John Boyne

If you look hard enough, you can find stories pretty much anywhere. They don't even have to be your own. Or so would-be writer Maurice Swift decides very early on in his career. A chance encounter in a Berlin hotel with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann gives him an opportunity to ingratiate himself with someone more powerful than him. For Erich is lonely, and he has a story to tell. Whether or not he should do so is another matter entirely. Once Maurice has made his name, he sets off in pursuit of other people's stories. He doesn't care where he finds them - or to whom they belong - as long as they help him rise to the top. Stories will make him famous but they will also make him beg, borrow and steal. They may even make him do worse.

A Ladder to the Sky

A seductive, unputdownable psychodrama following one brilliant, ruthless man who will stop at nothing in his pursuit of success Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn't have is talent - but he's not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don't need to be his own. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful - but desperately lonely - older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice's first novel. Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall... Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso.

Jordan

karol tang

don’t know if this book stood out less of its own merit or because i’ve read too many boyne novels in a short period of time and im desensitized. still a very good read

Vilandra

This is what happens when you write about a sociopath and it’s not a crime novel. This doesn’t really have the comedy that The Heart’s Invisible Furies has, but the premise is original and the characters interesting. I liked the format and enjoyed reading.

Love John boyne’s writing as always, just didn’t grab me as much as some of his other works

Cierra Conner

Sebastián

4.5 — I am surprised at how much I liked this book. It was definitely a grower for me and I liked how the story transcends the literary world to show human struggles. It's difficult to describe this book, and I went into it having almost zero knowledge about it, which I think is the best way to approach it.

Celeste Richardson

“And you’ve heard the old proverb about ambition, haven’t you?”
He shook his head.
“That it’s like setting a ladder to the sky. A pointless waste of energy.”
I have to say, I’d never have picked up this book had it not been so highly recommended by both Petrik and his girlfriend, Katherine. Not because the subject matter wasn’t of interested, but because I had honestly never heard of it. I’m not sure how, but A Ladder to the Sky completely missed my radar when it was released in 2018. I had heard of two other of the author’s work, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Heart’s Invisible Furies, and while they sound great, the premise of this particular book is far more intriguing to me personally. As someone who loves every single aspect of books, from how they’re made to who wrote them to those who sell them and the stories they actually hold, any novel that involves bookselling or authorship or any other profession or hobby linked to books is always going to draw me in. Not every such book delivers, in my opinion, but this one sure does. A Ladder to the Sky was compulsively readable from page one, even though it took me a bit longer to actually gel with the story it was telling.
“Would there be no end to publishing? he wondered. Perhaps it would be a good idea if everyone just stopped writing for a couple of years and allowed readers to catch up.”
This is a story in three parts, but each part is predominantly focused on Maurice Swift. We meet him as a young man and follow him throughout his life. Maurice is a man with two dreams: he wants to be a celebrated author and a father. And he won’t let anyone or anything get in the way of those dreams, including his inability to think of any stories to actually tell. Ambition is quite literally all that drives him, and he doesn’t care how many people he uses and ruins on his way to achieving his goals. 
“The more you read, the more you write, the more the ideas will appear. They’ll fall like confetti around your head and your only difficulty will be deciding which ones to catch and which to let fall to the floor.”
I’m pretty sure Maurice Swift is the most despicable literary character I’ve ever experienced. Even Humbert Humbert, the narrator of Lolita who is obsessed with the titular girl though she is far from grown, seemed to have more a conscience than Maurice. Maurice seemed incapable of viewing other people as, well, people. They were merely dolls to be played with until he tired of them and threw them away for something new, or a source from whom he could leech ideas like the creative vampire he was at his core. And the thing is, even when he was confronted with his sins, he firmly believed he had done nothing wrong. I find that utter lack of basic human decency both baffling and disturbingly believable, and Boyne did a phenomenal job crafting a character who is both despicable and memorable.
“Writers are all fascists. We like to control the discourse and crush anyone who dares to disagree with us.”
There were times that I felt sure I knew where the book was going, and in at least two such instances I was utterly and completely wrong. The concept of idea theft is nothing new, but Boyne managed to set his iteration apart through some pretty wild plot twists. Even when I felt sure of my predictions, I would be blindsided by some new facet to the story. Also, I loved the things Boyne had to say about books and their readers. He really captured some of our most common disagreements as readers and managed to show both sides of said arguments without committing to either.
“Life’s too short. As far as I’m concerned, a writer gets one hundred pages and, if they can’t keep my attention during that time, I move on.”
“You can’t say you’ve read a novel unless you’ve read it cover to cover. Yes, perhaps you’ll be bored at the start but what if it gets better and suddenly everything that went before falls into place?”
My only issue with A Ladder to the Sky was it rampant and unabashed sexuality, especially in the first third of the book. There were multiple characters who seemed utterly consumed by their own sexuality and their lust for Swift, to the point where their sexuality seemed to completely dominate every other personality trait. I enjoy sex as much as the next person, but I think it’s really unhealthy to completely define yourself by your sexuality, and to let that one portion of yourself overwhelm any other definitely characteristic within you. 
“When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.”
While it took the story a bit to begin growing on me, A Ladder to the Sky is one of the most compulsively readable works of literary fiction I’ve read in quite some time. I was gripped from the first page, even though I was unable to root for anyone. There are no heroes in this story. But it’s a tale very well told, and undoubtedly worth reading.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

