The only thing that annoys me is that some of the wrongdoers get away with it. Yes, perhaps there is a little stereotyping at one or two points, but the truth is that shit happens and in order to become a stereotype there has to be a pattern of behaviour. I was very impressed that the author wasn’t afraid to take some controversial issues and I’m pretty sure someone will be offended, but that’s their problem because it means they’ve missed the point one way or another. Suffice to say there was a lot going on and some of it wasn’t good. I don’t want to say too much because spoilers would be unfair in a story where so much happens and is heavy stuff.

The boys grow to be men through varied and radically different experiences. I thought it would be difficult and disconcerting to be essentially jumping a year (or four years) at a time, but the author does a good job of starting each summer with a significant event that draws back into the story immediately. Over that first summer they form a bond that will last for the rest of their lives (or at least until the end of the book)Īt first. Zed, on the other had in a super-good boy but even so is physically abused by his father on a regular basis. Caspian is about to be send to a sever boarding school by a controlling father after he is expelled from school again. The story follows the two boys from their first meeting when they were both trapped in difficult situations. This was one heck of a book, spanning ten summers in the lives of two boys, who were aged fourteen and fifteen at the start of the book, although it skips summers four to eight for reasons you will discover when you read the book.

Zed’s words follow Caspian through pain, fear and into the darkest of places. They’re young, in love, and planning their future when an act of betrayal tears them apart.įate has dealt its hand.

Their friendship goes deeper than either can possibly imagine. The two couldn’t be more different, but there’s one thing they share, a need to belong to someone who understands them, someone who cares. Studious and obedient, Zed is the good boy who is never good enough. A rebel and a risk taker, Caspian doesn’t give a damn for the consequences. On a hot summer’s day, the lives of two boys are changed forever. The first words Zed says to Caspian, and the first time someone has cared about the answer.

The Story of Us by Barbara Elsborg