The Absolutist: A Novel by the Author of The Heart's Invisible Furies

By John Boyne

“A moving and deeply felt tribute to a love that dared to speak its name." —André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name

A new edition of the beloved novel most similar thematically to the author’s mega-bestseller The Heart’s Invisible Furies

It is September 1919, and twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War.

But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As he recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will–from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain.

The Absolutist is a masterful, unforgettable tale of passion, jealousy, heroism, and betrayal set in one of the most gruesome trenches of France during World War I.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781590515532

John Boyne

John Boyne is the author of numerous works of fiction, including The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a young adult novel that became an international bestseller and was made into an award-winning film. His books have been translated into forty-six languages, and he is the recipient of two Irish Book Awards, the Bistro Book of the Year award, and numerous international prizes. He lives in Dublin.

Reviews for The Absolutist

[xirxe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

15. September 1919. Tristan Sadler ist auf dem Weg von London nach Norwich, um dort Marian, die Schwester seines besten Freundes zu besuchen. Dieser kam aus dem Krieg nicht zurück und Tristan will ihr nun die Briefe, die sie ihrem Bruder Will geschrieben hat, zurückgeben. Bei ihrem Treffen erzählt er ihr von seiner ersten Begegnung mit Will im Ausbildungslager, dem Übersetzen nach Nordfrankreich und den anschließenden grausamen Kämpfen dort, wo es nur noch ums nackte Überleben ging.
Sadler berichtet abwechselnd in jeweils ca. 50seitigen Kapiteln vom Zusammentreffen mit Marian und seinen Erlebnissen im Krieg. Es ist die Geschichte zweier junger Männer, die in anderen Zeiten vermutlich wesentlich glücklicher verlaufen wäre. Doch in jenen Zeiten ging es nur noch um vermeintliches Heldentum und Mannsein, über die man damals eine deutlich andere Vorstellung hatte als heute.
Es ist ein Buch voll unerwiderter Gefühle und über die Brutalität des Krieges, die letztendlich zu einem entsetzlichen Ende führen.
Boyd schreibt aus der Sicht Tristans voller Emfindsamkeit, jedoch ohne rührselig oder kitschig zu werden. Man leidet und fühlt mit ihm und selbst während des tragischen Endes empfindet man mit dem Erzähler.
Ein Buch das berührt und die Schrecken des Krieges aus einer anderen Sichtweise aufzeigt.

[runner56_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Absolutist is a conscientious objector, one who refuses not only to be involved in the dirty business of taking arms against an enemy but also to help in any way the war effort by carrying out ancillary tasks. They were nicknamed Feather men.... (The notion of a white feather representing cowardice goes back to the 18th century, arising from the belief that a white feather in the tail of a game bird denoted poor quality. To 'show the white feather' was therefore to be 'unmanly)Tristan Sadler and Will Bancroft two fresh faced recruits meet in Aldershot as they prepare for life in the trenches, the defining image of World War 1. "In Aldershot they weren't teaching us how to fight, they were training us how to extend our lives for as long as possible"......John Boyne's writing is magnificent as always, his scenes of young raw recruits standing like lambs to the slaughter, or waiting to be butchered by the enemy's machine gunfire, is heartbreaking to read...."We forget that we have very nearly died today as we wait to die again tomorrow"......"Each of us fell at a different point on the spectrum from pacifism to unremitting sadism"...... At the start of the story Tristan is travelling to Norwich to meet Will's sister and deliver some personal letters, he is also hoping to unburden himself by revealing a secret, a secret that he has held within him for many years. The narrative alternates between the start and finish of WW1 and those who survived returned home deeply traumatized to a country unable to cope with or indeed understand the repercussions of shell shock more commonly known today as PTSD...."Twenty boys. And only two came back. One who went mad and myself. But that doesn't mean we survived it. I don't think I did survive it. I may not be buried in a French field but I linger there"........The Absolutist is about friendship, unrequited love, the morals of the time, and what happens if we try to live outside what society views as righteous and good. It is about the evil and brutality that humans can inflict on each other and in its graphic descriptions it illustrates what life (if we can call it that) was like for young men in the trenches...most would be lucky to survive more than 6 weeks....." I close my eyes for a moment . How long will it be, I wonder, two minutes, three, before I am over the sandbags too? Is my life to end tonight?"In the last chapter we meet Tristan as an old man, success as a writer has done little to ease his conscience or dampen the memory of those bygone days. The final sentence is probably one of the most poignant I have read for many years. A truly outstanding novel John Boyne once again asserts himself as not only a gifted author but possessing an uncanny understanding of the human spirit and what is to live. to love, and for that love never to be returned. Highly, highly recommended

