ANDY Lansell, killed in the First World War in 1918, lies in a small cemetery in the north of France. Henry Lyon, in a borrowed Volvo station wagon, is driving up to the south coast of New South Wales. The Parths of their lives are about to cross.
From this award-winning and best-selling author comes a story of two young men. As Andy and his mates head inexorably towards the bloody, torturous Western Front, Henry and his mates face challenges, dangerous situations and tragedies of their own.
As a child, David Metzenthen was a nature boy; he loved fishing and farm work, exploring the bush, and being outdoors under the stars. He also lived very much inside his own head; feeling that the world was a place of unlimited adventure. He harboured dreams of becoming a cowboy, a fisherman, a farmer, a sailor, or a writer. Instead he left home at eighteen, with a copy of Jack Kerouac's On the Road for company, and hitch-hiked his way around New Zealand. Returning to Australia, David worked as a builder's labourer and advertising copy writer before finding success as a writer of books for children and young adults.
David Metzenthen now lives with his wife and two children in Melbourne and is one of Australia's top writers for young people. He has received many awards for excellence, including the 2000 CBCA Book of the Year Award: Older Readers for Stony Heart Country, a 2003 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Wildlight, and a 2003 Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Boys of Blood and Bone. In 2004, Boys of Blood and Bone also won a NSW Premier's Literary Award and was an Honour Book in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers. His novel Black Water was an Honour Book in the 2008 CBCA Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers, and Jarvis 24 won the CBCA Award for Book of the Year: Older Readers in 2010, as well as being shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award, WA Premier's Literary Award, Inky Awards and SA Festival Awards for Literature.
I read this for grade ten English. I think it was quite a 'different' way of looking at the same subject that had been forced down our throats for the past years... World War I. I understand that it is good for showing us how strong Australian 'mateship' was, and is. But I had to force myself to read each page. Having no intrest in the book (at all) made it hard to recall quite what happened, and when. So answering questions on the text was an interesting experience when I could recall reading something but I couldn't remember when. But. Back to the topic, the book was pretty 'okay' overall, with Andy's experiences in the beginning half of the book being as interesting as watching paint dry, and Henry's being the only reason I didn't set the text on fire. However. As I kept reading, unthusiastically I might add, Henry's and Andy's places on the 'intrest scale' began switching. I found myself much more intrested in finding out about dead people, being blown to bits, than how he talked to himself. Although I have "no clue" why... Note the sarcasm. Henry's story became fairly leveled out, easy to guess, and pretty boring. I found myself wanting a papercut inflicted to my eyeball rather than read about Henry's little expeditions. It was fairly well-written, and the twists that happened at the end could be pretty sad (if you're absorbed) so I can't give it NO stars. David Metzenthen (however you pronounce that) should've jumped into a point of interest at the beginning of the book, so I wouldn't be cursing my bad luck for finding ONE book I struggled to read. I know, this is my point of view, so maybe this book was amazing, if you like reading history. And it was a little more entertaining than reading a history textbook, I guess. So I can't say it wasn't 'OKAY', but if I had to tell you my real opinion, it would be that this book is really high on the 'meh' scale. The main problem I can see is that the author spends way too long trying to make us think highly of the characters. I couldn't care 'less' about them, and I think that ruined it.
I dislike this book with all my being. It was not very exciting and the characters are unlikable. I had to read this for school - not a good decision. Sorry David Metzenthen, but this wasn't a very good book, and I don't recommend reading it. Ever.
Contains a moving account of life in the trenches in Flanders during WW1 - from an Australian perspective. The two timeline/plot kind of dragged a bit here and there and the "now" was somewhat predictable but an interesting take on a familiar theme. Worth the read. Also I found interesting the author's accurate use of Aussie accent's and quirky phrasing. Most people don't get it right. :) Oh there are some good quotes but will have to write them up later.
The characters were boring and unmemorable, there was too much description, and I felt totally emotionless the entire story. Like most others here in the review section I was forced to read a book for English I otherwise would never have read - Boys of Blood and Bone. At most, the story-line was mediocre and I would most certainly not be recommending it to anyone.
Gosh, Im surprised at how many ordinary reviews and few stars this book receives. I picked this book up in an Op shop in a small town with an Avenue of Honour just like Strattford and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It is obviously written for young adults and touches on subjects such as choices, consequences, making the best of mistakes, duty to to your country, duty to yourself, fragility of life and work ethic which is probably why it was chosen as a book for Year 10 English. By the look of the reviews the messages seemed to have been lost or wasted on many young people. Perhaps they should read it again when they are 40 and realise they dont know everything.
Boys of shit and bone is the worst book I have ever read. I would rather memorize all of Shakespeare's shit than read one page of this uninteresting, boring, and long book. If you want to get cancer, simply pick up this sorry excuse of a book and read the first page and I promise you, you will get sick. The plot is stupid and random. Why does a random teenager care about some random WW1 soldier?is it because they are related? is it because he can relate to the soldier perhaps? Well it's none of that, it's simply because some random 100-year-old fossil told him to read the diary of a random WW1 soldier diary. Characters appear out of nowhere. The ending sucks. Spare yourself the agony of this book and DON'T READ IT!!!!!!!!
the book was amazing very good for a child 5 and up but Ellen Chenay was the highlight of the book with the beautiful face of hers <3 Ellen Chenay is so babe sexy aswell idc about the book i just read it coz of ellen ur so sexy babahy <3 <3 <3 love u cutie!!!