courtney garrison

I really did not know what to expect from this novel. I had seen a few friends pick it for their book of the month, so I figured I’d give it a shot and wow what a book.

Your mc Maurice is a manipulative, ambitious, arrogant man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He wants a writing career like no other and that’s exactly what he gets

The writing is this novel is amazing. You read through 3 different characters and how their lives are effected while being involved with Maurice. Two characters that stick out to me are Erik and Dash, both know they are being used and allow it to continue in some hope that Maurice will fall in love with them. Honestly this was the saddest section of the book, because you could tell how lonely they were. They were so desperate for someone to share their lives with.

John created such a good book, but I will say there are trigger warnings for just about everything in this novel. Rape, murder, sexual abuse. He also brought up a good point throughout the book about plagiarism. Whether or not taking someone’s idea and rewriting it as your own or someone telling you there life story and you write it. Is that stealing? Have you stolen there story? That was a really good topic to bring up especially in the writing community.

I will say Maurice’s character is such a complex character. He was on a such a quest to become a famous novelist. He wanted everyone to love him and his work. He cared more about being famous and loved more than the people around him. John had me wanting to murder him throughout the whole book. What disappointed me the most was the ending and how everything came to a finish. None of it seemed like what would usually happen. Everything just kinda of wrapped up in a sweet little bow.

I gave this three stars because while I loved the writing and overall story, I didn’t care for the ending, it made the book feel pointless to me. I still recommend this one and will continue to pick ups John’s work. Reading from so many different povs was incredibly unique and enjoyable to the story. You didn’t just see everything from Maurice’s perspective.

Nooshin

I will forever be in my own debt for the eleven hours of my life that went into this.

Cariena

Een prachtig boek! John Boyne zijn schrijfstijl is wat langzaam en niet perse spannend, maar wel mysterieus. Ik verveelde mij geen enkel moment en het einde van het boek was precies hoe ik het had verwacht.

'A deliciously dark tale of ambition' Observer 'Gripping ... chilling and darkly comic tale of unrelenting ambition' Daily Express You've heard the old proverb about ambition, that it's like setting a ladder to the sky. It can lead to a long and painful fall. If you look hard enough, you will find stories pretty much anywhere. They don't even have to be your own. Or so would-be-novelist Maurice Swift decides early on in his career. A chance encounter in a Berlin hotel with celebrated author Erich Ackerman gives Maurice an opportunity. For Erich is lonely, and he has a story to tell; whether or not he should is another matter. Once Maurice has made his name, he finds himself in need of a fresh idea. He doesn't care where he finds it, as long as it helps him rise to the top. Stories will make him famous, but they will also make him beg, borrow and steal. They may even make him do worse. This is a novel about ambition. What readers are saying: ***** 'A breath-taking story of dangerous infatuation and sociopathic ambition' ***** 'A beautifully written, genre defying novel that I couldn't help gobbling up in a couple of days.' ***** 'Dark comic humour ... fascinating and gripping storytelling.'