[spbooks_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very intriguing story. I was shocked by the ending which was unpredictable. Very well told with excellent character development. The descriptions of the wartime experiences were described so well I felt like I was there and the relationships between the characters felt authentic. The story moves back and forth in time but without any confusion and the narrative moves along at a perfect pace. Very satisfying.

[schmerguls · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

5561. The Absolutist, by John Boyne (read 27 Mar 2018) I read the author's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on 2 Jan 2009 and his The Thief of Time on 25 Jan 2009 but was not moved to read this book by my memory of those books, but rather since this book was about World War One and I have a weakness for World War One both as history and as fiction. But I could not find this book enjoyable reading. The characters ' behavior was so erratic that they seemed false, though I realize that in fiction characters can act erratically even though they sound unlikely. The main characters in this novel I thought irritatingly unreasonable and self-centered. and there was never a time as I read the book when I was impressed by what was happenin.or what was being said.

[daftboy1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a very good book.It is the story of Tristan Sadler who at 17 goes off to fight in World War 1 In training he meets a boy called Will, Tristian is secretly gay his family have disowned him he falls in love with Will they do things in secret, both get sent to France.The trenches are horrible a lot of their comrades are killed, Spoiler alert Will decides to not fight anymore he is punished and is sentenced to death, Tristan agrees to join in the execution party.After the war he visits Wills sister Marian Norwich he passes on her old letters she had sent to Will and tells her the truth.Book then jumps to 1979 both Tristan and Marian are in their 80s now. Marian meets Tristan who is now a famous writer, he then goes back to his hotel room and wrecked with guilt over the last 6o years takes his own life. Very sad but good book,

[taletreader_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Coming into this novel, I didn't really read the summary except enough to gather that it was about the Great War. Automatically drawn to anything involving war, I took it upon myself to read the book, hoping for something similar to "All Quiet on the Western Front." What I got was much more entrancing, much more emotional, much more memorable. Although I really shouldn't compare the book to "All Quiet," they are both war books and both give an anti-war stance. However, this is much more than just a book about war--this is a book about love, about how to deal with death and heartbreak. This is a book full of gut-wrenching emotions that pile over you like a steamroller. And yet, I loved every minute of it. I did not hate the ending, but I wasn't satisfied with it. Nonetheless, I won't let that affect my 5 star rating because it still had me an emotional wreck, which is what it was supposed to do. I will never forget the character of Tristan Sadler, and I've already recommended this to one of my former professors who taught literature on war since the book seems to be a collection of all war-related books read in that class. I'm not kidding when I say you could take "All Quiet," "The Return of the Soldier," and "The Great War and Modern Memory" and come out with this book. Outstanding. I will be randomly tearing up everywhere I go for the next few days. *I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[dubaireader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The hidden trials of war.Although I find it hard to read about life in the trenches, this book was so well written that it drew me in in spite of the difficult content.I liked that we were taken back to peaceful post-war England from time to time, to break up the horror of war.The main character is Tristan Sadler, who is twenty-one when we meet him on his way to visit the sister of his wartime friend, Will Bancroft. By a series of back-stories and explanations to Will's sister, we learn what happened between them during training and on the Front.Tristan is wracked by guilt and needs to speak to the one person who knew Will intimately. I'm not sure that revealing his secret was a good move, but he felt he couldn't keep it to himself any longer. Nowadays psychologists would be on hand for such situations, but this was post WWI.Although I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, giving it 5 stars, there were definitely some blips, some of which really annoyed other members of my book group. Will Bancroft's behaviour towards Tristan, although understandable on some levels, caused a great deal of dissent, for example. I decided to leave my original rating, however.I've only previously read Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (5 stars) by this author and I shall certainly be looking out for more by him in the future.

