A Traveller At The Gates Of Wisdom John Boyne
I finished this book a few days ago, and it is still on my mind. I normally write my review minutes after I close a book, but think I have delayed writing this one as I didn't know where to start, despite thinking more about this review than any other.
To cut a long story short, I absolutely loved this book. As a big fan of John Boyne, I was really looking forward to reading this, having previously said that nothing will ever beat The Heart's Invisible Furies for me, well this came pretty close if not equal.
I loved the ambitious concept, it was like nothing I have read before. I love books that span a lifetime, so this hit the nail on the head for me.
No one I know has finished this yet, and I am really looking forward to hearing other peoples opinion on it, and feel the need to discuss this book.
I would love to hear John interviewed about this book, and the concert, this author is such an amazing story teller, and no two books I have read by him have been the same.
An easy 5/5 for me.

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom by John Boyne.
I feel really confused by this book. I wanted to love it and the writing is amazing but I found it hard work to read it. It is essentially a novel with huge ambitions. It opens in AD 01 and ends in 2080 so over two thousand years of history!
Each chapter is set in a different time and place with a different character but what links them is the universality of the problems which human beings encounter. It is all about families, religious beliefs, prejudice and human imperfection. I did not find any of the characters imprinted themselves onto my memory in the way which Cyril Avery of The Heart’s Invisible Furies achieved. I wanted to love this book by one of my favourite authors and I loved parts of it and was overwhelmed by the quality of the writing and the research but it would not go to the top of my list of favourite John Boyne novels.
I am eager to see what others feel about the book and feel that the fact that I do not love it may be my fault rather than the author’s. I also wonder whether I need to re-read the novel in order to truly get to grips with it.
I want to thank the author, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

It took me a while to get used to the time jumps whilst seemingly staying with the same characters. However, I loved Boyne’s skill in creating characters I really cared about even though I only met them for a few pages; the imagination to tweak each character’s circumstances to make them unique but provide the link to the the previous segment is genius. A really thoughtful exploration of humanity.

I enjoyed this and was impressed by the unusual way Boyne moved the narrative one,leaving his characters behind in leaps through time and geography without losing the thread of the story. I thought I would really dislike that, as I'm not a fan of short stories because I like to immerse myself in a writer's world, but somehow this worked for me. That said, it felt just a tad overlong and there were moments in 400AD when I found myself wondering how long it would take to get to Shakespeare and whether or not it would go on to the present time period and beyond.
It's a stunningly complex accomplishment and I apppreciated the uniqueness of that and his attention to detail.

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom isn’t so much of a book as it is an experience, an experience that spans 2000 years, 47 countries, and legions of historical events.

The story begins in Palestine in A.D. 1 with King Herod’s ordered infanticide. Here we met a father, a mother, and two sons. One with his father’s violence in his blood. One who lives his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. The story then jumps to Turkey, A. D. 41, followed by Romania, A.D. 105, and so the chronicle continues. Touring across time, we follow our unnamed traveller as he recounts his history of love, loss, grief, and revenge. While the world mutates and modernises around him, his destiny remains the same. It is written.

A novel of ambitious storytelling, I admit to initially feeling doubtful. However, I quickly shrugged off my apprehension, grasped hold of the intertwining themes that weave the narrative together, and let Boyne sweep me away on an epic, strangely hypnotic adventure. As we advance through time and traverse nations, we witness the universal terrors and horrors of man’s inhumanity, familial relationships, the subjugation of women, and more. Boyne explores the unchanging nature of human emotions through time, while simultaneously speaking to us about the turbulence of contemporary society.

Challenging yet captivating, this is not a book to race through. It brims with intricate details, graphic events, and Boyne’s signature thought-provoking dialogue. I may be making it sound more daunting than it is, but I will be surprised if any review could truly do this book justice. It’s impossible to string together the words to evoke Boyne’s masterful accomplishment. I can only imagine the extensive writing process and amount of research that this marvel of a novel must have required.

John Boyne has reaffirmed his place among my all-time favourite authors. Each book I have read by him has been original, inspired, often heart-breaking, and impressive to the extent that he always leaves me stunned. This book achieves this and more.

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom is an experience; an experience that you will only truly understand by undertaking the sweeping adventure for yourself. I doubt you will have read anything quite like it.

I am a huge John Boyne fan and this did not disappoint. Very unusual read and, yes, like other readers it took a few chapters to totally understand the concept and which direction the book was going. Going from 1Ad to beyond our time was a very courageous step and I agree there were historical inaccuracies but that did not take away from the clever concept of how the same troubles were borne through different ages, countries and cultures. The only reason I am not giving this 5 stars is the last 2 chapters, as it suddenly felt as if we were in a race to get to the end as quickly as possible.

A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom is a beautifully written story of a man’s life from boyhood to middle age, with a clever structure telling the same story in different places and times through history from Palestine in 1AD through to the 21st century. It demonstrated that places and times may change, but human experience, love and loss stays the same.

