stories, you just have to go with it. In story A, a character is aged 20ish and in story B, which takes place 5 years later, her future husband is seen as a 14 year old when in fact he should be married to the story A character. And if you do the math, the technology in the first story doesn't work. But really- who cares? I guess the fact I'm thinking about the book so much to notice these inconsistencies shows how it affected it. With the exception of the bad people (although one of them you feel bad for), it is characters who are flawed but trying for better and I felt better about spending time with them.
I am so happy I got to read this beautiful book so early. I had bad book hangover, everything I tried seemed written by a toddler.

Absolutely breathtaking!
John Boyne has always been a master at building a world that causes the reader to use all of their senses. The Elements collection reminds us just how connected we all are, and how our lives can be set on a course by the actions of a stranger. Spanning decades, Boyne weaves together these four tragically flawed characters. The itch of “how did we get here?” kept pestering me until the very end.
Will be one of my top books of 2025

John Boyne's The Heart's Invisible Furies is one of my favorite novels of all time. I tell people about it constantly, especially if sweeping historical fiction is their thing. The Elements, though spectacular, took me by surprise. The writing that is quintessentially John Boyne is there, and he does a spectacular job at finding the distinct voices for all of his characters as the different sections switch POV throughout the book. But I don't know if I've just come to expect the same reading experience as I had while reading The Heart's Invisible Furies or not, but I know that if that's the case then that isn't fair to the author. I will give this one another chance, but the experience of reading it was just okay for me this time.

I love Boyne and have fallen in love with his morally gray characters and depth of emotive writing. He returns with these strengths in The Elements. Through all the various characters and the way they dealt with and reacted to trauma was sad, inspiring, and thought-provoking.

Loved the format of this one with the overlapping characters and stories. Very dark though! There was a lot of monologuing from characters that was doing a lot of work or felt more cinematic. Definitely a book that lets you sit with the dark characters and thoughts. Good ending though!

I'm a fan of John Boyne, but not a fan of short stories., even when they are "connected." Fortunately for me this was connected novellas. With short stories just when you are getting into them, they end. Not so with this book. We have 4 almost exactly 25% length books in a book and connected in such a way that you couldn't wait to see who would be next and where the story would go.

Interesting characters, great writing, good storytelling with a creative take on the connected story novel.

I struggled a bit with the 3rd section, Fire. It wasn't all that credible to me, and I do know it was the whole point of the section but I couldn't really reconcile it. Regardless, it didn't diminish my satisfaction with the book overall.

I tore through this. I read it in 3-sittings which has not happened with a 500-page book since the advent of social media. Readers have a lot to look forward too here.

The Elements by John Boyne is a quartet of stories named for the four elements: Water, Earth, Fire, Air. In the UK, these novellas were published as individual books and that is how I stumbled upon them. I am fortunate enough to have been given the ARC by NetGalley for the US Version containing all four stories as "The Elements", to be published in September 2025.

In summary, this is a book containing interconnected stories related to trauma that humans inflict on one another. However, I would not call this "trauma lit". While the plot and interwoven themes are important to the forward-motion of this novel, what stands out to me primarily is the genius of Boyne's writing. No matter the topic or circumstance he writes in such a way that I can not look away; can not put the book down. From the setting descriptions to the story, told primarily through dialogue, the reader feels as if INSIDE the communities being examined. The four stories in this novel are told from different characters' perspectives, each of whom has played a role in a trauma from perpetrator to victim. The traumas vary, but are all inflicted by another person with lasting consequences. One of the stories in particular gets extremely dark and disturbing. And yet, with Boyne's masterful story telling, the reader, tempted to put down the book, carries on. These character driven stories made me reflect deeply on the human condition and how we treat one another, the role of community, and the beauty of connection. The brilliantly interconnected characters, the settings, the dialogue and the multiple storylines (even the disturbing bits) are impossibly perfect. My personal favorites were Water and Air. I know this novel will stay with me for years. One of the best I've read.

Note: not that it matters, but I am not a fan of the US cover art. The UK books more closely convey the richness of the stories to me!

John Boyne delivers yet another emotionally astute and quietly devastating novel in The Elements. Known for his ability to delve into the moral complexities of human behavior, the book is composed of four deeply introspective novellas, "Water," "Earth," "Fire," and "Air," with each providing haunting, confronting, and moving investigations into sexual abuse and its consequences from different viewpoints. Each of the novellas is from a different perspective - the enabler, accomplice, a perpetrator, and a victim. The lives of the characters intersect across stories in intriguing ways. By linking the novellas and characters, the author shows us how the cycle of abuse can cause people to shift from one role to another.

Boyne’s prose is as elegant and restrained as ever. He doesn’t overwrite emotions—he trusts the reader to feel what’s not being said, which is exactly what makes this novel so moving. The book is steeped in melancholy because of Boyne's unflinchingly honest writing, but there are also flickers of hope and grace that make the stories feel like redemption may be a possibility.

What I appreciated most is Boyne’s refusal to offer neat resolutions. Many of the relationships in The Elements, between parents and children, between teammates, and even between physicians and those who should trust them, are fractured in ways that feel painfully real. There’s an authenticity in the way Boyne portrays long-term consequences of personal failings and the difficulty along with the hardship of forgiveness.

If you’re already a Boyne fan, The Elements will feel like a natural continuation of his thematic explorations. If you’re new to his work, it’s a beautifully self-contained introduction to his sharp insight into flawed humanity. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy introspective fiction, literary family dramas, and stories about reconciliations that don’t come easy. It was hard to read because of the subject matter, but because it was written by John Boyne, it was even harder to put down.

Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley. This book will be published on September 9, 2025.

John Boyne’s The Elements is a masterfully composed, thematically rich novel that cements his reputation as one of the most versatile and ambitious storytellers working today. Structured around the classical elements of water, earth, fire, and air, this quartet of interconnected narratives spans continents, eras, and lives—yet is anchored by a single point of connection: a remote island off the Irish coast.

Boyne inhabits each first-person narrator with remarkable dexterity, lending authenticity and empathy to characters of varying backgrounds, genders, and identities. The prose is elegant and restrained, the kind that draws attention not to itself but to the emotional resonance of its subjects. Through precise language and a deft command of pacing, Boyne allows each voice to emerge fully formed, every chapter a distinct and compelling lens on trauma, identity, and redemption.

Flashbacks and foreshadowing are seamlessly interwoven, with each revelation deepening the reader’s understanding of both character and theme. The novel is unafraid to grapple with heavy issues—abuse, loss, displacement, self-delusion—but does so with subtlety and grace, never succumbing to melodrama or didacticism.

What is most impressive, perhaps, is Boyne’s ability to combine literary depth with the propulsion of a taut psychological thriller. The Elements is both a profoundly philosophical meditation on human frailty and a compulsively readable novel.

In its scale, ambition, and emotional acuity, Boyne’s work recalls that of David Mitchell—another writer unafraid to straddle the metaphysical and the intimate. A remarkable achievement.

When John Boyne takes you for a ride, buckle up! I am glad I was able to read all four novellas in one go, as it made the reading experience better for me.

Be ready, you will not feel joy reading this, but the stories are told in such a way that it will be hard to put down (I did have to take a break between Fire and Air to catch my breath, though).

Read this and be ready to question your biases!