[floratina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

READ IN ENGLISH

The latest novel by John Boyne! I couldn't wait to read it, but unfortunately I was supposed to get this book as a Christmas present (First World Problems), so I had to wait a little time.

It was a real touching story in my humble opinion. I personally don't really know a lot about the 'Great War' aka The First World War. This has to do with the fact that The Netherlands were neutral during WW1 and therefore don't have the same feeling about it. We did suffer a lot during the Second World War though, so most of our history classes are about WW2.

Needless to say terrible things happen during the book, and it is awful to think those have really happened. The Dutch title is - translated - The White Feather, I now understand why. The writing style was, once more, very nice and once again John Boyne picked an episode from history to write a wonderful book to teach us about it.

[tloeffler_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tristan Sadler is going to meet the sister of his WWI companion Will Bancroft to give her Will's letters. The story moves back and forth between the present and the war as Tristan tells Marian what it was like. Sad, touching, difficult to put down.

[ursula_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sometimes a book has so many layers of secrets and truths the characters are scarcely able to face themselves that even summarizing it can take away some of the reader's pleasure in discovering them. As has lately been my habit, I didn't read a description of the plot beyond seeing it was about World War I, and I think it's probably the most rewarding way to read this one. With that in mind, I'm going to say very little about the plot except: it's about two British soldiers who meet and become friends during training in World War I. It's also about the different faces of courage and cowardice, loyalty and jealousy, friendship and hatred. It will make you think - about war in general and World War I in particular; about camaraderie in the ranks and about the enemy as "other"; about the value of speaking your mind and the value of doing what you're expected to do. I had a hard time putting it down, and I also sometimes had a hard time turning the pages thanks to a feeling of dread at the inexorable forces at work. I can't say I really came out of the experience fully liking anyone in the book, but they all felt real to me.Recommended for: fans of Johnny Got His Gun, people who aren't holding out for a hero (I apologize, it got in my head too...), anyone who appreciates that nothing is ever black and white.Quote: "I break with my orders for a moment and turn my box-periscope towards the sky, watching as the sudden bursts of electric sparks signify the dropping of bombs on the heads of German or English or French soldiers -- it scarcely matters who. The sooner everyone's killed, the sooner it's all over."

[limelite_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tristan Sadler lives with a horrible secret from his days as a soldier in the Great War. Miraculously he survives that war, practically the only man left out of his company and goes to work in a London publishing company. When we meet him, he is en route by train to a village to complete an errand that he has been steeling himself to perform.It is John Boyne's task to let that story build and emerge at a dignified pace so as not to alarm the reader by an indelicate revelation. The reader must be drawn gently and delicately to face the truth of Tristan's past, a truth that is shocking and appalling.It's hard to recall a novel about soldiers at war that is more brutal, about the personal agony of being homosexual 100 years ago in England that is so devastating, and about the ironic nature of courage and cowardice whose meanings are so twisted by those two other factors that when combined, explode in one's face like a flawed grenade.Boyne writes a strong and unforgiving portrait of a blighted man that will linger with the reader forever. One could only wish that he hadn't ended it so neatly, telling the reader what was already understood. It is only at the very end that his pen trembled, unable to maintain the restrained delicacy that is the strength of the rest of the book.

[m2snick · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have, somewhat reluctantly, given this book three stars. The first 80% of the book deserves three stars. It is a well written treatment of war, bravery, so-called cowardice, and sexual confusion and conflict. It was intriguing enough to keep me interested. But, the last two chapters came very close to undoing everything I was feeling about this book. So contrived...so unbelievable. It is difficult for me to recommend this but many others have really loved it. So, judge for yourself.