I have previously read and enjoyed Boyne’s work, was excited to read this one and was not disappointed. I would give this book 4.5 stars rounded up. I had been planning a solid 5 stars until the last two chapters, which felt jarring and separate from the traveller’s story that had been told up to that point. Nevertheless, a rewarding and recommended read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

I'm completely disappointed by this book. I love John Boyne and that's why I was offered this new book. I expected something new and it being based on history. I know some of the author's books with historical topic and appreciate their quality so I am horrified to see how many mistakes were here. Let's write some the most obvious ones (and there are much more): Queen Victoria reigning in 1832, potatoes being eaten in Sweden of 1133, Orpheus being known in Guatemala before Columbus, Diego as a name in Argentine before 1492. Did anybody read this book and checked for such obvious mistakes? How can this happen?
All together I liked the the idea behind the book and it was an interesting reading. I liked the style and the author captures the athmosphere of different places, so you can really feel like being there (except when there is a talk of kimono in China). The characters are well drawn and allow you to follow their actions and thoughts, so you feel quite immersed in their lives.
When the mistakes are corrected I would be happy to give 4 stars.

Boyne’s most ambitious novel yet! We follow our narrator and his family from Palestine in 1AD all the way to the US in 2016, and beyond. The names change, the places change, but the heart of our narrator and his relationships with those around him remain the same, and the wisdom he gains follows him into each new life.
Boyne is an absolute master at storytelling and this novel is proof. This book is like an exquisitely woven tapestry, it’s difficult to imagine the research and hard work that must’ve gone into creating it. The language is simple, but rich. The historical references are fascinating, taking you from Attila the Hun to Michaelangelo and on to Trump in the recent years. My only issue would be that the last few chapters took on an almost farcical quality which was at odds with how profound the rest of the book was, but I would still highly recommend this, and give it an actual score of 4.5/5.

John Boyne does not disappoint. This is an epic read, spanning millennia, families and lifetimes. And yet it all stems from one family and decision made that will have consequences for over 2,000 years. Dealing with love, death, murder, grief, revenge, the places and times change but the themes remain the same. An ambitious read but one I feel deserves to be read in one go, if possible. I was absolutely captured by it and how it reached its conclusion. He's done it again.

Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for an early copy of A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom.

This book is almost impossible to explain but an utter delight to read.

Boyne is a master story telling and whilst you do not follow the same characters for more than a chapter you become swept up in the story that spans over two thousand years. This is some of the most clever writing I have ever had the pleasure of reading and does not disappoint.

I also very much enjoyed the little Easter egg for those who have read The Thief of Time, again seamlessly done.

I would recommend this book to everyone, Boyne's writing is not to be missed and this is a unique story unlike anything I have read before.

At first I found the structure of this book confusing. I had to flick back across chapters to see if I’d been missing something. I hadn’t! The chapters jump across time and space. Leaving a character behind and picking up an almost identical one. It starts to flow the more you read.

I love the premise of this book. Of the universal story of humanity. Of the shifting in time and country. It’s a hugely ambitious project for an author. It was well executed but lacked a thread to hold onto. I really struggled with the lack of any character. With everyone kind of being the same person you end up with no one to feel emotionally connected to.

I don’t know that our human experience is universal. I think emotionally we experience grief and loss and sadness and joy. But there are also so many differences, so many more hardships for people of minorities that aren’t acknowledged here.

It’s a big book and a slow paced read. I think it will be loved by some and left unfinished by others.

Fabulous book! A walk through the centuries telling the same story with different names and in different places. Along the way we meet famous people from history. I even found some excellent one liners which made me chuckle.
One lesson to be learned from this story is that hate and revenge are never the right paths to take.
This book is excellent and written so well. There’s a smoothness in the transition from one era to the next but it never loses its way.
A definite must read.

The Heart's Invisible Furies is one of my all-time favorite books and I really enjoyed A Ladder to the Sky so I squealed with delight when I got approved for the ARC. Sadly I just wish I could've enjoyed it more than I did.

The concept is certainly unique and original: one story told through several iterations of the same characters and spanning two millenia and many cultures and civilizations (I can't imagine the amount of research and planning this book must have taken). Though at first it was slightly confusing ( I hadn't even read the synopsis) soon I got the gist of it. Fascinating as it was reading about different times and places in such a detailed manner, I think the plot was not strong enough for such a complex structure. I was left with the feeling that many chapters did nothing to advance the plot and were just filler, beautiful, but filler nonetheless.

The writing flows beautifully and is easy to read in spite of the complexity of the concept. Though it didn't meet my expectations, I don't regret reading it and I would certainly recommend it if you're a fan of historical fiction with a twist.

