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deadkidsongs
In the tradition of THE CEMENT GARDEN and THE WASP FACTORY, this is a compelling and shocking journey into the dark heart of boyhood, as four boys play war games deep in the English countryside. With the death of one of the Gang (as they call themselves), the war games escalate, directed now against the adults they hold responsible for the loss of one of their soldiers. Like Toby Litt's previous novel CORPSING, DEADKIDSONGS is unputdownable, highly original and deeply thought-provoking.
Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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About the author
Toby Litt
89 books211 followersToby Litt was born in Bedfordshire, England. He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia where he was taught by Malcolm Bradbury, winning the 1995 Curtis Brown Fellowship.
He lived in Prague from 1990 to 1993 and published his first book, a collection of short stories entitled Adventures in Capitalism, in 1996.
In 2003 Toby Litt was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'.
In 2018, he published Wrestliana, his memoir about wrestling, writing, losing and being a man.
His novel, A Writer's Diary, was published by Galley Beggar Press on January 1st 2022.
A Writer's Diary continues daily on Substack.
He lives in London and is the Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.
He lived in Prague from 1990 to 1993 and published his first book, a collection of short stories entitled Adventures in Capitalism, in 1996.
In 2003 Toby Litt was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'.
In 2018, he published Wrestliana, his memoir about wrestling, writing, losing and being a man.
His novel, A Writer's Diary, was published by Galley Beggar Press on January 1st 2022.
A Writer's Diary continues daily on Substack.
He lives in London and is the Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
April 27, 2015
For very good reasons this book features on lists of 'Most Disturbing' novels suggested by readers. I have a pretty high tolerance threshold and it unsettled me to the extent I seriously contemplated a 'Did not Finish', but I needed to know what happens, how it all fits together.
I think it best not to know too much going in, other than to be aware of warnings this book is NOT for everyone, as a parent I found aspects of story and characters almost too much to bear: there is graphic violence, physical and emotional abuse of children and women, and scenes of animal cruelty, too. Then there's its confusing structure with deliberate contradictions and variations in accounts from different POV characters.
I have read, and enjoyed, American Psycho which did not affect me nearly as much as Deadkidsongs because Brett Easton Ellis's novel is dark satire, its violence and gore of the Spartacus: Gods of the Arena type. Deadkidsongs on the other hand is horribly realistic. The narrative racks up tension in a way that forces you to keep reading on with an ever increasing sense of impending doom.
The title tells us what to expect: it is a literal translation of Kindertotenlieder, a series of poems by Friedrich Rückert written after his children's death and set to music by Gustav Mahler, quoted before each chapter.
Other reviewers have made comparisons with Lord of the Flies and The Wasp Factory crossed with Just William. Yes! It is about 4 blond boys in a Seventies English provincial town in a Gang run on militaristic lines, with a command structure. They train to fight the Commies, fed on the Mother's Milk of WWII films/books, free to roam in that benignly neglectful parenting way of my own childhood. They look up to the father of one of the boys known as 'The Best Father', a sadistic bully and abuser. They despise another who really is the best, a pinko peacenik type. There are the grandparents to one of Gang who reminded me a lot of the elderly couple in Raymond Briggs's When the Wind Blows.
How much is real is open to question, I think. A very unsettling book for those of us with that shared experience of growing up in the 60s/70s in the lingering aftermath of WWII and the Cold War, when Summer holidays meant entire days spent running wild far from parental supervision. I, too, had a chip pan fire incident when left in charge as a young teenager, was obsessed with war stories of Battle of Britain fighter pilots and prison camp escapes. I remember being terrified of imminent nuclear destruction, the risible Protect and Survive booklet issued by the UK government, the horror of rabbits deliberately infected with myxomatosis. The Seventies backdrop is brilliantly realised.
To be honest I don't have much confidence I understand what was really going on and would have gone back to re-read the novel if not for the fact I don't want to put myself through the experience again, so I will remain uncertain. This is a novel that wants you to consider what you are reading and then rethink that as you go on and have more information, and then again at the ending which is pretty much calculated to send you back to the beginning! This is not to say I regret reading the novel, I just wish it were easier to forget the images it has planted in my head, sadness over the horror inflicted upon children by adults in their lives that leads to a cycle of violence and abuse.