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good story which doesn't stand up to close inspection, unfortunately. Once past the first few chapters, clumsily introducing a fairly original (for me, anyway) twist on the standard 'trench narrative', I was quickly swept along by the plot, told in flashback. A year after the war, Tristan Sadler travels to Norwich to deliver in person a dead soldier's letters to his sister. He also has a confession to make which will not make him popular, for two reasons.All very engrossing, but the weak characters and irritating anachronisms kept whittling away at the credibility of the tale until, by the final forced 'twist', I didn't really care about Tristan or his misery. For a start, Tristan is less an unreliable narrator, and more of an awkward author insert. He claims to be the son of a butcher, who joined up at seventeen and was forced to leave school early, yet he speaks like a character from a novel by Evelyn Waugh, and is somehow gainfully employed as a publisher's assistant, straight after returning from the trenches and with no education. Also, Tristan's childhood echoes the 1970s - 'we're an item', 'feel her up' - more than the Edwardian era. The chapters set in France are trenches-by-numbers, with much mud and splattered brains, yet the awkward engineering of the denouement makes a mockery of Tristan and Will's relationship.In fact, Tristan's doomed devotion to Will was about the only part of the narrative I did buy, despite being telegraphed early and obviously. I would have appreciated further insight and a more 'organic' ending to their relationship, but John Boyne obviously favours the clever literary device.A fast-paced and dramatic read, let down by style over substance.

[adpaton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

John Boyne does not shrink from the traumatic and unsettling parts of history [Concentration camps in Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Mutiny on the Bounty for Captain Bligh and The House of Special Purpose for the Romanovs] - The Absolutist, dealing with trench warfare, conscientious objectors and homosexuality, is no exception. The protagenist Tristan Sadler is driven to return a bundle of letters to the sister of a friend who died in the Great war. It soon becomes clear Tristan is 'not as other men' and joined the army after being disowned by his family who regarded homosexuality as the unforgivable sin. He falls in love with Will Bancroft but soon realised that Will is not prepared to acknowledge, even to himself, that he might be 'one of those'. Will has strong sympathy with conscientious objectors and, in a war where pacifists may be court martialled and shot, this is dangerous: when he comes out not as gay but as a conshie, he pays the price.Tristan leads an empty post war life, infused with guilt and depression; wracked with contrition he craves absolution from Wills family, an absolution that can never be given. Thsi is paradoxically not an easy book to read on the one hand, but an absolute page turner on the other. Boyne is a genius and arguably one of the best and most thought-provoking historical writers of our time.

[cariola_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's 1916, and Tristan Sadler has lied about his age in order to sign up to play his part in the Great War. Not, like many other boys, because of any rah-rah bandwagonism or sense of duty . . . but what else can a young man do when his family has disowned him? Things are so bad that his father, upon hearing of Tristan's enlistment, declares that he hopes the Germans kill his son, because "that would be the best thing for all of us."The novel actually begins in 1919, with Tristan, now 21, aboard a train to Norwich with a packet of letters in his pocket. He plans to return them to the writer, the sister of his wartime friend, Will Bancroft, one of the young men who didn't come home. We soon find that Tristan hopes to unburden himself of a secret, one that goes far beyond the sexual identity he has been trying to keep under wraps. Yes, he and Will did have a few romantic interludes, but where Tristan felt deep love for his friend, Will claimed only that the trauma of war and the immediacy of death pushed him to seek "comfort." But what preys on Tristan's mind is their last conversation and the truth--the whole truth--about Will's last moments.Tristan's narration takes us through horrific scenes in the trenches that are as vivid as any in Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy or Gallipoli. It's difficult to read these passages without despairing over the tragic loss of a generation and the extreme and often pointless sacrifices these young men--many little more than boys--were expected to make.Many LT readers have mentioned that Boyne seems to be playing too many themes at once: the repression of homosexuality, an anti-war statement, the struggle between group mentality and personal values, and whether it is better to die for one's principles or to live without any. I wasn't troubled by this; after all, life is complex, not always linear or singularly focused.Overall, Boyne has given us an original story, finely written. (I do have one caveat for anyone who, like me, listens to the book on audio. Michael Maloney is an excellent reader who is able to distinguish each character with his wide vocal range and repertoire of accents. However, he has a tendency to drop his voice for dramatic effect. As someone who is hearing impaired, I found myself constantly fiddling with the volume controls, and I still feel that I probably missed a lot. If I had it to do over, I would choose to read this book in print.)