This story successfully portrays the issue of fulfilling ones duty is often difficult however the book was stretched too far creating unnecessary tension and action between characters. This novel would be effective for all age readers if the novel was compressed. No one needed to read a four hundred page book to know that a- a guy got stuck in a town and b- a guy died in war. However Andy's story is achieved by raising the issue that war is a tragic waste of life and also adolescence is a time in your life where you need to make tough decisions.
The book of David Metzenthen “Boys of Blood and Bones” is composed as two interlaying stories: one set in the present time and one placed in the World War I. For starters, if you put each story as a separate book, both these books will be total rubbish.
Why? What do you call a book with no structure and no story, and absolutely nothing happening? Correct: you call it a waste of your time and possibly money (hopefully, you got it from your library and not paid for it!) If I want to read about the World War I, Erich Maria Remarque or Aleksey Tolstoy, both write much better prose. If I want to read about Australian boys going windsurfing, well, the windsurfing is an exciting sport, but not too much to write a book about (the surfing could be a good part mixed with something else, such as a treasure hunt, or a detective, or a love story; but alone – no, it does not stand a chance.) Instead of reading a book about surfing, I would rather go learn windsurfing myself. Way more fun and a good exercise. And do I need a book for it? Yes! A tourist guide will do, cheers, mate.
The characters in each of two Metzenthen’s “separate books” are as flat and predictable a slice of Salami, and probably have one for the brains. It is difficult to develop a character with a slice of Salami for a brain into something other than Pizza. The author’s descriptions – are not descriptive. Every time David Metzenthen comes to something he needs a bit of literature talent for, he wisely stops himself. For example, there is no description of a tragic traffic accident with one of the main present-day characters, Trot (he dies; and I vividly imagine that slice of Salami smashed all over windshield.) Equally non-descriptive is that episode of the final attack into the no-man’s land in the World War One part. How can I write this without talent, the author asks himself. Too much work, mate! Let just stick in a one-sentence mention of the traffic accident here and the three-line mention of that attack there, and let the reader to think through the rest. The only thing that makes any of the “two books” stand out a bit is a heavy Australian accent and slang (with all the swearing,) but I can hardly imagine making a full 276-page story on the accents alone.
Now, it does not matter how complicated Metzenthen can make a combination of his “two books” by constantly and unexpectedly jumping from one story to another, from the modern-day beach to the WW-I trenches, a zero plus zero is still a zero. This is not literature, but a waste of paper. It would be marginally acceptable if the author paid the readers few dollars to read his rubbish (or at least if he sent me coupons for free movies,) but otherwise it is a total, outrageous waste of the reader’s time.
The book of David Metzenthen “Boys of Blood and Bones” is composed as two interlaying stories: one set in the present time and one placed in the World War I. For starters, if you put each story as a separate book, both these books will be total rubbish.
Why? What do you call a book with no structure and no story, and absolutely nothing happening? Correct: you call it a waste of your time and possibly money (hopefully, you got it from the library and not paid for it!) If I want to read about the World War I, Erich Maria Remarque or Aleksey Tolstoy, both write much better prose. If I want to read about Australian boys going windsurfing, well, the windsurfing is an exciting sport, but not too much to write a book about (the surfing could be a good part mixed with something else, such as a treasure hunt, or a detective, or a love story; but alone – no, it does not have a chance.) Instead of reading a book about surfing, I would rather go learn windsurfing myself. Way more fun and a good exercise. And do I need a book for it? Yes! A tourist guide will do, cheers, mate.
The characters in each of two Metzenthen’s “separate books” are as flat and predictable a slice of Salami, and probably have one for the brains. It is difficult to develop a character with a slice of Salami for a brain into something other than Pizza. The author’s descriptions – are not descriptive. Every time David Metzenthen comes to something he needs a bit of literature talent for, he wisely stops himself. For example, there is no description of a tragic traffic accident with one of the main present-day characters, Trot (he dies; and I vividly imagine that slice of Salami smashed all over windshield.) Equally non-descriptive is that episode of the final attack into the no-man’s land in the World War One part. How can I write this without talent, the author asks himself. Too much work, mate! Let just stick in a one-sentence mention of the traffic accident here and the three-line mention of that attack there, and let the reader to think through the rest. The only thing that makes any of the “two books” stand out a bit is a heavy Australian accent and slang (with all the swearing,) but I can hardly imagine making a full 276-page story on the accents alone.
Now, it does not matter how complicated Metzenthen can make a combination of his “two books” by constantly and unexpectedly jumping from one story to another, from the modern-day beach to the WW-I trenches, a zero plus zero is still a zero. This is not literature, but a waste of paper. It would be marginally acceptable if the author paid the readers few dollars to read his rubbish (or at least if he sent me coupons for free beer,) but otherwise it is a total, outrageous waste of the reader’s time.