I think it best not to know too much going in, other than to be aware of warnings this book is NOT for everyone, as a parent I found aspects of story and characters almost too much to bear: there is graphic violence, physical and emotional abuse of children and women, and scenes of animal cruelty, too. Then there's its confusing structure with deliberate contradictions and variations in accounts from different POV characters.
I have read, and enjoyed, American Psycho which did not affect me nearly as much as Deadkidsongs because Brett Easton Ellis's novel is dark satire, its violence and gore of the Spartacus: Gods of the Arena type. Deadkidsongs on the other hand is horribly realistic. The narrative racks up tension in a way that forces you to keep reading on with an ever increasing sense of impending doom.
The title tells us what to expect: it is a literal translation of Kindertotenlieder, a series of poems by Friedrich Rückert written after his children's death and set to music by Gustav Mahler, quoted before each chapter.
Other reviewers have made comparisons with Lord of the Flies and The Wasp Factory crossed with Just William. Yes! It is about 4 blond boys in a Seventies English provincial town in a Gang run on militaristic lines, with a command structure. They train to fight the Commies, fed on the Mother's Milk of WWII films/books, free to roam in that benignly neglectful parenting way of my own childhood. They look up to the father of one of the boys known as 'The Best Father', a sadistic bully and abuser. They despise another who really is the best, a pinko peacenik type. There are the grandparents to one of Gang who reminded me a lot of the elderly couple in Raymond Briggs's When the Wind Blows.
How much is real is open to question, I think. A very unsettling book for those of us with that shared experience of growing up in the 60s/70s in the lingering aftermath of WWII and the Cold War, when Summer holidays meant entire days spent running wild far from parental supervision. I, too, had a chip pan fire incident when left in charge as a young teenager, was obsessed with war stories of Battle of Britain fighter pilots and prison camp escapes. I remember being terrified of imminent nuclear destruction, the risible Protect and Survive booklet issued by the UK government, the horror of rabbits deliberately infected with myxomatosis. The Seventies backdrop is brilliantly realised.
To be honest I don't have much confidence I understand what was really going on and would have gone back to re-read the novel if not for the fact I don't want to put myself through the experience again, so I will remain uncertain. This is a novel that wants you to consider what you are reading and then rethink that as you go on and have more information, and then again at the ending which is pretty much calculated to send you back to the beginning! This is not to say I regret reading the novel, I just wish it were easier to forget the images it has planted in my head, sadness over the horror inflicted upon children by adults in their lives that leads to a cycle of violence and abuse.
September 18, 2018
First time I read this book, I was 14 years old. Somehow, it got to my hands, and I had no clue what was it about. It shocked me, the plot, the ending, and most of all the fact that main characters were the kids my age. My perspective and book-reading experience dramatically changed from childish innocence in literature to harsh and cruel slap of reality I wasn't ready for, contained in Deadkidsongs. I can say that this book was turning point to my view of literature, and life in general.
On my 21st birthday, my girlfriend bought me this book. It took me a year before I read it again (sorry Anna :P). After years of reading experience, I wondered what It would be like reading this book that amused me as a kid, will I be disappointed and will it shake those fundations that it implemented in me? I was so wrong. This book is still my favourite. But, now, I admire things that I overlooked reading it as a child. First of all, brilliance of Toby Litt's writing. Switching narrative from third-person point of view to first-person of not one, but four different boys telling one story, with deliberate contradictions coming from their individual characters, and guiding them to inevitable doom that you know is there, but you can't stop reading is glorious.
There are many social themes that intertwine this masterpiece. Cold war, PTSD, abuse, rape, homosexuality, animal abuse, murder, dehumanization of kids, violence, wrong values etc. Narrator doesn't put them out on the open like that, some of them are hidden in short sentences and simple streams of consciousness of one of the characters, and all of them mixed together culminate to one of the most brutal and darkest inevitable endings of modern literature.