[sefkhet · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Six months later, and I still don't know exactly what I thought of this one. I started out by liking Tristan and ended up by not liking him at all, which is fair enough -- I don't think Tristan likes himself very much, in the end. I picked up on the secret that I thought Tristan had within the first chapter -- but that, although it had been *a* secret, wasn't what he was really hiding. I enjoyed it, for the first three hundred pages, and then hated it -- but I was still up until 2am because I had to know how it all ended. I didn't like Will much, but he didn't deserve -- ah, but you'll have to read it, for that part, all the way to the end.It's difficult and uncomfortable, and perhaps that's the point. If, six months later, it still lingers in the mind, then that probably means it's powerful enough to deserve a recommendation. But I don't know if it does. Because I don't know if the reason it still lingers is because I'm still cross that this is yet another instance of literature falling into an LGBT trope.

[neildalley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has a masterful plot that draws you in to the complex tale of emotions and beliefs for a group of young men facing the horrors of the "Great War". It strips bare many of the predominant social attitudes of British society before, during and immediately after the war. It reminds us that during war the emotions of love, jealousy and anger are accentuated rather than being put on hold for the duration of the hostilities. I found the main character, Tristan Sadler, a very real and likeable person but some of the other characters seemed less well drawn and we didn't ever really understand their actions - although perhaps that is a reflection on the fact that the whole book is written from Sadler's perspective alone and he seems not to be a very good judge of character. I would agree with some other reviewers that the final chapters are not very strong but overall I found this a very challenging, interesting and inspiring read.

[arielfl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

John Boyne has a unique way of looking at well known historical events. In the Boy in the Stripped Pajamas he allowed us to view Auschwitz through the eyes of two young boys, one German and one Jewish. In the Absolutist we experience WWI from the perspective of a homosexual man. When we meet Tristan is a young enlisted man who has been disowned from his family because he was exposed as a homosexual when he kissed a boy. He knows what he is and is not ashamed or confused about it. The only pain comes from how society views him. His friend Will is the opposite, he tries to repress his feelings for Tristan. As if a struggle with their sexuality is not enough to contend with during a time when you could be killed for being homosexual, World War I is exploding around them. Most days it is all they can do to stay alive as men from their unit are picked off one by one. If there is something worse than being gay to the men supervising their unit it would be refusing to fight. There is no tolerance for morality and fits of conscience on the battlefield. Eventually Tristan has to own his actions to Marian, Will's sister. It is when he unburdens himself to her that all of his secrets are finally revealed.

[timbazzett · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Since I usually find novels of WWI extremely interesting I was looking forward to reading John Boyne's THE ABSOLUTIST, particularly in light of all the favorable buzz it has already gotten. And I was aware going into the book that the story centered around a gay relationship between two English soldiers. Unfortunately that 'relationship' never quite seemed to take shape. The attraction between Tristan Sadler and Will Bancroft was more of a tentative and fearful dance that never quite found its rhythm. Which is, I know, understandable and probably absolutely authentic, given the tone of the repressive Victorian times. Will himself is incapable of acknowledging his own sexual inclinations, obviously terrified of how it would ostracize him and ruin his life. But the pain and heartache that Tristan's 'unnatural' feelings toward first his schoolmate, Peter, and then, later, Will, have caused him and others are made all too evident in this, his secret autobiography. But while the narrator's homosexuality is always paramount in his tale, there is also a strong anti-war theme throughout, as evidenced first by ill-fated Wolf and then later by Will, who, after witnessing an unconscionable cold-blooded murder by a fellow soldier, becomes not just a conscientious objector, but the 'absolutist' of the title.Boyne's framing of the story with post-war events, flashbacks and a decades later final 'epilogue' was not, in my estimation, very effective. In fact it served mostly to draw out the story in such a way that it often veered toward the tedious. As a character, Will's sister Marian was not really very effective or believable, and seemed more to be a forced vehicle to insert yet another theme: suffrage and women's rights. There is also a telling scene between Tristan and Corporal Wells in which Tristan vehemently denies any close friendship with the condemned Will, and not once, but three times, in much the same way Peter denied Christ. Another undeveloped theme there perhaps? Maybe Boyne just tried to do too many things in his story. In an attempt to create suspense about the 'terrible thing' Tristan had done, the device of the fluttering forefinger instead serves to telegraph what this great secret is.I wanted very much to like THE ABSOLUTIST, but often became impatient with is circular constructions and vacillation between themes. A better and more straightforward look at attitudes toward homosexuality in England can be found in the books of J.R. Ackerley. And Pat Barker's REGENERATION or Frederic Manning's HER PRIVATES WE offer much better representations of anti-war themes and life in the trenches. THE ABSOLUTIST is not a bad book, but it certainly could have been better.

