*A big thank-you to the Publisher for providing me with arc in exchange for my honest review.*
John Boyne is one on my favourite authors and I was thrilled to open his latest novel. What I was offered was a most original concept that I could not have anticipated. A boy in born in Palestine in A.D.1 just when his father receives an order to kill infant boys under the age of two ... Next chapter begins in A.D.41, in Turkey and is a continuation of the story, with the same characters, whose names whose names are different but always begin with the same letter. What a concept!
Reading A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom was a tour across time, places and events. The idea behind the novel is so unique that it took me several chapters to accept it. But I did, and allowed the author to tell me the stories of a man seeking love, revenge and trying to do become a master craftsman.
I am in awe regarding the amount of research of all kinds the author did preparing to write this novel about the journey across the continents and times.
A novel that will be among the best published this year.

Some themes in life are universal and they endure through the ages.

A man who loses his wife a thousand years ago feels the same grief as someone today. A woman who learns that her child is mistreated experiences the same furor, regardless of location or point in time. A person who is betrayed by someone they trusted, a teen who feels the first pangs of overwhelming love, a man (and usually it is a man) who cravenly misuses his power—all these instances are never confined to a certain spot in time.

Indeed, “love does not change, anger never varies. Hope, desperation, fear, longing, desire, lust, anxiety, confusion and joy; you and I endure these emotions just as men and women always have and ever will. We are a small people in an ever-changing universe.”

That, in a nutshell, is the ambitious mission John Boyne sets out for himself: to show that fundamental emotions and our reactions to them are part of the human condition.

It takes a little while to get into the flow of these tales, which remind me of parables and ring of basic truth. In Scheherazade-type fashion, the tales keep coming, but the location shifts and the names of the characters shift while the story progresses. We, the reader, are privy to the trajectory: “I climb aboard a ghost ship, watch as a spectre appears on the stage of a theatre and hear cries of terror ascend from the base of a well. I listen as prisoner speaks his final words, witness a man being shot for telling the truth and stare through a window as an army of tanks rolls into the street before me.”

Woven into these stories are people we know—Attila the Hun, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, William Shakespeare, and others—and they, like all of us, are bit players who (as Shakespeare would say), “strut and fret our last hours on the stage.” Spanning cities and countries around the globe, the bonds that unite us are far more enduring than those that differentiate us.

John Boyne, a fantastic storyteller, sometimes oversteps. One constant across time – that women have traditionally been powerless and that gays have long been viewed as an abdomination—is very true but somewhat overplayed. The one story set in the United States seems tacked on rather than organic—much as I totally agree with John Boyd’s sentiments. As in any novel composed of interweaving stories, some are far stronger than others. Still, the sheer audacity of John Boyne’s vision is cause to celebrate. Despite the book’s length – nearly 500 pages – there was no time when I wanted to put it down. I am very grateful to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for giving me advance access to one of my favorite contemporary authors.

Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme…
-- Songwriters: Alan Menken & Howard Ashman

Beginning in A.D. 1 and ending in 2080, this story, these stories, connected by people, place, the nature of people and the condition of the ever changing, but not-really- changing-so-much-at-all world, is epic.

As this story begins, it is on the night when the narrator in A.D. 1 is born in Palestine, although his father is not there to witness this event, as he, along with thirty other soldiers, had been sent to Bethlehem, in order to rid Bethlehem of all of the male infants born there.

But, it doesn’t stay there long, and travels to 47 different places, and times, and while time advances, and the settings change, there is so much that remains the same. The stories of the various people throughout this vary in some ways, while there is a constant theme, perhaps themes, that run through their stories. Tales of revenge, of love, of sorrow, of life. The connection of man’s need for revenge, man’s need to subjugate women, the need of all people to be seen and heard and treated with value. And maybe this is a take on a time traveling with a twist, or maybe it’s a commentary on humankind, how no matter how many years have passed, things rarely change. Or, as my mother was fond of saying, ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same,’ plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Or perhaps it’s both.

This sounds more daunting than it actually is, and initially I thought it would be a difficult read with so many places and times. So, I decided fairly early on to let go of all of that, and let Boyne take me on his magical carpet ride. And I’m glad that I did, because the message is still the same, regardless. It is a saga of all people, the human race, men, women and children, and while it only covers a little over two-thousand years, what it says about us, about what we’ve learned in all those years is what was the most important part of this. At least, for me.

