Golfo

by Robert Westall

Figgis è diverso dai suoi coetanei. Se c’è qualcuno che soffre, anche lontano migliaia di chilometri, Figgis sta male come se accadesse a lui.
Quando scoppia la guerra del Golfo, comincia ad avere strani sogni: dice di chiamarsi Latif e di vivere in Iraq. Ma se nella testa di Figgis c’è Latif, allora dov’è andato Figgis?
Nel trentennale della Guerra del Golfo, torna in Italia il capolavoro di Robert Westall, più attuale e importante che mai.

Genres: Young Adult, War, Childrens

155 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Robert Westall was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England in 1929.

His first published book The Machine Gunners (1975) which won him the Carnegie Medal is set in World War Two when a group of children living on Tyneside retrieve a machine-gun from a crashed German aircraft. He won the Carnegie Medal again in 1981 for The Scarecrows, the first writer to win it twice. He won the Smarties Prize in 1989 for Blitzcat and the Guardian Award in 1990 for The Kingdom by the Sea. Robert Westall's books have been published in 21 different countries and in 18 different languages, including Braille.

From: http://www.robertwestall.com/

Reviews

[Fabiana Culatti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't born when Gulf War happened and I don't know so much about it. But you don't need to know everything about it to see the greatness of this book, it's incredible how the author was able to show the cruelty of war, of each war, and doing it through brotherhood love, with kindness but still very painful. This book is simple, but its simplicity makes it incredible.

Non ero nata quando è avvenuta la Guerra del Golfo e ne so davvero poco. Ma non serve conoscerla per capire la grandezza di questo libro, è incredibile la capacità dell'autore di mostrare l'orrore della guerra, di ogni guerra, e farlo attraverso l'amore di un fratello, con dolcezza ma senza edulcorare nulla. Un libro incredibile proprio per la sua semplicità

[Aileen Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fucking excellent book.

[Charis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written, very emotional and makes the reader feel truly involved in the book

[Anna Ryan-Punch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn this was stressful

[Pedro Fernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cielo negro sobre Kuwait es una obra de ciencia ficción, con mucha acción y que intenta parodiar la guerra mediante la metáfora de un sueño profundo pero pasajero. Su autor Robert Westall intenta reflexionar sobre la guerra y como una experiencia de ese calibre cambia a a las personas.
Tom es un hijo único que siempre ha soñado con tener un hermano, por eso se inventa un amigo imaginario, el señor Figgis. Al poco tiempo sus padres tienen otro niño, Andy, pero al cual Tom siempre llama señor Figgis. Andy es un niño muy sensible con ayudar a todos, tanto a animales heridos o personas pobres, incluso dona dinero a familias en Etiopía. Un día de repente, Andy tiene un sueño y comienza a hablar en alto, despertando así a Tom, cuando Tom despierta a Andy o como él le llama al señor Figgis le dice que él no es Andy, sino un guerrero, Latif, que está participando en Kuwait, en la guerra del golfo pérsico. Al enterarse los padres deciden ingresarle en un hospital ya que piensan que se ha vuelto loco. Allí va a visitarlo un famoso médico árabe que le dijo a Tom que en realidad Andy creía que era un soldado y que se comportaba como si estuviera combatiendo en la guerra. A partir de ese momento, Tom comenzó a observarle y comprobó lo dicho por el médico, Andy cogía colchones y los colocaba de tal manera que parecía una trinchera o cogía una escoba como ametralladora. Días después Andy comenzó a hacer gestos raros y calló al suelo, habían disparado a Latif en la guerra y había muerto, desde ese momento el cuerpo volvió a pertenecer a Andy aunque no fue la misma persona, toda su sensibilidad hacia los demás había desaparecido y se había vuelto una persona tacaña y avariciosa.
Le he otorgado 5 estrellas a esta novela ya que me ha parecido muy creativa esa manera de hacer una parodia de la guerra, en la que se la describe como una tontería, algo que parece un sueño lejano pero que en realidad es mucho más grave y más cercano a nosotros de lo que pensamos. Yo lo recomendaría a todas aquellas personas que quieran desinhibirse por un rato de sus problemas, aunque el lenguaje es simple, por lo que lo podría comprender niños a partir de 12 o 13 años.
Lo que más me ha gustado: como ya he comentado antes, la forma tan sencilla en la que el autor realiza la metáfora entre los sueños y la guerra y que te ayuda a comprender lo cercano que está la guerra y que las personas que lo viven, pueden irse a dormir un día y no despertar al otro por una bomba o un asesinato, como si de un sueño se tratara.
Lo que menos me ha gustado: quizá que los padres de Andy y Tom se muestran muy distantes ante los sueños de Andy, como que se deshacen de él metiéndolo en un hospital.