Absolutely, must read.
On my 21st birthday, my girlfriend bought me this book. It took me a year before I read it again (sorry Anna :P). After years of reading experience, I wondered what It would be like reading this book that amused me as a kid, will I be disappointed and will it shake those fundations that it implemented in me? I was so wrong. This book is still my favourite. But, now, I admire things that I overlooked reading it as a child. First of all, brilliance of Toby Litt's writing. Switching narrative from third-person point of view to first-person of not one, but four different boys telling one story, with deliberate contradictions coming from their individual characters, and guiding them to inevitable doom that you know is there, but you can't stop reading is glorious.
There are many social themes that intertwine this masterpiece. Cold war, PTSD, abuse, rape, homosexuality, animal abuse, murder, dehumanization of kids, violence, wrong values etc. Narrator doesn't put them out on the open like that, some of them are hidden in short sentences and simple streams of consciousness of one of the characters, and all of them mixed together culminate to one of the most brutal and darkest inevitable endings of modern literature.
Absolutely, must read.
October 22, 2011
Iv'e been meaning to read this since I cut a review of it out of a paper about 10years back, spotted it by accident in the library and picked it up. It really was worth the wait, a brilliant novel following the summer of Gang, four lads larking about playing army and practicing their defences incase the Ruskies attack. What starts off as a fun coming of age tale soon starts to spiral out of control into much murkier territory as the lads plot and plan revenge for the wrongs that happen to them. A great study on youngsters, parenting and erm, torture.
9 deadkids out of 10
9 deadkids out of 10
June 13, 2016
Wow, this is a book which will invoke strong reactions. You will love it or hate it; I cannot imagine anyone being meh about this book
Imagine if the Secret Seven and Lord of the Flies had a baby, and that baby hung out at The Wasp Factory and maybe chatted to Stephen King – this book is that baby.
It tells the story of a summer of four friends, known as Gang. Four almost teenager, not yet hitting puberty fully but feeling its edges, boys who think they are little men. Boys with the arrogance of youth and the strength of blind courage. Boys with some screwed up ideas with no adults who are managing to monitor or control them. Boys on a road to devastation and destruction.
As an adult reader I could see where these kids were going, watch them hurtling towards the brick wall of reality, and was unable to stop them, or stop myself reading and wincing.
I don’t want to give away too much but from the blurb it is evident that the four boys are living in the 70s and imagine themselves as future saviours of England from the Ruskies. The book is set mid Cold War so I imagine these kinds of war games were quite common. However, these boys, this Gang, was a perfect storm of parental absences, charismatic peers and general boredom. And bored, disgruntled, parent hating teenagers are a dangerous lot. Add in death, fear and internal bullying and you really do have the setting for some twisted behaviour.
It is also included in the blurb that of the four of them, only two survive. As an adult I was quite shocked at myself hoping for one, and then another, boy to be the one to die. Do the unlikeable deserve to die more than the likable? This is a question raised both in me, through my reactions to the boys, and the book, through their decisions and behaviours.
I was glad to wake in the middle of the night because it meant I could read a few more pages. This book, the first in ages, literally kept me up at night, either reading it or thinking about it.
It is not for the fainthearted, but if you like your stories gritty and real, and unputdownable, then this book is for you.
I think it is brilliant
Imagine if the Secret Seven and Lord of the Flies had a baby, and that baby hung out at The Wasp Factory and maybe chatted to Stephen King – this book is that baby.
It tells the story of a summer of four friends, known as Gang. Four almost teenager, not yet hitting puberty fully but feeling its edges, boys who think they are little men. Boys with the arrogance of youth and the strength of blind courage. Boys with some screwed up ideas with no adults who are managing to monitor or control them. Boys on a road to devastation and destruction.
As an adult reader I could see where these kids were going, watch them hurtling towards the brick wall of reality, and was unable to stop them, or stop myself reading and wincing.