I haven’t read everything that Boyne has written, but every book I’ve read of his has been original, inspired and ingenious, as well as heartbreaking, perhaps especially in this, his latest. An impressive journey through time, and the evolution of the human race told by a master wordsmith.



Pub Date: 11 Aug 2020


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group – Random House / Hogarth

A mind blowing and original reading experience from John Boyne here, travelling through two thousand years of human and family history, epic, multilayered and ambitious storytelling that initially I admit had me feeling anxious, worried I was not going to get into or get this novel, but like a rubik's cube, some of the pieces began to click into place one after the other, as the connections began to become more transparent. It begins in the Roman world of 1AD, and a narrator and his family, travelling through various junctures of history and world events, clearly recognisable even when the names change in time. The story takes in a multitude of nations and adventures, the terrors and horrors of man's inhumanity to man (and women) right through the ages, the never ending cycles of birth and death, and more death, when will people learn to be wiser? There is much needed hope in the concluding parts of the narrative, a hope we so sorely need as we look at the world around us now.

This is a smart, complicated and challenging novel, captivating and engaging, but one I found hard to do justice to in this review, I am also not certain that I got everything Boyne was trying to say either. However, it is timeless, insightful and thought provoking, clearly depicting the enduring, unchanging universal nature of family and human emotions through time, whilst simultaneously so eloquently speaking to us of our turbulent contemporary times. I think many will love Boyne's latest offering as much as I did. I would have loved to have been privy to his inspiration and writing process on this most imaginative of reads. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

The tidbits, thoughts, and few excerpts I’ll share in this review are with the intention to be supportive....
give a view insights ....( without spoilers)
so ‘as’ to be helpful to other readers. I haven’t read other reviews yet myself....[ THIS BOOK WILL BE RELEASED IN AUGUST, 2020],
but I’m guessing I might not be the only early reader who sees something VERY different going on in this SPRAWLING TALE of HUMANITY. It requires a little patience.
It’s not like past books by John Boyne , ( but fans and Boyne-newbies are in skillful hands), ....
.....readers might consider a few minutes of quiet meditation with thyself before diving into this novel.
BE PREPARED ....
Pack your travel suitcases, be fed and hydrated, relaxed and calm yourself from current global news...( or include the world’s crisis calmly in your hearts).....
GET READY....
.....for an adventure travel trip.....( prepare your mind)....
FOR....
....an incredible journey across fifty countries. (Safety precautions have been well planned and plotted)....
REMEMBER.....
....we can count on characters & stories to fill our hearts in ‘any’ John Boyne novel.

NOT A RUSH READ.... ( a few visits to google).... not a children’s book....
includes disturbing graphic experiences, unfamiliar locations, thought provoking dialogue....
And....
It’s vibrantly imagined and vertiginously uniquely exciting. Heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious.

“Love does not change, anger never varies. Hope, desperation, fear, longing, desire, lust, anxiety, confusion and joy; you and I endure these emotions just as men and women always have or ever will. We are a small people in an ever-changing universe. The world around us might be in a state of constant flux, but the universe within? I shook my head, both admitting and accepting the wealth of man”.

This new John Boyne novel is epic!!!.....it “plays out across all of human history: a story as precise as it is unlimite”.

The table of contents felt overwhelming to me at first....[only at first]
BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO.
My suggestion: look at the contents - of what you’re about to read a ‘few’ times.
Get adjusted.....prepare yourself for a wonderful world of travel through history....2000 years of history!
Prepare yourself before reading:
....examine your own thoughts about the world we live in...the struggles we are facing today...
...history before our time....with STORIES ( good, bad, & ugly), ....’rich interweaving stories’ STAMPED with John Boyne’s brilliant storytelling talents.

Once reading begins... fall into trusting Boyne. We’re in good hands. It’s possible things might feel confusing for a short time ... but not for long. It’s normal to wonder about purpose; be curious about the whiplash of history, and endure idiosyncratic structure....
And.....
your favorite character just might be the MOST LITERARY *NO NAME* protagonist ever created! NO-NAME-HE-MAN....is lovable and inspiring!

I’m not a die-hard fan of not knowing the name of our main character....but the power of mr. ‘no name He-Man’, becomes extraordinarily powerful ....a bold, courageous choice on Boyne’s doing.

