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Boy on the Wire
'He is a man who lied, who told a story, a wild, fanciful story, about the death of a child, a hard and unyielding story. It is that, he finds, that he hates most. The story that was told.
In 1983 Paul Hyde, aged ten, dies falling from a ledge in the mountains of the Karoo. His older brother Peter, who falls at the same time, survives but loses all memory of the event. The youngest brother, John, is the only witness.
Many years later, John is living in London. He and his wife Rachel, who knows nothing of the tragedy of his past and nothing of his family, make plans to have children of their own. Their life together is disrupted when Peter arrives in London and claims his memory is returning. Pulled back in spite of himself, John returns to South Africa and the home he grew up in.
His return makes him question his recollection of the tragedy. Can we ever be certain of events that happened that far in the past, certain we have not completely changed their meaning and our part in them?
In 1983 Paul Hyde, aged ten, dies falling from a ledge in the mountains of the Karoo. His older brother Peter, who falls at the same time, survives but loses all memory of the event. The youngest brother, John, is the only witness.
Many years later, John is living in London. He and his wife Rachel, who knows nothing of the tragedy of his past and nothing of his family, make plans to have children of their own. Their life together is disrupted when Peter arrives in London and claims his memory is returning. Pulled back in spite of himself, John returns to South Africa and the home he grew up in.
His return makes him question his recollection of the tragedy. Can we ever be certain of events that happened that far in the past, certain we have not completely changed their meaning and our part in them?
224 pages, Hardcover
First published August 13, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 13, 2018
I loved reading every page of Boy on the Wire by Alastair Bruce. I highly recommend this novel. There is definitely a lot of suspense running through the pages. This is a story of three ordinary loving brothers that were going to jump from high rocks into the water. A tragedy happens. Which brother is telling the truth into the secret of their young brother's death. The boy on the wire shows how quickly an ordinary family life can take one dark fatal turn and nothing is never the same after. There is a tangle of excitement to this roller coaster dark tale to find the truth.
June 22, 2019
The idea for the plot intrigued me, but the execution was super boring, the book dragged on forever, and I skimmed through about 90% of it.
November 4, 2023
I liked this book! The narrative style was somewhat dreamy and ponderous, which might have frustrated me if I hadn't been in a fairly relaxed mood. I had previously read Wall of Days, which was similarly dreamy, but with Boy on the Wire seeming to involve the themes of guilt, loss and mystery around the death of a child, I was intrigued. I read in some of the other reviews that one does not get answers as to what happened, but when I had finished the book, I was fairly certain of the actual event. The book possibly dragged somewhat with the protagonist spending time exploring his emotions and reacting to his father's house, which had been his family home. I was also rather dubious about the authenticity of the two letters that the protagonist receives during the course of the story, one from his brother and one from his father, both of whom seem to be far more eloquent in the letters written than seem to be likely from the characterisation of them. I'm glad I read it!
May 27, 2019
Couldnt get into - unfinished
October 13, 2015
I thought Alastair Bruce's Wall Of Days was excellent and I was hoping for great things from this novel. It's not bad, and has some excellent things about it, but overall I found it a bit of a disappointment, I'm afraid.
It's a difficult book to summarize. It is narrated from various points of view at different times - sometimes in the third person, sometimes in the first – and concerns John Hyde who is now a successful London banker. At the age of eight he witnessed the death of his older brother in a fall and has always held his other brother responsible. The book concerns his shattered family and his relationship (or lack of relationship) with them, and how returning memories may bring trauma and possible healing.
It's a haunting book, almost nightmarish book at times, in which there is little plot to speak of. Bruce is concerned with the nature of memory, of how memories both false and true can affect our lives and of how lives may be impacted by shattering events, even events of long ago. Beginning quietly, he creates a strange, semi-hallucinatory world in which reality, memory and illusion become indistinguishable – and if you've read Wall Of days you will know what I mean. He's brilliant at it, using short, direct sentences with few adverbs or adjectives and almost nothing in the way of simile or metaphor. It's extremely effective, but this time I think Bruce overdoes it. The book is only just over 200 pages long, but even so, the lengthy central section narrated by John in the first person feels too long. The atmosphere of isolated, nightmarish haunting by lost memories, never being sure what is real and what is imagined is built slowly and devastatingly, but blimey – it does go on. Even the climax felt a bit dragged out, not least because it seemed fairly clear from early in the book what was likely to be revealed. (And don’t look for neatly tied-up endings, by the way.)
I rather felt that this was a less successful attempt to tread similar ground to Wall Of Days, and although I am glad to have read it and some bits will stay with me, I have only reluctantly rounded 3.5 stars up to four on the grounds that it's very well written and three stars seems churlish. I can only recommend this with reservations.
It's a difficult book to summarize. It is narrated from various points of view at different times - sometimes in the third person, sometimes in the first – and concerns John Hyde who is now a successful London banker. At the age of eight he witnessed the death of his older brother in a fall and has always held his other brother responsible. The book concerns his shattered family and his relationship (or lack of relationship) with them, and how returning memories may bring trauma and possible healing.
It's a haunting book, almost nightmarish book at times, in which there is little plot to speak of. Bruce is concerned with the nature of memory, of how memories both false and true can affect our lives and of how lives may be impacted by shattering events, even events of long ago. Beginning quietly, he creates a strange, semi-hallucinatory world in which reality, memory and illusion become indistinguishable – and if you've read Wall Of days you will know what I mean. He's brilliant at it, using short, direct sentences with few adverbs or adjectives and almost nothing in the way of simile or metaphor. It's extremely effective, but this time I think Bruce overdoes it. The book is only just over 200 pages long, but even so, the lengthy central section narrated by John in the first person feels too long. The atmosphere of isolated, nightmarish haunting by lost memories, never being sure what is real and what is imagined is built slowly and devastatingly, but blimey – it does go on. Even the climax felt a bit dragged out, not least because it seemed fairly clear from early in the book what was likely to be revealed. (And don’t look for neatly tied-up endings, by the way.)
I rather felt that this was a less successful attempt to tread similar ground to Wall Of Days, and although I am glad to have read it and some bits will stay with me, I have only reluctantly rounded 3.5 stars up to four on the grounds that it's very well written and three stars seems churlish. I can only recommend this with reservations.
July 25, 2015
If we create a story in our mind and stick to it long enough it becomes our truth. But what if that truth is challenged? How deep can memories be buried? What are the ramifications of another's truth? John Hyde leaves his neat London life in search of truth in South Africa's Eastern Cape. The reader is swept away on a turbulent stream of consciousness and left adrift with thoughts on child psychology, family dynamics, truth and forgiveness. It's a gripping, thought-provoking read written in sharp stark language. Recommended.
January 17, 2017
I ended up skimming through the book because frankly I found the style too mannered, too self-conscious. Alastair Bruce could take some tips from Margaret Mahy's excellent 'Memory'. I also found it unbelievable that parents could handle a tragedy that badly. And, that an eight-year-old could behave as the protagonist did. A disappointing read, I'm afraid.
May 18, 2015
Denouement (last four chapters) wrecked what would have been a great book.
August 9, 2016
My heart was in my throat throughout the novel, so the wishy-washy ending was a disappointment.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews