A Ladder to the Sky is written from four different perspectives chronicling the life of this ass-wipe (excuse my French) Maurice Swift. Oh he's quite swift in his ability to manipulate and deceive. He uses his good looks and charm to swindle people of their stories. Why? Well he believes he's destined to be a great author, but he has no story to tell. He has no talent, nor imagination, yet those minimums don't matter to him when he has "ambition". Early on we see him ruin a lonely old man. He moves on then to a woman he marries and... well... we won't get into details. But what he does to her made me hate this guy.
While reading A Ladder to the Sky, I kept thinking was all this necessary? Why does being a beloved author mean so much to Maurice? And why's he such a psychopathic shit? And why wasn't this conniving twit smart enough to realize he just might be asexual? He missed a great opportunity for a story right there. Instead, he chose to focus on what he could take or be given rather than actually become a great writer finding a story of his own.
Argh-
Maurice Swift frustrated me to no end but Boyne is such an amazing writer that I couldn't just walk away. I had to see it through. I needed to see this guy get his comeuppance.
Because I don't want to give this story away, I will leave my review there. John Boyne's A Ladder to the Sky was an extremely fast moving tromp with a sociopath that most readers will enjoy. Boyne cleverly unravels the layers to this villain in a way that forces readers to tag along. There's a tendency for audiences to like or love the main character in order to keep reading a book. Boyne proves one simply needs the thrill of seeing if evil ever dies. ****
Copy provided by Crown Publishing via Netgalley
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