As a support....to readers.... ( trying to be helpful anyway)....as this is a new book ... not YET read my zillions. ( discussions should begin to take on a domino-effect once more readers have read it).....
I’m including the table of contents ....so as to take in its magnitude.... with hopes to calm the brains of readers (like me), who AT FIRST might feel it’s TOO BIG....
My personal suggestion....let those scary thoughts go...
Traveling through many gates ....’of wisdom’...a heartbeat of it’s own....stretches our mind....taps into painful emotions...and tickles our funny bones from time to time too.

The Table of Contents overview:.....[places of travel].....
Part one...A Traveler in the Darkness:
Palestine A. D. 1
Turkey A. D. 41
Romania A D. 105
Iran A. D. 152
Italy A. D. 169

Part two...The Great Humiliation:
Switzerland A. D. 214
Somalia A. D. 269
South Korea A. D. 311

Part three...A Master Craftsman
Eritrea A. D. 340
Cyprus A. D. 365
Guatemala. A. D. 420
Hungary A. D. 453
Afghanistan. A. D. 507
Yeman A. D. 552

Part four..A Face Carved in Stone
Sri Lanka. A. D. 588
Greenland A. D. 623
Peru A. D. 665
Bulgaria A. D 710
Mexico A. D. 752
Egypt A. D. 767

Part five...The Three Jewels:
Ireland A. D. 800
Nepal A. D. 862
Indonesia A. D 907
Armenia A. D. 944

Part six...Millennium:
Iceland A. D. 999
Mozambique A. D. 1000

Part seven...Plum Blossom Melodies:
Belgium A. D. 1050
Netherlands A. D. 1986
Sweden A. D. 1133
China A. D. 1191
Grease A. D. 1223

Part eight...The Refuge of the World:
Portugal A. D. 1267
North Korea A. D. 1301
Norway A. D. 1349
India A. D. 1385
Argentina A. D. 1430

Part 9...The Shadow of My Shadow:
Namibia A. D. 1471
Spain A. D. 1492
Vatican City A. D. 1512
England A. D. 1599

Part 10...A Devil’s Promise:
Brazil A. D. 1608
New Zealand A. D. 1642
Canada A. D. 1694
Japan A. D. 1743

Part 11...Good and Bad Angels:
Germany A. D. 1790
Scotland A. D. 1832
Australia A. D. 1880

Part 12...The Sun,The Moon, and the Stars:
France A. D. 1916
Czechia A. D. 1939
Russia A. D. 1961
United States of America A. D. 2016

Epilogue
The Spearthrower Owl A.D. 2080

So......
John Boyne is one of my favorite authors. He’s many fans; I’m one too.
I especially loved Boyne’s last two books: “The Heart’s Invisible Furies”, and “A Ladder to the Sky”.
That said...this panoramic crusade, “A Traveler At The Gate of Wisdom”, covering 2,000 years left me fully spent and drained- by the end.
It’s a little uhnchallenging....both in content and claims on our hearts.
We are taken on a journey that’s been thoroughly researched - with masterful storytelling intimacy; we keep reading to the end because of how much we trust the author..

The first 20% was a little puzzling....but soon I knew what was going on. I had to pay close attention to the names of the characters at the beginning.
John Boyne does something very creative with the characters names - between men and women.
Once I caught on to the rhythm-name-game-change, I was comforted.
My ‘gut’ caught on faster than my mind to the clever, unique crafting.
I suspect this will happen to other readers, too.

JOHN BOYNE’S novel stands out much ‘different’ than ‘all’ others. It’s stunningly original....beguiling and evocative stories with themes of....
love, loss, duty, deceit, tragedy, betrayal, fury, ignorance, confusion, atheism, narcissism, unorthodox views, envy, sorrow, affection, travelers, father/son/father/daughter/ husband/wife/sibling relationships....( friends, cousins, enemies too)... robbers, murderers, girls treated like filth, trust issues, pain, violence ( graphic), slavery, Kings, Queens, Emperors, soldiers, merchants, artists, craftsman, sin, sinful thoughts, ancestors, past, present, and future, .....even a few blessing!

Enjoy
Laughter....
......mouth-dropping-awe-gorgeous prose:
“My hands were encased in fish-skin gloves and, over the previous week, my cousin Haansi had killed four seals and fashioned a new set of mukluks for my feet that rose far as my knees. My handsome young assistant, Parkk, had sung a lullaby about a many-colored salmon when Haansi presented the mukluks to me and the two had collapsed in laughter, although I failed to see the joke”.

