Guantanamo Boy
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Review
This powerful and humane book shows that hatred is never an answer, and proves the pointlessness of torture and the danger of thinking of anyone as 'other.' (Nicolette Jones Sunday Times )
One of her greatest achievements is to make the frightening monotony of the two years he suffers so full of suspense. (Kate Kellaway Observer )
An excellent novel . . . superb (Amanda Craig The Times )
Extremely powerful, and the descriptions of torture are genuinely harrowing. (The Guardian )
Timely, gritty fiction. (Times Review )
Could it happen? It has happened. That's why teenagers should read this book. (Irish Times )
Rising star: Anna Perera. Her novel highlights the teenagers sent to the camp as it tugs readers into its vivid nightmare journey. (The Independent )
One of her greatest achievements is to make the frightening monotony of the two years he suffers so full of suspense. (Kate Kellaway Observer )
An excellent novel . . . superb (Amanda Craig The Times )
Extremely powerful, and the descriptions of torture are genuinely harrowing. (The Guardian )
Timely, gritty fiction. (Times Review )
Could it happen? It has happened. That's why teenagers should read this book. (Irish Times )
Rising star: Anna Perera. Her novel highlights the teenagers sent to the camp as it tugs readers into its vivid nightmare journey. (The Independent )
Review
This powerful and humane book shows that hatred is never an answer, and proves the pointlessness of torture and the danger of thinking of anyone as 'other.' -- Nicolette Jones Sunday Times One of her greatest achievements is to make the frightening monotony of the two years he suffers so full of suspense. -- Kate Kellaway Observer An excellent novel ... superb -- Amanda Craig The Times Extremely powerful, and the descriptions of torture are genuinely harrowing. The Guardian Timely, gritty fiction. Times Review Could it happen? It has happened. That's why teenagers should read this book. Irish Times Rising star: Anna Perera. Her novel highlights the teenagers sent to the camp as it tugs readers into its vivid nightmare journey. The Independent
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a coming of age story with a difference. Guantanamo Boy tells the story of Khalid, a young British teen who loves his mates, his computer games and is beginning to like girls. Khalid doesn't come of age with success on the football fields or with fumbles with the opposite sex but in a world of suspicion, terror and confusion. Retaining a simple, almost naïve dignity we experience with Khalid the horror of how an innocent boy ends up in Guantanamo Bay. The novel starts, like Khalid, with a simple and straightforward innocence. As Khalid's story develops you gain an affection for him and as you become caught up in his world to the point where, as the story takes its dramatic and horrifying turn, you feel protective of him and ashamed that a civilised world can treat a child in the ways so powerfully described.
I found Guantanamo Boy to be a difficult and uncomfortable read but this is not say that it was not an utterly compelling read. Some of the passages describing his `interrogation' are challenging to read - you almost want to cry out to make it stop. It tackles head on the horrors of humanity by dealing with a very emotive and topical subject . I would encourage young teens and adults to read this book and be prepared to travel with Khalid to the very dark heart of the `war on terror'.
I found Guantanamo Boy to be a difficult and uncomfortable read but this is not say that it was not an utterly compelling read. Some of the passages describing his `interrogation' are challenging to read - you almost want to cry out to make it stop. It tackles head on the horrors of humanity by dealing with a very emotive and topical subject . I would encourage young teens and adults to read this book and be prepared to travel with Khalid to the very dark heart of the `war on terror'.
Format:Paperback
An unexpected subject for a teen read but an important one.
Khalid an unexceptional and naive teen is mad about; football, computer games, girls and hanging out with mates. Born to liberal hardworking Pakistani muslim parents he rarely even experiences conflicts between his lifestyle and religion.
This all changes when he visits Pakistan for a family holiday and finds himself kidnapped, imprisoned without charge and then sent to Guantanamo as a suspected terrorist.
The torture and horrors of Guantanamo are played down - this book is aimed at a teen market but the humilation, desolation and loneliness felt by Khalid cannot fail to shock and outrage the reader.
Once accused can you ever prove your innocence? It reminded me of the witch trials when just having the finger pointed at you was enough to condemn you.
There is a real sense of confusion and injustice throughout the book. Khalid and the reader spend much of the story wondering how it could happen and how without charge or communication with the outside world there can ever be justice.
It is a harrowing story that cannot fail to touch the reader and open their eyes. Khalid is an average adolescent inexplicably caught up in the atmosphere created by war, fear and revenge.
Ultimately it is not all doom and gloom though, there is hope and Khalid is a 'hero' who struggles against madness to survive, understand and inspire.
Thanks to NetGalley for sending this to me.
Khalid an unexceptional and naive teen is mad about; football, computer games, girls and hanging out with mates. Born to liberal hardworking Pakistani muslim parents he rarely even experiences conflicts between his lifestyle and religion.
This all changes when he visits Pakistan for a family holiday and finds himself kidnapped, imprisoned without charge and then sent to Guantanamo as a suspected terrorist.
The torture and horrors of Guantanamo are played down - this book is aimed at a teen market but the humilation, desolation and loneliness felt by Khalid cannot fail to shock and outrage the reader.
Once accused can you ever prove your innocence? It reminded me of the witch trials when just having the finger pointed at you was enough to condemn you.
There is a real sense of confusion and injustice throughout the book. Khalid and the reader spend much of the story wondering how it could happen and how without charge or communication with the outside world there can ever be justice.
