An Act of Love
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Review
"...utterly gripping, honest and courageous... We need more books like this... Cracking contemporary thriller addressing today's key issues of multiculturalism, terrorism and community ties. Chris and Imran are childhood friends - but can that friendship survive jihad, domestic terrorism and an IED during a tour of afghanistan?" (Jill Murphy THE BOOKBAG )
"...a brilliant story and one that has been told with excitement, compassion and honesty." (THE GREAT, THE GOOD AND THE BAD BLOG )
"a thrilling tale that tackles important issues by involving you at a personal level. Highly recommended for teens and adults." (THOUGHTS FROM THE HEARTHFIRE )
"This book should be on every reading list in every secondary school... It is a powerful read that leaves you with questions and reflections about the past ten years... An excellent, well-written, hard-hitting book to make you sit up and take notice." (SERENDIPITY TEACHER )
"Gibbons captures the anger, frustration and sense of isolation that a teenager of faith or colour feels... This is an enormous and heavy topic to cover, but An Act of Love is not just boy meets girl, Muslims vs the West, it's about a love that fights and conquers hate. A sometimes uncomfortable, but intuitively written and compelling read. Gibbons gives the invisible a voice." (THE FADED BOOKMARK )
"An Act of Love is the most powerful book I have read this year... This is a book about friendship and love: how families work, how we grow up, and how violence can change lives... It is a book about love and terror, about how and why people fight. It is beautifully written and the sharpness of the prose, and utter skilfullness of the storytelling should make this book a must read for young men and women all across Britain." (Catherine Johnson ARMADILLO MAGAZINE )
""What breaks inside the child that makes the man so flawed" asks Alan Gibbons in this exciting and cleverly constructed tale showing how decent kids can be sucked into violent extremism... There's a bomb ticking right through this story. Will it go off? You'll need to read it." (Anne Johnstone GLASGOW HERALD )
"Gibbons clarifies but never simplifies the issues involved. The least escapist thriller imaginable, and yet as exciting, and often as much fun as Horowitz." (Jake Kerridge THE TELEGRAPH )
"There are not enough male teen novels, and this one is of political as well as human importance... The pace makes for breathless reading as you approach the end. Having begun at the end, the plot moves towards what ultimately has to happen, after twelve years of back-story. Imran and Chris are still teenagers, and they have both seen too much. I hope this book will open many eyes." (THE BOOKWITCH )
"This, for once, is a young adult novel genuinely meriting the description 'thought-provoking'." (Robert Dunbar THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN )
"An Act of Love is an extraordinary book that thoroughly explores trust, pain and decision-making... an exciting read that challenges people's views and leaves you wondering where you stand." (SOCIALIST WORKER )
"...a brilliant story and one that has been told with excitement, compassion and honesty." (THE GREAT, THE GOOD AND THE BAD BLOG )
"a thrilling tale that tackles important issues by involving you at a personal level. Highly recommended for teens and adults." (THOUGHTS FROM THE HEARTHFIRE )
"This book should be on every reading list in every secondary school... It is a powerful read that leaves you with questions and reflections about the past ten years... An excellent, well-written, hard-hitting book to make you sit up and take notice." (SERENDIPITY TEACHER )
"Gibbons captures the anger, frustration and sense of isolation that a teenager of faith or colour feels... This is an enormous and heavy topic to cover, but An Act of Love is not just boy meets girl, Muslims vs the West, it's about a love that fights and conquers hate. A sometimes uncomfortable, but intuitively written and compelling read. Gibbons gives the invisible a voice." (THE FADED BOOKMARK )
"An Act of Love is the most powerful book I have read this year... This is a book about friendship and love: how families work, how we grow up, and how violence can change lives... It is a book about love and terror, about how and why people fight. It is beautifully written and the sharpness of the prose, and utter skilfullness of the storytelling should make this book a must read for young men and women all across Britain." (Catherine Johnson ARMADILLO MAGAZINE )
""What breaks inside the child that makes the man so flawed" asks Alan Gibbons in this exciting and cleverly constructed tale showing how decent kids can be sucked into violent extremism... There's a bomb ticking right through this story. Will it go off? You'll need to read it." (Anne Johnstone GLASGOW HERALD )