'Boys of Blood and Bone' is an interesting take on a rather tired subject. That's right. World War One...again. Apparently history never gets old. The story follows two characters, Henry (an 18 year old surfie modern Aussie) and Andy (your country townsfolk man from way back in the day), and how Henry gains insight to Andy's life by reading his diary. Basically its a cultural gender identity issue book that tries to bring across this patriotic love of our wonderful bush-land of a country, as well as fighting for freedoms and the tireless presence of mates and manlove. Don't get me wrong I can appreciate this book for its Australian-ness, but boy, did it try and make you swallow the aussie mateship facade - often (SPOILER) by killing the best characters off. Yep. So...its quite pointless. I know its supposed to make teens realise what our forefathers went through, but seriously, those buggers fought for our freedom, as well as our freedom of mind...do we HAVE to keep dredging them up to make us appreciate the fact we're not speaking French/German/Japanese? Often I wonder what our school curriculum would be if we didnt have those wars... Conclusively, its an ok book. Basic on the grammatical side, but clear and understandable. Story is old, characters are predicatble...when I read it it was like a mixture of 3 novels, a war story, a teenage lifestyle and Star Wars because someone discovers who their true relations are.
I was in my English class when I finished this book and I totally cried. :( This is an amazing book! It gets really boring but its awesome! We have to read this in Year 10 English but it really touch my heart. This is the very first book that I've read about World War I and this is so good. Job Well done, David! :)
i was supposed to read this for year 11 english and i didn’t. scratch that, i COULDNT. it was terrible and the plot couldn’t get anymore boring i mean why cant we read something interesting like catcher in the rye or to kill a mockingbird? anyway, i didn’t read it because i couldn’t make it past the third chapter without falling asleep but guess what i got on the exam? an A. you don’t need to read this to pass what so ever. i just asked my friend (who had only read 11 chapters) what the plot was and i memorised one stupid quote and bam and A. anyway can the australian curriculum stop pissing me off and give us a good book to read?
This book had no intriguing story line and/or challenges or sacrifices that the characters had to make or commit to. The two main characters were not entirely likable, which made the story incredibly hard to relate to, grow attached to and to even finish. How is this book a product from an 'award winning' and 'best-selling author', when the entire novel is so basic and incorrectly structured. The quote on the back of the novel by Agnes Nieuwenhuizen that states 'Metzenthen gets better all the time,' is utterly untrue. I can bring myself to imagine how dull his books written prior to this one must be, if this is one of his better novels. I am currently 10 years old, and as you can see, even 'youngsters'like me know what there must be in a good novel. Apart from very descriptive writing on the thoughts of Henry and Andy, which was almost too much information and a chore to read (I sometimes even skipped some of it, to get to the next part, and found I did not miss anything.) The novel had no peak of tension or excitement, no love or thought seemed to go into the writing, editing and creating of this novel. It was bland to read. lol only half a star for creativity
This book was different to anything I have ever read, it had a true prospect going for it. I found at the beginning, it was a little hard to adjust from one boy’s perspective to another; it also took a little while for Andy’s to become interesting, which annoyed me whenever it switched to him. Towards the end but, I found that Henrys story became pretty boring as well, so I became happy when it started to focus back on Andy. This book gives a great insight for what it was like during the war, I thought it was excellent. All in all, there was always something big occurring in one or both of these Aussie boys’ lives. This book was sad but 100% engaging, I loved it.
Sooooo like everyone else, I was forced to read this book or no extra fries from me. And yes you heard correctly: extra fries. Not exercise or - better yet - exorcise. Just extra fries. Anyway, yeah, I had to read it for an English assignment and I just couldn't devote my attention to it. I was always distracted by the sexy book waiting for me in my school bag. And what made matters worse, was getting a new English teacher, just as the assignment was coming to a close, who hadn't read the book or the criteria. Anyhow, I still passed - go me - ! I might be exaggerating a tad but I just couldn't, and I love (almost) all the books.
This was good book, telling two stories from different times and inter-relating them well to with other.
The story from the past was most interesting to me as it painted a picture of the ups and downs of a soldiers life in and away from the trenches in world war 2, however the modern story moved along nicely and had you invested in the main characters
Story of love, loss, friendship, and war. Could see this being used in high school curriculum. A great mix of a modern story and a war story. Teens try to understand what life must have been like for diggers on the front line.
Hey just heard that ellen chenay is a babe and wanted to meet her in real life i dont know who she is or and frankly i dont care i just want sexy time ;) and this book was good aswell
WORST BOOK EVER!!! had to read it in English at school and it was terrible!!! I was actually trying to like it, NEVER HAVE I TRIED TO LIKE A BOOK!!! SOOOOOOO BAD
It was hard to get into and difficult to read. My opinion is that if they hadn't have split it into two point of views it would have been more interesting and more entertaining to read.
Slow paced, and the cohesion is horrible with the interchanging stories between Henry and Andy. Needs some editing. Had to reread, a little better the second time.
Had to read this for school and was totally hooked. Had me laughing in places and I actually got teary at the end. I'd definitely recommend reading it.