The Tightrope Walkers
Books | Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Friendship
David Almond
International award winner David Almond draws on memories of his early years in Tyneside, England, for a moving coming-of-age novel, masterfully told.A gentle visionary coming of age in the shadow of the shipyards of northern England, Dominic Hall is torn between extremes. On the one hand, he craves the freedom he feels when he steals away with the eccentric girl artist next door, Holly Stroud—his first and abiding love—to balance above the earth on a makeshift tightrope. With Holly, Dom dreams of a life different in every way from his shipbuilder dad’s, a life fashioned of words and images and story. On the other hand, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to the brutal charms of Vincent McAlinden, a complex bully who awakens something wild and reckless and killing in Dom. In a raw and beautifully crafted bildungsroman, David Almond reveals the rich inner world of a boy teetering on the edge of manhood, a boy so curious and open to impulse that we fear for him and question his balance—and ultimately exult in his triumphs.
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Author
David Almond
Pages
336
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Published Date
2015-03-24
ISBN
0763673102 9780763673109
Community ReviewsSee all
"Now this was interesting--I read this along with [b:The Ghosts of Heaven|21469108|The Ghosts of Heaven|Marcus Sedgwick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1409674391s/21469108.jpg|40787024] for my book club, and was really looking forward to The Ghosts of Heaven because I had loved Midwinterblood by Sedgwick, while this book I was more cautious about since I had read Almond's [b:Skellig|24271|Skellig (Skellig, #1)|David Almond|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320460285s/24271.jpg|960] and hadn't cared for it at all. Yet I ended up feeling kinda mixed about TGoH and really enjoyed The Tightrope Walkers.<br/><br/>I think the lack of magical realism in this, unlike Skellig, was a part of it, although the Jack character really reminded me of the character Skellig. But I also loved Almond's writing and was surprised how quickly I read the book. When I would read, I felt I was in Tyneside; I could almost smell the shipyard. I came to care for each of the characters, even Vincent McAlinden. <br/><br/>The part that really struck a chord with me was when his mom becomes ill. <spoiler> I knew, I knew she was going to die and just reading about it I imagined it as my own mother. She had a somewhat similar decline and I could see, feel her in those pages. It was already late at night but I had to keep reading through that section, had to witness how it played out. It's been exactly a year since my mom passed away and it hadn't hit me that hard in awhile. After reading those chapters, I put the book down and sobbed. I knew how he felt--I connected to how afterward both him and his father lose their faith and have anger with God. It was all beautifully and perfectly written. </spoiler><br/><br/>What kept me from giving this five stars was the ending. <spoiler>Not just because he and Holly didn't get out, although that was bittersweet, but also realistic, it was how it came about. The whole scene with Vincent attacking them, and raping Holly it just didn't ring true to me. Maybe I had come to care too much for Vincent and had hoped for some type of redemption. </spoiler>"
Liesl Prentice