I don’t want to give away too much but from the blurb it is evident that the four boys are living in the 70s and imagine themselves as future saviours of England from the Ruskies. The book is set mid Cold War so I imagine these kinds of war games were quite common. However, these boys, this Gang, was a perfect storm of parental absences, charismatic peers and general boredom. And bored, disgruntled, parent hating teenagers are a dangerous lot. Add in death, fear and internal bullying and you really do have the setting for some twisted behaviour.
It is also included in the blurb that of the four of them, only two survive. As an adult I was quite shocked at myself hoping for one, and then another, boy to be the one to die. Do the unlikeable deserve to die more than the likable? This is a question raised both in me, through my reactions to the boys, and the book, through their decisions and behaviours.
I was glad to wake in the middle of the night because it meant I could read a few more pages. This book, the first in ages, literally kept me up at night, either reading it or thinking about it.
It is not for the fainthearted, but if you like your stories gritty and real, and unputdownable, then this book is for you.
I think it is brilliant
March 24, 2021
This is truly a unique novel on so many levels. The structure, for one, is ingenious and original. I would like to say why I think that is so, but it would be a spoiler. Toby Litt does an amazing job at presenting the mindset of young boys. I don't think I've read another writer who has presented the spirit of boyhood as convincingly as Toby Litt since reading Robert C McCammon's "Boy's Life". The change in mood within this novel is also something that I've not really encountered before. What begins as a bucolic story slowly, gradually, and eventually becomes something that is both nightmarish and stomach churning. I honestly felt a bit nauseated at times in reading Deadkidsongs. I rated this one 5-stars because it literally was an "amazing" read!
June 8, 2008
When I finished this book, I had to leave my apartment and go visit with this friend of mine who was singularly annoying and beyond mundane. We spent 4 hours talking and eating dinner. I still went home with the shivers, completely freaked out by the last 30 pages.
April 28, 2014
This is probably my favourite book of all time. It's dark, violent and disturbing and speaks with an authentic voice of childhood - innocent, knowing, cruel and frightened, all at the same time. The menacing character, the 'best father' still haunts my dreams.
May 22, 2021
One third of the way in I was giving this 3 stars. The problem, at that juncture, is that the four protagonists (a gang called "Gang" of 4 prepubescent sociopaths in small-town England in the 1970s) have no goal. Actually, they have a goal, but it's delusional and therefore easily dismissed: they are preparing to repel the coming Soviet invasion. And then, the first big even happens and it's pretty much random and I was thinking, eh, 3 stars is generous.
Then, slowly, the boys start doing stuff. Did I mention they are sociopaths? The tempo and stakes ramp up like a power law curve and suddenly, in the last 20%, the book turns as psychotic as its characters and everybody is horrible or criminally stupid.
I mean that in a good way. 5 stars.
Oh, and the thread from the beginning that appeared to be forgotten comes back and the very end. So, the author knew exactly what he was doing after all, even if what he was doing was very much not the conventional Hero's (or even Anti-Hero's) Journey.
I can also say it's been a while where I was able to knock off a full-length novel in 10 days. A good sign, for me or the book, I'm not sure which.
Recommended, but only to you crazy people out there.
Then, slowly, the boys start doing stuff. Did I mention they are sociopaths? The tempo and stakes ramp up like a power law curve and suddenly, in the last 20%, the book turns as psychotic as its characters and everybody is horrible or criminally stupid.
I mean that in a good way. 5 stars.
Oh, and the thread from the beginning that appeared to be forgotten comes back and the very end. So, the author knew exactly what he was doing after all, even if what he was doing was very much not the conventional Hero's (or even Anti-Hero's) Journey.
I can also say it's been a while where I was able to knock off a full-length novel in 10 days. A good sign, for me or the book, I'm not sure which.
Recommended, but only to you crazy people out there.
Read
August 20, 2025How is this book not more famous? It should be an absolute must read for so many people. I read its 400+ (???) pages in 24 hours. Experimental, lucid writing that is astute and profound and at the same time completely readable and darkly funny. Manages to strike a balance of being unputdownable whilst poetic and strange, forcing readers to ask massive questions about the power of the imagination, and the games adults (yes adults, not children) play. No notes! (Except the title, whose reference I did not get, and is for me a reason this book isn’t more widely read??)