[Keerthi Vasishta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple story with it's heart in the right place. Westall executes his idea to near perfection. I was reminded of the power and purpose of literature and stories reading this.
It's an amazing skill and craft to be able to put the abstract in clear, concise stories that so delightfully (frighteningly in this case) come together.
It aims at a Young Adult and teenage audience from what I understand and that's why I feel very generous about its very broad strokes character creation and sometimes pedestrian writing. But writing is communication so whatever Keerthi, take a walk somewhere...

[Io_Gaia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letto in classe, adatto per affrontare i temi sulla crudeltà della guerra e i suoi effetti tragici nella vita della popolazione civile.

[L.R. Lam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short young adult novel detailing the difficulties of war, which is a central theme to Westall's work. His other books, The Machine Gunners and Fathom Five, are set in WWII, but this novel discusses the Gulf War. Tom has a little brother, Andy, whom he calls Figgis. Figgis is a little odd at time and becomes fixated on various Things. He is very sensitive to the suffering of others--animal and human alike. He will force his parents to save birds that have fallen from the nest. On holiday, he became obsessed with children starving in Africa. He begins to speak of another little boy named Bossus who is very hungry, seeming to be possessed by him. When "Bossus" dies, Figgus returns to normal.

Yet one day Figgus begins speaking Arabic in the night. He has identified with a boy solider in Iraq named Akbar, and [main character] becomes frightened for his brother but is too afraid to tell anyone. Akbar seems to be stronger than his brother and he fears that he is going to lose him.

An excellent young adult novella.

[Dante Michaels · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an avid reader since childhood, this was the first book that made me feel I wasn't alone. Partly from being an Air Force brat, partly from seeing Figgis in myself far too easily, this is the first story that made me realize others may share my experiences, as Figgis senses more than those around him, just as I did. Additionally helpful is the timeframe, the Persian Gulf War, is my own generation, thus even more relatable. Decades after my first reading, this is still a favorite quick read to re-center myself in today's world, and I think anyone who is/knows someone 'sensitive' can relate and bond to this story.

[Jill Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book read by 6th graders for their lit circles. I found it a compelling story about brothers. The narrator's younger brother has a strange empathic connection with people he sees in pictures and in his dreams. Was surprised to learn this book is not at any of the local libraries, so I ordered a copy to finish it and share with my kids. And perhaps add to my future middle school classroom library. :)

[Mónica Cordero Thomson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extraña historia que narra la conexión entre dos niños, uno que vive en Inglaterra y el otro en Kuwait. El niño inglés empieza a sentir y a describir los sucesos de la Primera Guerra del Golfo, a través de los ojos y sentimientos del niño kuwaití.
Me parece una novela juvenil muy original, que trata el tema de los fenómenos paranormales, la empatía y sobre todo crítica la crudeza e inutilidad de la guerra.

[Kathryn McCary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Classic Westall--a story that accepts the possibility of paranormal phenomenon, about a boy who is perhaps too empathic, set during the first Gulf war. An easy read, that does raise some issues worth thinking about, but nothing special.

[Hirosasazaki Sasazaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story on Gulf war. I thought the stories on modern war are rare in the children's literature. I will recommend my children to read this. Although it was sad story, I will have to teach children about the wars. This book will help it.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliantly thoughtprovoking read from a master of children's literature. It brings home the horrors of war and the truth behind the TV pictures in a way that captures the imagination. I would strongly encourage older children to read this.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sort of started out slow, but it was pretty good overall.

[Nicholas, Silady]

The book Gulf by Robert Westall is set in the 1990s during the Gulf war. In Gulf the main character Tom is protective pg. 5,