Enjoy
Adventure....
“The road from Negombo to Anuradhapura was treacherous, taking me through mountainous terrain and those parts of the country where bandits and killers were known to dwell.
Considering the value of the goods that I was carrying, I felt anxious about making the journey alone and had considered asking my cousin to accompany me, but, as he remained lost in his grief, I guessed that he would prefer to remain at home”.
“I was riding to the capital for an audience with King Aggabodhi, who had commissioned me to create a set of bronze replicas of the royal family as a birthday gift for his Queen. ConsideringCasting my own bronze from a mixture of copper, zinc, lead and bismuth, I worked day and night for months on the pieces—there were sixteen in all—before wrapping them in a fabric covering and placing them in my satchel for the journey ahead. I looked forward to visiting the royal palace and seeing the expression on the King’s Face when I presented him with my work, the finest pieces that I had yet created”.

Enjoy
Earth...
“Whenever my spirits were low, I made my way to the barren wasteland of Bamiyan Valley, where I felt a certain intimacy with the sandstone mountains surrounding the basin of our town. (Afghanistan)

Enjoy
Cautions....
“I hoped only for peace when I arrived at the monastery. At first, I felt a degree of caution about approaching the tower, uncertain whether or not I a man, I have no particular religious scruple, would be turned away from a place of holy men”. (Ireland)

Enjoy
Compelling struggles & differences between father and son....
“His father, Manu had always wanted him to become a warrior like him. Eventually his father gave up hope that he would ever live up to his expectations.
“His greatest wish, I think, was that I would be brutally killed on the field of battle so that he could carry me home and triumph to my mother, around his shoulders like a slaughtered lamb. He called me lazy, a coward, a half/man, but I was none of these things; I was simply more interested in the act of creation than distruction”.

Enjoy beauty hygiene tips....( transgender creativity)
“crushing beetles and the claws of lobsters into wet paste was created to make a rouge for a boys lips and cheeks”.

Enjoy...
Historical stories....
“My father, Marvel, liked to recount the story of how an ancestor of his, a man named Lonus, made a valiant attempt at murdering Julius Caesar, long before the conspirators drew their daggers on the floor of the Senate. Our people, Helvetii, were only days from defeat at the Battle of Bibracte and, finding the idea of capitulation to such savage trespassers repugnant to his nature, Lonus rode directly into the Roman army camp, his swinging sword ripping the heads from the three unsuspecting legionnaires before charging in the direction of the tent where Caesar was consulting with his generals. Had it not been for the quick thinking of Crassus, who hurled a spear between the shoulder blades of the would-be assassin, the fortunes of the LikedRoman Empire might have turned out very differently. I didn’t like to point out that the narrative in which he took so much pride had not only ended in failure but also in the death of his forebear, who, having survived the spear, had his fingers and toes removed with a blunt knife before being skinned alive and roasted slowly over a spit”.

Let your imagination flow....
As you walk down this book path ....which provides opportunities for learning about the curves life throws his or her way....
Buddhist teachings too....
....the awakening of spirituality of thousands across time...
change, loss, fear, grief, anger, massive upheaval, political shifts, marriages, disease, violence, and impermanence.
Challenging....and ultimately fulfilling....
John Boyne outdid himself....
He crafted a fulfilling and important path to understanding and healing ourselves and finding peace.

“Tell me your name, traveler, she said, and when I whispered it to her, she repeated it back to me, her voice carrying like music in the air”.

Thank You, Random House Publishing Group, Netgalley, and John Boyne

John Boyne's books are the places I go when I seek comfort and need familiarity, and so reading this felt exactly like coming home.

It is absolutely no surprise that I consider this story to be a marvel and a triumph - for both the literary world and humanity as a whole. The uniquely constructed narrative and high-quality writing pleads with every emotion of the human spirit. The complex storytelling is so masterly crafted that only Boyne's work of ingenuity could have created it. And the range of this tale is far-reaching, ever-extending, and universally relatable.

And so, it is after following the compelling life story of our unnamed traveller across 2000 years of history, grief, love, creativity, revenge, beauty, longing, and hope, that it becomes evident no review I could write can even come close to depicting the remarkable accomplishment of this novel. It is something that desperately needs to be individually experienced and personally admired.


Side note - fans of Boyne's previous book, 'The Absolutist,' will be pleasantly surprised by a little easter egg in one of the chapters! ;)