"Gibbons clarifies but never simplifies the issues involved. The least escapist thriller imaginable, and yet as exciting, and often as much fun as Horowitz." (Jake Kerridge THE TELEGRAPH )
"There are not enough male teen novels, and this one is of political as well as human importance... The pace makes for breathless reading as you approach the end. Having begun at the end, the plot moves towards what ultimately has to happen, after twelve years of back-story. Imran and Chris are still teenagers, and they have both seen too much. I hope this book will open many eyes." (THE BOOKWITCH )
"This, for once, is a young adult novel genuinely meriting the description 'thought-provoking'." (Robert Dunbar THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN )
"An Act of Love is an extraordinary book that thoroughly explores trust, pain and decision-making... an exciting read that challenges people's views and leaves you wondering where you stand." (SOCIALIST WORKER )
Book Description
Crackling with tension, a timely real-life thriller which explores the consequences of the war on terror on two young lives, by prize-winning author, Alan Gibbons.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Finding a good book to engage young teenagers can be difficult - the great reads we remember enjoying at that age are rejected as being too old fashioned and dull, whilst many of the current offerings are rejected as silly stories of teenage super-heroes, spies, vampires, soppy love stories and/or the supernatural. An Act of Love provides an up-to-date story line with characters my sons could relate to and a plot that educates about some very important issues and events.
It made a pleasant change from having to chide my 13 year old son to read something other than football magazines to have to drag him away from the book for dinner. It was then eagerly snapped up by his brother and both boys not only requested more books from Alan Gibbons but insisted that I should read it too - a reaction only previously elicited by The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It is well researched and easily read and I would be very surprised if it doesn't appear in the classroom.
It made a pleasant change from having to chide my 13 year old son to read something other than football magazines to have to drag him away from the book for dinner. It was then eagerly snapped up by his brother and both boys not only requested more books from Alan Gibbons but insisted that I should read it too - a reaction only previously elicited by The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It is well researched and easily read and I would be very surprised if it doesn't appear in the classroom.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Well done, Mr Gibbons! This is a tricky subject to tackle and I applaud this author's courage in taking it on.
The two main characters in this story are the closest of close friends in childhood, but as they grow up they also grow apart. This is initially because Chris moves to another part of town and therefore to a new school, but it is also because, as the boys grow older, world events and events in their own town make it harder for a Muslim and a non-Muslim to be close friends.
Imran's brother goes to prison for taking a very small part in a riot and their parents feel deep shame. Poor Imran feels alienated from them and looks elsewhere for guidance on how to be a Muslim living in a non-Muslim society. Unfortunately the people he turns to cause him to be still further alienated from his family and we fear he will embrace extremism and terrorism and forget his family's viewpoint, that Islam is an act of love not violence. While all this is going on, Chris has moved even further away from him and joined the British Army. As the story moves towards it's climax, on the day that Chris is to receive an award for bravery, we realise that Chris and Imran are still looking out for each other and that their childhood oath of 'blood brothers forever' will save the day and many lives.
This is a book about loyalty - to your friends, your family, your country and your religion. We all have choices to make as we grow and move through life, but for some people the choices are more difficult. In this book Imran decides that terrorism and violence are not the answer, thank goodness, but the author shows us very clearly that outcome could have been very different.
I hope lots of people read this book and think about the issues raised.
The two main characters in this story are the closest of close friends in childhood, but as they grow up they also grow apart. This is initially because Chris moves to another part of town and therefore to a new school, but it is also because, as the boys grow older, world events and events in their own town make it harder for a Muslim and a non-Muslim to be close friends.
