An incredibly heavy read, I don't think the blurb is a very accurate synopsis of the essence of the novel. Would recommend if you want a good cry.

This is definitely not a light read, I found it hard to follow and understand but I persisted. It is a very slow paced book.

The comparison on the cover to Elena Ferrante drew me to this intense, sad work of translated fiction by Italian author Elena Varvello, originally published in Italy as Solo Un Ragazzo. It’s translated into English by Alex Valente.

The boy in question is eighteen, outwardly happy but socially inept and increasingly isolated. When he enters the home of family friends in a terrifying encounter with a screwdriver, everything is forever changed for him and his family.

The book is a slow-paced examination of contemporary family life, the fragility of relationships and bonds, the challenges that have always existed in raising teenagers and the impact on the family as individuals and as a unit when it all goes pear-shaped.

This is not a light read. It’s a brooding intense cauldron of emotions that left me sombre. Well-written and impactful, if a little disjointed in places. 3/5 ⭐️

*Just A Boy was published in September. Many thanks to the publisher @johnmurrays for an advance copy via @netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.*

Great read, stunning.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this title in exchange for my feedback.

At once striking, compassionate and thundering, this story will make you feel a horde of emotions. Even though the summary provided here soes not align with the plot, it was a good read.

The 18 year old son in a loving family has done the unthinkable - broken into a neighbour's home and stolen from them. His family are in shock but this is just the "starter" crime that leads to the son committing an act that devastates his family. The story is centred around the mother's feelings but also explores what his sisters and father think. They all reminisce about the boy's childhood, how they could have missed signs of his struggles and state of mind , groping to find a way to make sense of what has happened.

The story is relatively short and I felt it was quite disjointed and choppy. It didn't really connect with me in the way I felt it should.. It felt a bit too sparse.

Had me bawling my eyes and feeling the blues on a Wednesday night. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc.

Just a Boy by Elena Varvello is an intense read focusing upon one family and the implications and outcomes of the son committing small criminal acts leading onto a more violent attack ; this culminates in his death. The story focuses on his mother and her reaction and both parents’ and siblings’ reactions and impact.. The depth of guilt and reasoning as to why the crimes were committed and whether different paths could’ve been taken is a dilemma experienced by many parents . This is an intense novel - constructed with integrity and beauty. The aftermath of the initial and subsequent events last another twenty years and the impact on the marriage and family interaction and relationships is explored. Not a thriller but a challenging read abut contemporary family life

The boy is almost eighteen and has a loving family. He's polite and well-educated, quiet but always smiling.

When word spreads that he has broken into and stolen from a neighbour's house, his parents and sisters can't believe it. Then the unthinkable happens: an attack that will rip through the town and his family for years to come.

Just a Boy is a gripping, incisive novel about secrets, adolescence and how we can love someone - a child, a partner - without ever knowing their mind.
This book was wonderfully intriguing; but it was the emotion in the story and the quality of the writing that sang out to me.

I enjoyed reading Just A Boy by Elena Varvello even though it wasn't my normal reading genre. It certainly didn't fit its description as a thriller. I would categorise it as literary /family/emotional fiction.

As the title suggests, the story focuses on the past behaviour of a now-dead teenage boy although the story centre's on the boy's mother, her mother, her husband, her two daughters and her friend and their responses to the boy's behaviour.

His initial disturbingly-odd behaviour was two house break-ins/roberries, both of which trouble his family. But what really kicks the story off is a house break-in and attack on the family (including the daughter) of his mother's friend. In the immediate aftermath of this last incident, the boy kills himself and this is really what the book is about.

The story is a protracted examination of his family-members' reactions, memories and 'what-ifs'. There is an element of teenage-/adolescent-angst but 'once-removed' as each of the boy's family members tries to make sense of his behaviour. This all had a strong feeling of reality; it's likely every familiy in a smiliar situation would go through a similarly drawn-out self-examination. In this regard, although the characters were not well developed in terms of descriptions and back stories, their dialogue and behaviour gave them a vivid richness that is probably the real essence of the story. It feels like I learnt as much about the individual familiy members and their thoughts and behaviour as much as I learnt about the boy and his behaviour.

The book is well-written (perhaps I should say the translation is well-written because the book is originally written in Italian; the story is set in Italy.) It is quite literary in style, evocative and reflective, and although the plot is not linear in terms of time, it flows easily. So, not really for fans of suspense, thrillers and crime-mystery, but certainly one that fans of The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) might enjoy.

This book doesn't quite match up to the blurb where it is portrayed as more of a thriller. This is a book about family relations and a boy that doesn't quite connect to other people. It was a quick read but I didn't find it particularly gripping.

This is the second book I have read by Elena Varvello and she does not dissapoint. Just a boy is beautiful and engaging, She pulls the reader into her story. There are lots of emotions (and pain) involved so you better get yourself ready. I literally could not put the book down. Thank you.

Rounding up to three stars.


This book left me totally indifferent.
I neither liked it nor disliked it, and in fact am struggling to find anything to say about it.
It just didn't really work for me, but as it was fairly short, I felt there was no good reason not to finish it.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Definitely not what I was expecting - the blurb made it seem more like “We Need to Talk about Kevin “but it was really a mannerist shadow of a story about family in the aftermath of tragedy and mental illness. Not bad, just not what I was expecting. 3.5 rounded up- needed just a bit more heat on it’s bones.