From the bestselling author of The Heart’s Invisible Furies

Jennifer Dieter

I couldn’t punch Maurice Swift, so I wanted to throw the book at a wall. John Boyne is brilliant at developing characters that make you feel. And Maurice Swift will stick with me as a character that made me angry enough to want to throw my book. Even when I thought I knew where this book was headed, it kept throwing surprises. And while nothing like The Heart’s Invisible Furies (which I loved for totally different reasons), A Ladder to the Sky is just as brilliant a piece of storytelling.

María Belén

3.5 stars

Started off the year right reading one of my favorite authors.

I wasn't particularly interested in the premise, but I usually like everything Boyne writes. This one was no exception.
The first half of the book was a little slow for me, it didn't grip. However, it did spark my curiosity for Maurice's character. He is one of those characters that I love to hate; sometimes I couldn't decide if I wanted him to succeed or not. 
The second part is much more fastpaced and, even though I knew where the story was going, it was my favorite part of the whole book. 

I don't want to say much more 'cause it's easy to give away the plot. But overall I really enjoyed it.

Pepper

The world, as I know it, is very deceptive and John Boyne does a wonderful job capturing it

The book felt so professional to me. I had never come across such amazing writing. May it's the result of the UEA's creative-writing course that the author was a part of or may he's just naturally talented. Either way, I was left awe-struck . I'm looking forward to read his other works.

Laura

John Boyne is a frustrating writer to me. His last two adult novels, The Heart’s Invisible Furies and this one, are novels with plots that seem tailor-made to me and yet there’s something about them that just doesn’t click with me. When I read his books, I feel like the novel and I are two magnets someone is trying to stick together. His characters and storylines are intriguing, but his writing and the way he puts the story together just doesn’t work for me. His writing feels hurried, and there’s nothing effortless or pretty about it. In the case of this novel, the only decent quotes I could remember where his characters quoting from other writers. Still, I enjoyed the first two parts. Erich Ackerman was an intriguing character that I liked following, and, while I normally dislike novels written from the perspective of real people, Gore Vidal’s part was fun to read though I don’t know how accurate it is to his voice. I’ve read both his rivals but not him. And in the first two parts, I liked Maurice as a character a lot. The idea of a literary vampire was a novel (pardon the pun) idea and I was interested to see where it was headed. But then Maurice took a supervillain turn. Boyne knew there had to be a more outright sociopathic edge to the character, but it failed. In the end, it wasn’t my cup of tea, but I would like to see a more talented writer tackle the idea of a literary leech.

Andrea Hak-Kovacs

Gemma McCarthy

julia

“A satire of writerly ambition wrapped in a psychological thriller . . . An homage to Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe, but its execution is entirely Boyne’s own.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent—but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel. Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall. . . . Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso. Praise for A Ladder to the Sky “Boyne's mastery of perspective, last seen in The Heart's Invisible Furies, works beautifully here. . . . Boyne understands that it's far more interesting and satisfying for a reader to see that narcissist in action than to be told a catchall phrase. Each step Maurice Swift takes skyward reveals a new layer of calumny he's willing to engage in, and the desperation behind it . . . so dark it seems almost impossible to enjoy reading A Ladder to the Sky as much as you definitely will enjoy reading it.”—NPR “Delicious . . . spins out over several decades with thrilling unpredictability, following Maurice as he masters the art of co-opting the stories of others in increasingly dubious ways. And while the book reads as a thriller with a body count that would make Highsmith proud, it is also an exploration of morality and art: Where is the line between inspiration and thievery? To whom does a story belong?”—Vanity Fair

A Novel

Lennox Johnson 

Shivam

Heather Margaret

A psychological drama of cat and mouse, A Ladder to the Sky shows how easy it is to achieve the world if you are prepared to sacrifice your soul. If you look hard enough, you can find stories pretty much anywhere. They don't even have to be your own. Or so would-be writer Maurice Swift decides very early on in his career. A chance encounter in a Berlin hotel with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann gives him an opportunity to ingratiate himself with someone more powerful than him. For Erich is lonely, and he has a story to tell. Whether or not he should do so is another matter entirely. Once Maurice has made his name, he sets off in pursuit of other people's stories. He doesn't care where he finds them - or to whom they belong - as long as they help him rise to the top. Stories will make him famous but they will also make him beg, borrow and steal. They may even make him do worse.

A Ladder to the Sky

Reviews