It is a harrowing story that cannot fail to touch the reader and open their eyes. Khalid is an average adolescent inexplicably caught up in the atmosphere created by war, fear and revenge.
Ultimately it is not all doom and gloom though, there is hope and Khalid is a 'hero' who struggles against madness to survive, understand and inspire.
Thanks to NetGalley for sending this to me.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A very moving and inspirational read. Anna Perera pulls no punches with this highly emotive and descriptive teenager's novel. It isn't until you've read the novel that you can reflect on the serenity from the opening scene; the clash of images in the rest of the novel will unsettle most readers. It would be good if this appears either as a whole text or as extracts on future syllabuses across many departments in schools, it offers a wealth of information to explore.
I only know of Guantanamo Bay from what I see in the media and it was good to then read in The Times and The Guardian how Perara developed the concept for the novel. Acknowledging her main source, Perara admits not wanting to use detainees' stories as they are their stories to be told and not hers. This alone touched me but left me wondering how evocative her novel would then be; I didn't have to wonder for long; in my opinion she has been successful at becoming a 15 year old Muslim.
Khalid is like any other teenager until a family holiday to Pakistan. A holiday he didn't want to take and continually lets his family know this. I won't go in to how he is abducted or the actual circumstances but I really did feel Khalid's sense of confusion at the situation he was faced with. The narrative flows and I found it hard to put the novel down, in fact I didn't want to as I just wanted to keep on reading about Khalid's ordeal.
I think this book will haunt me for a long time and I will recommend it to everyone! I was reduced to tears towards the end, resulting in me needing a few moments of reflection once I'd reached the end. The novel is complete, I can't go into much more because I don't want to mention the outcome of the novel but I wasn't left with any questions. A very plain cover to the novel but equally an effective cover is sure to catch many readers' eyes on a shop's shelves and the added touch of orange on the end of the pages adds to the impact. A very clever novel, one that would be good to read with others as you are sure to have plenty to discuss.
I only know of Guantanamo Bay from what I see in the media and it was good to then read in The Times and The Guardian how Perara developed the concept for the novel. Acknowledging her main source, Perara admits not wanting to use detainees' stories as they are their stories to be told and not hers. This alone touched me but left me wondering how evocative her novel would then be; I didn't have to wonder for long; in my opinion she has been successful at becoming a 15 year old Muslim.
Khalid is like any other teenager until a family holiday to Pakistan. A holiday he didn't want to take and continually lets his family know this. I won't go in to how he is abducted or the actual circumstances but I really did feel Khalid's sense of confusion at the situation he was faced with. The narrative flows and I found it hard to put the novel down, in fact I didn't want to as I just wanted to keep on reading about Khalid's ordeal.
I think this book will haunt me for a long time and I will recommend it to everyone! I was reduced to tears towards the end, resulting in me needing a few moments of reflection once I'd reached the end. The novel is complete, I can't go into much more because I don't want to mention the outcome of the novel but I wasn't left with any questions. A very plain cover to the novel but equally an effective cover is sure to catch many readers' eyes on a shop's shelves and the added touch of orange on the end of the pages adds to the impact. A very clever novel, one that would be good to read with others as you are sure to have plenty to discuss.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Book review
I asked my mum to buy me this book because I was going to a talented writers thing and I ws going to meet the author Anna Perera. Read more
Published 18 months ago
A brilliant, compassionate, disturbing book
I am not usually very interested in realistic tales of hardship.
Reading through someone's struggle doesn't fascinate me, my misery memoirs reading started and ended... Read more
Reading through someone's struggle doesn't fascinate me, my misery memoirs reading started and ended... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Ms. F. M. Stygall
Guantanamo Boy
Until recently our son has been a reluctant reader, but he has begun to appreciate and enjoy 'the novel'. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Mr. Michael R. Candlin
Compelling
This is a great and important book. As a fictional piece of work, it is a compelling story which is gripping to read, but it also offers an insight into one of the great scandals... Read more
Published on 26 Dec 2009 by Adam Ball
Shocking, heartrending but ultimately a triumph of the human spirit
Imagine you are 15 years old living in a northern town, hanging out with your mates playing football, bunking off school occasionally and too shy to ask out the girl you have a... Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2009 by Redwood the Younger
Gripping and an EYE opener...
ANNA HAS DONE SOMETHING THAT MOST WOULD BE RELUCTANT TO DO, OPEN YOUR EYES TO A PART OF LIFE THAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT HERE IN TODAYS WORLD BUT NOT TALKED OR KNOWN ABOUT MUCH, AN... Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2009 by ALYSSIA STARR
Moving, Harrowing but Ultimately Inspirational
A harrowing account of how a fifteen year old boy gets caught up in George Bush's ill conceived "war on terror". Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by Sir Furboy
Guantanamo boy by anna perera
Occasionally a novel permits a very special journey into the life of a character that under normal circumstances you might never meet or know and you come away with a deeper... Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2009 by Anne Marie Mackay
Marvelous on Many Levels!
This book is marvelous on more than one level. It's a great work of fiction with vivid descriptions that inspire the reader's senses to really get into the story. Read more
Published on 2 April 2009 by Avid Reader
Superp, moving novel
It was with some reluctance that I read this book, my mum having told me I should.I was quite interested in Guantanamo Bay and perhaps this interest made me read this novel in the... Read more
Published on 2 April 2009 by classic kid
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