Imran's brother goes to prison for taking a very small part in a riot and their parents feel deep shame. Poor Imran feels alienated from them and looks elsewhere for guidance on how to be a Muslim living in a non-Muslim society. Unfortunately the people he turns to cause him to be still further alienated from his family and we fear he will embrace extremism and terrorism and forget his family's viewpoint, that Islam is an act of love not violence. While all this is going on, Chris has moved even further away from him and joined the British Army. As the story moves towards it's climax, on the day that Chris is to receive an award for bravery, we realise that Chris and Imran are still looking out for each other and that their childhood oath of 'blood brothers forever' will save the day and many lives.
This is a book about loyalty - to your friends, your family, your country and your religion. We all have choices to make as we grow and move through life, but for some people the choices are more difficult. In this book Imran decides that terrorism and violence are not the answer, thank goodness, but the author shows us very clearly that outcome could have been very different.
I hope lots of people read this book and think about the issues raised.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I read this book as part of a school programme on community and "global issues" and found it be very well written and very thought provoking. As an adult reader, I very much enjoyed the story and thought that it had a good pace, it flowed well, had very realistic characters that were easy to relate too, and it had a very good conclusion. I also found the use of language appropriate to the age range this book is aimed at (early to mid teens) without "dumbing down" key issues or themes.
The book generated some very interesting class discussions about terrorism, friendship, and the world we live in post Sept 11th in General. I found that it was a success in making pupils think about these issues, and helped develop thier empathy skills and their understanding of the current conflict in Afghanistan too.
There is a lot of opportunity for teachers to develop worksheets and tasks based on this book (sadly my module did not lend itself to this as well as it could have) and I really would recommed this for anyone who has to teach similar modules in thier own schools as it really did enagage the pupils and generated some very interesting discussions.
The book generated some very interesting class discussions about terrorism, friendship, and the world we live in post Sept 11th in General. I found that it was a success in making pupils think about these issues, and helped develop thier empathy skills and their understanding of the current conflict in Afghanistan too.
There is a lot of opportunity for teachers to develop worksheets and tasks based on this book (sadly my module did not lend itself to this as well as it could have) and I really would recommed this for anyone who has to teach similar modules in thier own schools as it really did enagage the pupils and generated some very interesting discussions.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Read it!
This book is brilliant. It is exciting, well-written with engaging characters and gives so much to think about. Is that why it isn't on the Carnegie shortlist?
Published 14 days ago by Mrs. Caroline Johnson
A highly thought provoking book. Outstanding!
Those that argue, that this book over simplifies many of the conflicts post 9/11 fail to see the point of this book. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Miss S Laces
Thought-provoking and sensitive
This is one of those books that really gets to you. It is a very emotive book that will appeal to adults as well as teens. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Moonless
simplistic
The basic idea is a modern possibility but I felt the whole story took a rather simplistic approach. Read more
Published 10 months ago by J. McNicol
Blown away by this book
This isn't my normal genre but I was intrigued by this book and I was right to be intrigued, I was blown away by this book. It is amazing. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mrs. S. K. Mann
Well written and thought provoking
I have enjoyed reading this book as it covers a subject that is very current and very much in the news today. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Campbell
OK - it's not a review...
... but how are our children to grow up knowing English when they are exposed to this kind of thing:
"Childhood friends Chris and Imran celebrate the Millenium as... Read more
"Childhood friends Chris and Imran celebrate the Millenium as... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. F. L. Dunkin Wedd
Incredible, full of action
From the very first page, An Act of Love is intense and gripping.
Chris and Imran grew up next door to each other. Read more
Chris and Imran grew up next door to each other. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Pamela Roach
A story of our times. Brilliant. I wish I could have donated this book...
I got this for my husband, who is of German/Polish and English/Welsh descent and whose father was in the British army (like one of the characters in this book), and whose... Read more
Published 11 months ago by ROROBLU'S MUM
A book to make you think!
This book looks at the lives of two children from two different religions, Chris and Imran, who begin their childhood as sworn blood brothers. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Vivienne Serendipity
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