Going for Stone

by Philip Gross

When Nick falls out with his mother's new boyfriend, he runs away, and soon meets a group of human statues, performing in the town centre. Nick finds he has a talent for this too, and is soon 'discovered' by the mysterious genius Antonin, and whisked away to a training centre for human statues. There, Nick's growing love for another performer, Swan, is set against his ambitions and fears as he realizes the darker side of what is going on at the centre. BLPhilip Gross is a well-known poet for both adults and children, and has been shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Award BLGoing for Stone combines a wonderful literary novel with a strong undercurrant of real horror BLDeals with isuues, relevant to many young people, of falling under the sway of a cult, and of striving for perfection

224 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2003

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

the story has this mystery where it kept me intrigue to continue reading it i was slightly off on the story because it developed slowly that the climax of it where almost in the end but i actually love how the story resolved i enjoyed the action scene 😍 maybe becoz its my first on that genre

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going for Stone is the story of a runaway teenager who tries his hand at making a living as living statue. He's got a natural talent for it, and gets recruited by a suspicious secret, secluded training camp.

It is a very original, tense read; creepy and thrilling in equal parts. The back cover seems to suggest something supernatural might be going on, but the book itself is quite different from what is being implied on the cover. Parts of it feel like Lord of the Flies, others like Otfried Preußler's Krabat. In the end, it is a very good read, with hardly a flaw. I'd wholeheartedly recommend it.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought and read this book years ago - my date read is entirely guesswork - I do know I enjoyed it - it was odd - a boy runs away from home and ends up going to weird school to learn/perfect the art of being a human statue. At the time I read it buskers as 'Human Statues' were the bane? curse? delight? of tourist centres/traps around Europe and maybe the world, like 'Peruvians' playing Panpipes were at one stage. Do you still get 'Human Statue' buskers? do you get 'Peruvians' playing Panpipes, and if there are do they still sell recordings of their music? are there still buskers? (There don't seem to be as many but I avoid tourists). For me the problem is the Human Statue as a 'career' - I think it is a fad like Panpipes that has come and gone. As for some mysterious school teaching how-to-be a statue as a cult centre - it's all a bit sub Harry Potter at his silly school.

The novel was fun and engaging but insubstantial and I doubt I would have the patience for it now.

I still give it three stars because it did give me pleasure.

[McKenzie Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a runaway named nick who meets a girl name swan. They both get an opportunity by a twisted artist and art collector that so many people would be grateful for but it's much more darker then anyone realizes.

This book was a decent read but I'm very dissatisfied with the ending. There was so much that the author could of done to make this story stronger. Some of characters needed more details.

[Suzy Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up from a charity shop a while ago, which is where I do most of my book shopping, because lets face it, £2 for a book is good. My old school librarian always said that teen fiction is often a lot better than adult fiction, so there is where I look for books, and there is where I found this.

On the cover of my copy, it says 'warning: not for the faint hearted', so I thought it was going to be a very creepy, science fiction type book where people actually turn to stone. Maybe I misread the blurb, but that's what I took from it and that's why I bought the book.

Turns out, it's nothing like that at all.

Essentially the plot line goes as follows. Main character, Nick, runs away from home due to a family disturbance, and ends up living on the streets. He sees some street performers called the Stone Saints, and decides to take up the act. He is watched by a man called Antonin and taken to a secret location to train as statues. More characters are introduced, plot lines thicken, etc etc.

As I was reading this I became more and more disinterested and disappointed at the story, but I stuck with it, and was pleasantly surprised by the ending. Before I got to the end, I was wondering why my cover told me that this book was not for the faint hearted, because everything so far had been very tame. I personally feel that the ending of the book should have been longer, as that was the main portion of the book that gripped me. If I had not been self motivating and actually forced myself to read to the end, I would not have got to the best part, which would have been a shame.

Overall I think it was an averagely good book, possibly if I had read it when I was a few years younger I would have enjoyed it more. Not one that I would read again though, unfortunately.

[Nettle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a boy who runs away from home and pretty much joins a cult.

This deserves more good reviews, I must've read it when I was about 16, and it's stayed with me. I still sometimes find myself thinking about it when I see those living-statues.

Yeah it's not the most fantastic book, but it's well worth reading if you see a copy.

[Waqar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good plot but very poor detail used, the book failed to keep my attention most of the time. This book isn't the best book to go for unless you like reading undetailed and boring books.

[Iddi Babu]

it is very interesting.