3.5/5

There is no doubt that John Boyne is a storyteller of extraordinary skill, but in this novel I missed the emotional connection to the characters that I have had in previous novels. The storytelling method was fascinating, and I can imagine the huge amount of research that went into it, but I feel that in all the world building we lost the human connection and the inner details of the characters that bring them alive to us.
This is still, very much, a book worth reading as it's storytelling technique is so unique and very much underlines the necessary message that no matter the time or the place we are all human and suffer from the same joys, sorrows and love. It highlights exactly what it means to be human.

Wow! Just wow. This book blew my mind. It is so unique in construction - to me anyway - and delivered time and time again all the way through.
It starts off a little weird, but once you get what is happening, you realise how blooming clever it all is. Basically, we follow an unnamed narrator and his family throughout history and across the world. From 1AD all the way through time to the present day. Chapters are headed with the where and when. Along the way we witness real history going on around him as his own story develops. His marriages, children, relationships with his family, jobs, tragedies, etc etc. If you know your history you will relish in some of the seamless ways the author has inserted his story, weaving his fiction around the truth. I have a modicum of historical knowledge so I got about half of the incidents but those I didn't probably didn't matter in the big picture.
Characterisation is - shall we say - interesting as the characters remain true to their core values and relationships to each other, but due to the structure of the book change pretty much everything else with each chapter. There are themes running throughout - family, revenge, love, loss - all of which lead to our narrator finding himself in some difficult situations along the way.
It's hard to really explain, or do the book justice in a review, as this is a book you really need to just start reading to get where it is really going. It may take you a few chapters to really understand what the author is doing but, believe me, it's well worth your time and trouble. It's a magical book and one of the few that I will probably re-read after a while.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Boyne's newest novel has a very interesting approach to the narrative - every chapter is a new character and a new setting but all are essentially telling the same story - the moral being that no matter when a story has happened, similar will have happened before and similar will happen again.
We journey through the ages with our male main character(s) , and experience his life/lives as he grows up, goes through family and relationship turmoil, learns skills and has tragedy befallen on him. We touch on important parts of history, and meet famous historical figures but the focus is always on our protagonist.
Each chapter was just long enough to have you interested in that particular character, before it moves on through the decades and centuries. I really liked the specific elements of each chapter which were unique and relevant to the particular setting they were part of (the language used, references to events etc) and very much enjoyed the trip down through the ages.
My interest wasn't as held in the last few chapters, I enjoyed the historical elements more.

Wow, this book was so different in its structure and very ambitious in the style of writing. So, hats off to Boyne for trying that.
It takes place in a very large span of time and place and addresses lots of issues of the world like sexism, homophobia, etc. Lots.
While it was a very interesting concept, and I enjoyed my time reading it definitely, I felt like lots were crammed into one book, losing a bit of depth.

But, nevertheless, it was an amazing experience and a very unique concept well done. You should definitely try it.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

I loved John Boyne’s A Ladder to the Sky and was intrigued by this ambitious new novel. The concept appealed: A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom follows an unnamed narrator(s) across the globe and over a period of two thousand years. It is written in first person and begins in Palestine with a boy born in 1AD. With each new chapter, we move forward by 40-60 years and the location changes to different places around the world but the narrative remains continuous. So, when we move to Turkey in 41AD in the second chapter, the narrator is still a boy. He and his family are essentially the same throughout the book, only their names, careers and situation in life slightly change. If this sounds a little confusing, you soon get used to it and the story becomes pretty easy to follow.

Boyne is really writing about the universality of human experience and human nature, emotions and imagination. The idea is really lovely and the narrator has some fabulous experiences throughout his life: illuminating The Book of Kells, prepping plaster for Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes or hanging out backstage at the newly built Globe Theatre with Shakespeare. As the novel is about universality of human experience, some are inevitably horrible: slavery, colonialism, sexual violence against women. In the latter part of the novel, we move to WW1 shell shock, USSR behind the curtain and Trump times.

Overall, I found A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom too ambitious. It’s as if Boyne had a list of current issues to address and tick off, from restating his own views about fiction writing and cultural appropriation to sexism and homophobia. Combined with having the narrator present at certain key points in history (i.e. Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Trump election), this got in the way of the plot and characterisation. Occasionally, the novel also lacks consistency, at times, it was super detailed, down to specific dishes eaten in Bulgaria or North Korea. At others, names and items are used centuries before they appeared in specific locations. In the end, while I admired some of the ideas, I didn’t find this novel as satisfying as Boyne’s last.

My thanks to Random House, Transworld, Dubleday and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom.

An epic, ambitious slice of historical fiction which is stunning in its level of scope and range. It is so different to anything John Boyne has written in the past and I am in awe of his imagination producing a piece of fiction as experimental and inspiring as this. It is not an easy read (or I do not find it so) as it requires concentration but it is absolutely worth the effort because it is so different and such an original piece of storytelling. Thank you most sincerely for the being granted the privilege of an advance review copy.