[whitreidtan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ask anyone and they can tell you all sorts of facts about World War II. But ask those same people about World War I and you'll get far fewer bits of information. For some reason World War I is not high in our collective consciousness here in the US. Maybe because it was overshadowed so quickly by the Second World War. Maybe because it didn't have anything so perfectly evil like the Holocaust towards which to point. Maybe because the generation that fought in it has been gone for so long now. For whatever reason, it seems to be one of those wars that don't enter into our thoughts despite the gruesomeness and appallingly high casualty count of its combination of modern weapons and trench warfare. Although set after the end of the war, once you've read this affecting novel by John Boyne, World War I and its cost will be forever etched in your consciousness in ways you'd never predict.Tristan Sadler survived the war. He lied about his age in order to join up and he spent months training and then living the horrors of trench warfare. His first day at training, he met Will Bancroft and the two of them became closest friends. Will did not live. As the novel opens a number of years after the war, Tristan is traveling from his home to deliver a bundle of letters to Marian, Will's sister. But this task, which could easily have been delegated to the postal service, is just an excuse. In truth Tristan is taking the letters to Marian in order to expunge himself of guilt, to detail the truth of Will's final days, and perhaps to seek Marian's absolution.Tristan's narration takes the reader into his wartime experiences and the agonizing friendship he maintained with Will from their earliest days in training up to the very end. He details his attraction to the outgoing and appealing Will and his jealousy when Will starts to listen to and internalize the reasoned arguments of another man in their unit about his concientious objector status. Tristan doesn't spare Marian, and by extension the reader, the knowledge of his own terrible falling out with his family and its causes which add depth to his growing attachment to Will. He quietly admits to his own worst and basest feelings. He describes the horrors of war graphically and unsentimentally. And he confronts both the moral ambiguities and absolutisms that abound in times of war and the ways in which men justify adherence to either.With themes of courage and cowardice, honor, friendship, social norms and prejudices, and sexual identity, Boyne has crafted a skillfully written, thought provoking novel. The narrative is non-linear, with Tristan revealing snippets of his training experiences, the war, his several years post-war admissions to Marian, and his current day old age each at precisely the right moment to complicate and add depth to his tale. The tension builds steadily and perceptibly as more comes to light during the telling and while the climax is, by the time it is revealed, not surprising, it remains powerful, tolling the death of so many high minded-values we claim to hold dear. Powerful and affecting, The Absolutist is a novel not to be missed.

[fuddlybutter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

an amazing read. beautifully tragic story which leaves you utterly emotionally drained by the end! a brilliant mixture of passion, fear, morality which gives a great a ccount of how i would imagine life would be as a soldier during the first world war. I got to care about the characters so much that i was totally devastated at the end! They really came to life for me through John's great story telling.