Read
April 15, 2025a sort of houthi PC small group of british middle schoolers wages war against elderly nemeses & does not abide by the geneva convention. a little like an addendum or rejoinder to lord of the flies: anarchy isn't the only way for a society of boys to go Real Bad Wrong.
April 8, 2022
Very well written but disturbing
October 19, 2017
I found this book quite disturbing in parts, particularly the events in the morgue. The cruelty of the gang & their "attacks" on the dinosaurs made me feel very uncomfortable, I think because it seemed so realistic, which is a tribute, I suppose, to the excellent writing.
In all honesty I couldn't say I "enjoyed" the book. Despite that, it never crossed my mind to give up on it...I found it strangely compelling & couldn't put it down - I just had to know what would happen next, even if I knew I wasn't going to like it!
In all honesty I couldn't say I "enjoyed" the book. Despite that, it never crossed my mind to give up on it...I found it strangely compelling & couldn't put it down - I just had to know what would happen next, even if I knew I wasn't going to like it!
March 22, 2018
Very hard to put into words why this is such an amazing book. Is it because at several points while reading, you catch yourself wishing it is such or such kid who will die? Is it the conflicting stories by different narrators? Is it the constant feeling of impending horror? Is it the gruesome detail? The unrelentless suspense? The way it keeps you up at night both in a good and a bad way?
All I can say is: brilliantly disturbing, disturbingly brilliant. And not - NOT - for the faint of heart.
All I can say is: brilliantly disturbing, disturbingly brilliant. And not - NOT - for the faint of heart.
October 10, 2007
This is spooky and awesome.
December 1, 2007
I LOVE this story, the characters, apparently someone said it was like "lord of the flies" meets "the wasp factory" guess I should check out the wasp factory...
October 3, 2008
Echoes of our beastly childhood mindsets
June 10, 2017
Este libro apareció en las estanterías de mi casa sin que nadie en ella supiese como había llegado hasta ahí. Su título ciertamente macabro me atrajo en su momento, pero por alguna razón que he olvidado, nunca terminé de animarme a leerlo. Lo que sí recuerdo es que traté de descubrir quién lo había traído a casa, sin éxito. Pasó años (trece para ser exactos) formando parte del imperturbable paisaje de mi estantería infantil - a donde llegó también de manera misteriosa, aunque intento creer que fui yo el que lo dejó ahí y sencillamente lo he olvidado -, donde se acumula una mezcla extraña de libros para niños/jóvenes que leí en algún momento junto a otros, como éste, que nunca empecé por alguna razón, pero que quedaron ahí congelados porque, a pesar de todo, esperaba enfrentarme a ellos algún día. Llámenlo intuición.
Ese día llegó por fin. Y no sé si me alegro o no. Lo cierto es que la lectura es relativamente sencilla - no así la estructura - y amena, y el escritor tiene un estilo más que correcto. Pero creo que hasta ahí puedo alabar. El libro se supone que pretende jugar con la idea de que mente de los niños es sencilla, manipulable, primaria incluso, a veces violenta, y siempre incontrolable. Frente a ello, personajes adultos embobados, que viven en una realidad paralela y que son incapaces de relacionarse de manera efectiva con los infantes.
Todo podría dar lugar a una gran historia. ¿A quién no le gustan las historias macabras protagonizadas por pandillas infantiles? ¿A quién no le gusta "It" o "El Rey de las Moscas"? El problema del libro de Litt recae en que no es creíble. Y que nadie me malinterprete: una historia de ficción no tiene que ser realista. Pero sí creíble. Hay un pacto tácito entre autor y lector, y a mi juicio, Litt no lo cumple.
Me asusta ver que muchas reseñas de este libro hablan del realismo de la representación de la mente infantil. Incluso aunque tenga un contexto histórico muy definido y sea dentro del género de la comedia negra. Sinceramente, la empatía que me han causado los personajes infantiles - y narradores - ha sido cero. Nada que me recuerde a la infancia, nada que me parezca verosímil. Sólo violencia y una mentalidad totalmente totalitaria, valga la redundancia, que si bien no creo ajena a la infancia, me apena pensar que haya gente que considere esto "normal". Si me lo hubiera vendido como una apología del gregarismo, de cómo de fácil es caer en la violencia por seguir a un líder carismático, de cómo nos ciega la admiración... Pues quizás. Pero no lo venden así.
