The Boy with No Shoes: A Memoir

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Customer reviews

review by: carjushood@yahoo.it date: 2008-05-12 rating:
Nice reading
Very well written and a good story, the author is a very skilled writer taking you back and forth with in very orderly fashion, you don't find yourself skipping back or trying to remember important bits from the beginning or middle of his memoir. A very smooth read containing bits of history and information on other cultures as well as his sad and frustrating story surmounted by serenity and success.

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review by: M date: 2008-01-14 rating:
Extraordinary
The most important book I've ever read. The bravery in writing it is incredible. The boy's heart is laid out across the pages of this book. His suffering, mainly mentally, is described in a detail that holds such poignance and truth that you can almost feel it yourself. Horwood leads you through his childhood with him and the reader feels as though each event is a shared experience. It transports you from moments of immense anguish to ones exhilirating relief and elation and then brutally back again. The world of his in Stoning becomes your own world throughout the period of your reading this and you'll find yourself returning to it time and again as you would your own thoughts and feelings. Never before has a work of literature had such an impact on me and never before have I hoped so dearly for this real little boy to find happiness.

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review by: date: 2008-01-14 rating:
Brilliantly narrated
Reading my way through this book was like walking through a hall of mirrors at a fairground. Every turn revealed a new reflection of an aspect of my own childhood. Some were distorted more than others, but the story of the life of Jimmy Rova, told in the first person singular, evoked many poignant memories.

Jimmy tells the story of his difficult early life, and the interactions with those around him. When he progresses, against the odds, into grammar school, life gets even tougher for him. The descriptions of the highs and lows in his life cannot fail to stir the readers' emotions. This is a gripping read and it is so obviously wrapped around the personal experiences of the author. Having been previously so deeply moved by "Skallagrigg," I should not have been at all surprised to be just as deeply moved by this book by William Horwood.

I am sure that there are many who, like me, will see reflections of their own lives as they read The Boy With No Shoes. However, there has got to be something here for everyone. I would not hesitate to recommend the read to anyone, and I am confident that my friends will thank me for doing so.

Footnote: If this sweeps you along on an emotional roller-coaster, you should definitely read SKALLAGRIGG by the same author.

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review by: Margaret Ludford date: 2007-11-03 rating:
Excellent ..Boy with no shoes
My Daughter loaned me this book,thinking I would enjoy it. She was right, I have not read such a moving book for a long time, could not stop thinking about it and wanted to finish it,yet at the same time did not want it to end and loose Jimmy. This book deserves to become a classic.


review by: date: 2007-10-28 rating:
deal in kent
what a good read
i dont read books but a freind loaned me a copy
and said its about my home town
i could not put it down
it brings tears and smiles all through the book

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