The Great War

Morpurgo's story was quite nicely done, even if awkward; I have not much to say about it. Almond's story was actually really good and interesting; it actually had a lot of feeling for a short story. I loved it.

My rating for this book, which is the one with three stories (96 pages), is so low because of John Boyne's story. His story was atrocious; it was just as bad as his other writing, which isn't even remotely shocking because he's just not a good writer.

The reasons for this statement include: 1. The nine-year old child that he wrote, for some reason, doesn't act like a nine-year old child. This is something he's never been good at (and is far more apparent in his novels from children's perspective). He looks at his mom and dad, as a nine-year old, and refers to them by their first names. It's weird

1. He writes an unnecessary thought-process of how French women take better care of themselves than Irish women (who wear potato sacks on days other than Sunday), and it had nothing to do with the story he'd written at all. It served no purpose, it doesn't work in our modern times (even if 'historically accurate' and also a constant feature of how French women are described by non-French people, if the media is any indication), and it just sounds massively sexist without commentary.

2. Why does this child look at his mother, after a brick has been thrown through their front window and think "Oh, I hate how you look in your nightdress. You look tired and not elegant"? It's so weird and absurd.