Por otra parte, la historia puede resultar curiosa y atrapante - no apasionante - y los personajes adultos, aunque en teoría no debería ser así, me resultaron de lo más interesante de la obra. Casi me gustaría leer su punto de vista de todo lo sucedido en el libro. Dispone de un giro final, hasta cierto punto inesperado, que a mi juicio no aportó nada a la historia (la cambia, pero no me parece que sea necesario).
Le pongo tres estrellas porque está bien escrito, la historia no es mala - daría para una película de mediatarde - y tiene algunos buenos momentos, pero no consigo ver la obra de arte que muchos aquí han visto sin problema. Quizás sea problema mío, no lo sé. Quizás lo debí leer hace catorce años.
Ni mucho menos es un libro difícil de digerir. Un capítulo de Canción de Hielo y Fuego te insensibiliza de sobra para toda la obra de Litt. Es un libro que se puede leer sin problema; que en 2004 a lo mejor era muy macabro, pero que hoy no escandalizará a nadie; que a mi juicio falla en la empatía con sus protagonistas; y que en definitiva olvidaré pronto, pese a que no me arrepiento de haberlo leído.
Ese día llegó por fin. Y no sé si me alegro o no. Lo cierto es que la lectura es relativamente sencilla - no así la estructura - y amena, y el escritor tiene un estilo más que correcto. Pero creo que hasta ahí puedo alabar. El libro se supone que pretende jugar con la idea de que mente de los niños es sencilla, manipulable, primaria incluso, a veces violenta, y siempre incontrolable. Frente a ello, personajes adultos embobados, que viven en una realidad paralela y que son incapaces de relacionarse de manera efectiva con los infantes.
Todo podría dar lugar a una gran historia. ¿A quién no le gustan las historias macabras protagonizadas por pandillas infantiles? ¿A quién no le gusta "It" o "El Rey de las Moscas"? El problema del libro de Litt recae en que no es creíble. Y que nadie me malinterprete: una historia de ficción no tiene que ser realista. Pero sí creíble. Hay un pacto tácito entre autor y lector, y a mi juicio, Litt no lo cumple.
Me asusta ver que muchas reseñas de este libro hablan del realismo de la representación de la mente infantil. Incluso aunque tenga un contexto histórico muy definido y sea dentro del género de la comedia negra. Sinceramente, la empatía que me han causado los personajes infantiles - y narradores - ha sido cero. Nada que me recuerde a la infancia, nada que me parezca verosímil. Sólo violencia y una mentalidad totalmente totalitaria, valga la redundancia, que si bien no creo ajena a la infancia, me apena pensar que haya gente que considere esto "normal". Si me lo hubiera vendido como una apología del gregarismo, de cómo de fácil es caer en la violencia por seguir a un líder carismático, de cómo nos ciega la admiración... Pues quizás. Pero no lo venden así.
Por otra parte, la historia puede resultar curiosa y atrapante - no apasionante - y los personajes adultos, aunque en teoría no debería ser así, me resultaron de lo más interesante de la obra. Casi me gustaría leer su punto de vista de todo lo sucedido en el libro. Dispone de un giro final, hasta cierto punto inesperado, que a mi juicio no aportó nada a la historia (la cambia, pero no me parece que sea necesario).
Le pongo tres estrellas porque está bien escrito, la historia no es mala - daría para una película de mediatarde - y tiene algunos buenos momentos, pero no consigo ver la obra de arte que muchos aquí han visto sin problema. Quizás sea problema mío, no lo sé. Quizás lo debí leer hace catorce años.
Ni mucho menos es un libro difícil de digerir. Un capítulo de Canción de Hielo y Fuego te insensibiliza de sobra para toda la obra de Litt. Es un libro que se puede leer sin problema; que en 2004 a lo mejor era muy macabro, pero que hoy no escandalizará a nadie; que a mi juicio falla en la empatía con sus protagonistas; y que en definitiva olvidaré pronto, pese a que no me arrepiento de haberlo leído.