[readhanded · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Absolutist is the story of Tristan Sadler, a young-in-years, but world-weary man who has survived World War I - at least physically. Emotionally and mentally - that is another story.Boyne expertly uses flashback as a literary device in this novel, bringing the reader slowly forward in the present, while flashing back non-linearly to the past. Boyne also uses suspense to draw the reader in. Throughout the novel, Boyne reveals major plot and character points that change the way the reader views everything he or she has read up to that point. No revelation is as significant or as shocking as the one at the end of the book. I won't tell you much, but I will tell you this, I really don't think you'll see it coming.In addition to Boyne's skilled use of literary devices, he also incorporates quite a few hot-button topics in his novel: homosexuality, gays in the military, conscientious objectors, women's rights, and more. He also tackles such giants of the human condition as loyalty, love, passion, jealousy, and betrayal.Though historical fiction, The Absolutist feels modern. It's a timely book for our own society today, though it takes place nearly 100 years ago. The men Boyne describes are jaded and cruel, but it's difficult to find fault with them. They are products of their training, their conditions. And yet, some still choose to rise above the muck - and they are punished for it. After all, being an "absolutist" in a world of gray areas is nearly impossible.

[kwskultety · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellently written novel about friendship, guilt, loss, cowardice, love, hate, and war. Nothing in the plot was predictable, and I enjoyed this thoroughly.

[almin-70827 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book to discuss, buddy-read, book club read....who's the real coward?...Boyne writes characters so flawed, but so human....not as 'pleasant' (not the right word but can't think of the word I want) as The Heart's Invisible Furies (one of my favorites that I recommend to anybody who asks for a good book to read) but this book isn't meant to be pleasant. Thought provoking, sad....definitely a booked to discuss

[jmchshannon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Absolutist is another gorgeous story by John Boyne. Not only does he tackle post-war survivors’ guilt as well as the idea of objecting to a popular, patriotic war, he showcases the difficulties of finding and accepting your sexuality during a time when anything but heterosexuality was illegal. He tells this complicated tale with his usual delicacy to create a heartbreaking, horrifying, and yet poignant reading experience.

[akreese · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Absolutist begins with a soldier named Tristan traveling to visit the sister of his friend Will, who fought with him in World War I. Then it flashes back to Tristan’s experiences in basic training where he meets Will for the first time and they form a close friendship. From that point on the story alternates between the two time periods.

Early on in the novel it becomes obvious that Tristan’s affections for the male friends in his life mean more to him than just normal fond feelings of camaraderie. We learn of his early childhood friend and how Tristan’s father casts Tristan out of the family when he learns of Tristan’s feelings (clearly reflecting the attitudes of the time toward homosexuality). Then at basic training Tristan meets Will, who is the personification of kindness, compassion and reason; and he is pulled into his sphere as if by gravity.

His friendship with Will is complex and conflicted. You can tell that Will is fond of Tristan, yet fearful of feeling anything more, and incredibly disturbed by what the implications and ramifications could be of any actions taken. After seeing how the men of the group pick off a weaker member in their midst, Will’s fear is certainly understandable.

What follows is the tragic rending of a friendship against the backdrop of the inhumanity and horror of war. There is beauty in their friendship that is in direct contrast to the ugliness of war, yet the complexity of their situation reveals bravery and cowardice in both men. Throughout the story, again and again, bravery and cowardice are eloquently contrasted side by side, and play out in unexpected ways for Will and Tristan, in both the war and civilian life.

The significance of the title “The Absolutist” pertains to those pacifists who refused to do battle. Absolutists were those who refused to have anything to do with war or soldiering at all; even non-violent duties. A few pacifists figure into the plot of this book, and the author describes their uncommon courage in the face of taunting and the most dangerous (usually fatal) duties that they were given. He skillfully illustrates the irony of these men being brave enough to stand up for their beliefs, yet knowing they will eternally be labeled cowards.

A quick note about content, even though the story is not that graphic, some of the battle scenes and themes about homosexuality definitely make this an adult novel.

The Absolutist is a very well written story that drew me in and had me reading late into the night. Even as I read and knew that my heart might be broken, I did not want to stop. I highly recommend The Absolutist to those who love good literature, and to fans of dramatic war novels.

I received a free copy of this book for review via Goodreads.

[daptolibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

We had our full complement of twelve this month, so there were many voices with many opinions to get through. To start, there was a general consensus that the opening few chapters were a little slow and uneventful. At first, young Tristan’s plight found some empathy with us, but this was short lived. It was not long before the majority of us found him whiny, self- absorbed and intolerably needy. Will on the other hand, although not necessarily likable, tested our favour with his views and actions to a point that had most of us veering from extreme dislike to affable tolerance. This we decided was a clear indication of good writing and although the subject of war is not one of our favourites, we found the stark subject matter realistically portrayed with a vivid intensity that was emotionally moving. It was no surprise that our discussion moved towards the futility and horror of war, both then and now, and what it does to not only those involved but to our society as a whole. But the underlying themes present; homosexuality, absolutism, suppression and redemption all played a large role in bringing this story to its close. The comment was made that Boyne, as a modern writer, was not able to inject a sense of realism to something as potent as World War One. True or not, Boyne’s story is more likely to be read by a young generation, bringing with it greater knowledge of the tragic suffering and hopefully, a distain for war.And that, in our view can’t be a bad thing.

[paradiseporch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a The Absolutist, John Boynepackage of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it.”Most reviewers love this book. I’m more ‘meh’. The writing is superb and the story unfolds with just the right amount of tension from beginning to end. But I wasn’t blown away by the climax. I understand Will’s stand and determination to stick to it despite the consequences, and Tristan’s actions didn’t make any difference to the outcome. Maybe I’ve just read too many WWI novels recently.Read this if: you enjoy WWI stories; you’re interested the relationships between soldiers during wartime; or if you approve of war in principle. 3½ stars

[peggygillman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This story took place during WWI as a gay man falls in love with a fellow recruit who was really gay but hated himself for it so much, he projected that hate to his lover. And the last hateful words Will says to Tristin pushes him to pick up a rifle and take part in his hiring squad. I don’t want to read any more books that take place during a war. Good literature but so sad. 9/4

[writestuff_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tristan Sadler has survived trench warfare and returned to England. In September 1919 he boards a train from London and travels to Norwich to meet with the sister of a man named Will Bancroft, a man who did not make it home from France. Tristan tells Marian he wants to return some letters to her, but his real purpose is to unload his simmering guilt and finally reveal what really happened to Will.Narrated from Tristan’s point of view, The Absolutist moves from Norwich in 1919 back to 1916 when Tristan arrives at Aldershot for training as a young boy of seventeen. It is there he meets Will for the first time and is drawn to him. When the two finally ship out to France, their relationship is no longer simple but a complex mix of friendship, love and resentment.John Boyne has written a tragic and heartbreaking story of two young men during wartime. The novel is set against the backdrop of the deeper issue of what it means to be a man during a time when courage and honor were ideals in society. As the title suggests, the novel also explores the idea of moral absolutism. Is right and wrong etched in black and white? Is war amoral? Or are there times when the ends justify the means? Boyne does not only examine the morality of war and the conscientious objector’s dilemma, but he also adds another element to the novel – that of sexual identity. From the beginning, Boyne eludes to this second, underlying theme when Tristan checks into his room in Norwich and is told he must wait for the room to be thoroughly cleaned. Why? Because a man who occupied the room the night before was discovered to be homosexual.Tristan’s story is told in a non-linear fashion and is superbly plotted. So many literary fiction novels lack a riveting plot, but Boyne has done something fantastic in The Absolutist. He has created complex, flawed characters who are fully developed and he has crafted a suspenseful, engaging narrative that kept me turning the pages long past my bedtime.The Absolutist is a tender, deeply moving story whose themes are as timely today as they would have been in the early part of the twentieth century. While reading this novel, I was struck by the parallels between what happened during WWI (conscientious objectors being vilified, gays being discriminated against) and today’s world. Sadly, not much seems to have changed.John Boyne’s book is bound to be a classic someday. It has all the elements: fascinating characters, finely drawn plot, relevant themes and gorgeous writing. A powerful and poignant read for our times, The Absolutist is highly recommended.