October 1, 2020
This has been described as a cross between Just William and Lord of the Flies with a pinch of The Wasp Factory, and it really is very nasty indeed. Narrated in turn by the four pre-teen boys who make up "Gang", it begins by recounting the war-obsessed games familiar to anyone who grew up in 1970s England, before taking a darker turn as summer slides into autumn.
Paul's vegetarian father belongs to CND and believes in parenting by consent. Andrew's father is a sadistic bully and abuser. Guess which the boys call "Best Father".
The period details are spot on, as I can attest (fish fingers and baked beans for tea, with mandarin oranges in jelly for dessert.Yum.) The narration may be a bit too tricksy for some tastes, switching continually as it does from first person to third person and it's often not entirely clear whose voice we are reading. The ending raises even more questions. Definitely not for the squeamish or faint-hearted, trigger warnings for animal cruelty, child cruelty, OAP cruelty.
Paul's vegetarian father belongs to CND and believes in parenting by consent. Andrew's father is a sadistic bully and abuser. Guess which the boys call "Best Father".
The period details are spot on, as I can attest (fish fingers and baked beans for tea, with mandarin oranges in jelly for dessert.Yum.) The narration may be a bit too tricksy for some tastes, switching continually as it does from first person to third person and it's often not entirely clear whose voice we are reading. The ending raises even more questions. Definitely not for the squeamish or faint-hearted, trigger warnings for animal cruelty, child cruelty, OAP cruelty.
April 3, 2024
Очень тяжелая и почему-то правдивая книга. Мне она показалась сильнее Повелителя мух (его нельзя не вспомнить). Она правда показывает, как сбиваются в стаи дети. Что дети жестоки. Что жестокость их иного вида - благие намерения дорога в ад. Что понятие дружбы может отличаться вот прям настолько. Что защита от жестокости - любовь. Точнее, обещание любви. Точнее, иллюзия обещания. И что эта иллюзия обещания подкрепленная верой, может быть сильнее любви настоящей, просто недонесённой.
Она (книга, история) может показаться чрезмерной, отталкивающей и неприятной. Это не лучшая книга, чтобы отвлечься. Но мне она очень понравилась.
Она (книга, история) может показаться чрезмерной, отталкивающей и неприятной. Это не лучшая книга, чтобы отвлечься. Но мне она очень понравилась.
August 17, 2025
At a time (mid 2020s) when we talk a lot about toxic masculinity, this 2001 novel (set in the 1970s) seems very prescient. "Gang" are prepubescent boys whose narrative has been shaped by hero worship of the worst of their available role models, knocked into something even darker by the death of one of their members. The book inhabits their cruelties, fantasised and actual.
February 18, 2020
Starts off pretty cheery and nostalgic, and captures being a young boy pretty well.
Then it starts to get slowly more disturbing. It kept me guessing until the end... although I'm still not really sure what happened then.
Then it starts to get slowly more disturbing. It kept me guessing until the end... although I'm still not really sure what happened then.
August 21, 2023
A very deep dark read. Child abuse, animal torture and disturbed children. That's all I can say about the book. I enjoyed it, it took me to places I don't want to go back to. But now I need something light hearted.
August 6, 2017
Really good read again from Toby Litt, the only thing I didn't like about this book was that the violence was a bit too graphic for me but other than that a fascinating book.
October 8, 2017
It was interesting to read and a page turner but when I got to the end I was left feeling “what the hell happened there?”
February 12, 2020
Quite uncomfortable reading, was recommended for my 13 year old son. Not happening
August 16, 2020
Haunting. I won't forget this book. Its clever, suffocating and rich.
September 20, 2021
It started well, lost its way a bit, then got a bit weird.
September 24, 2021
Kids are evil.
October 27, 2022
Wasp Factory Meets The Famous Five
June 8, 2023
Really don't know what to say. I read it, but didn"t like it at all
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