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Boy Swallows Universe: The multi-award winning international bestseller soon to be a Netflix series
Unavailable
Boy Swallows Universe: The multi-award winning international bestseller soon to be a Netflix series
Unavailable
Boy Swallows Universe: The multi-award winning international bestseller soon to be a Netflix series
Ebook543 pages9 hours

Boy Swallows Universe: The multi-award winning international bestseller soon to be a Netflix series

By Trent Dalton

4/5

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About this ebook

'The best Australian novel I have read in more than a decade' Sydney Morning Herald

'Astonishing, captivating ... a wild, beautiful, heart-exploding ride' Elizabeth Gilbert


The bestselling novel that has taken Australia, and the world, by storm. Winner of Book of the Year at the 2019 Indie Book Awards, winner of a record four Australian Book Industry Awards in 2019, including the prestigious Book of the Year Award, and winner of the 2019 UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, NSW Premier's Literary Awards

Brisbane, 1985: A lost father, a mute brother, a junkie mum, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. It's not as if Eli Bell's life isn't complicated enough already. He's just trying to follow his heart and understand what it means to be a good man, but fate keeps throwing obstacles in his way - not the least of which is Tytus Broz, legendary Brisbane drug dealer.

But now Eli's life is going to get a whole lot more serious: he's about to meet the father he doesn't remember, break into Boggo Road Gaol on Christmas Day to rescue his mum, come face to face with the criminals who tore his world apart, and fall in love with the girl of his dreams.

A story of brotherhood, true love and the most unlikely of friendships, Boy Swallows Universe will be the most heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novel you will read all year.

Awards:

2019 ABIA Book of the Year Award, Winner

2019 Indie Book Award, Winner

2019 UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Winner

2019 People's Choice Award, NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Winner

MUD Literary Prize 2019, Winner

2019 ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, Winner

2019 ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, Winner

2019 ABIA Audiobook of the Year, Winner

2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Longlisted

2019 Colin Roderick Award, shortlist

Reviews:

'Boy Swallows Universe is a wonderful surprise: sharp as a drawer full of knives in terms of subject matter; unrepentantly joyous in its child's-eye view of the world; the best literary debut in a month of Sundays.' The Australian

'Boy Swallows Universe hypnotizes you with wonder, and then hammers you with heartbreak.' Washington Post

'This thrilling novel' New York Times Book Review

'Marvelously plot-rich ... filled with beautifully lyric prose ...At one point Eli wonders if he is good. The answer is "yes," every bit as good as this exceptional novel.' Booklist

'Dalton's splashy, stellar debut makes the typical coming-of-age novel look bland by comparison ... This is an outstanding debut.' Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

'Extraordinary and beautiful storytelling' Guardian

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins Publishers Australia
Release dateJul 1, 2018
ISBN9781460708415

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Reviews for Boy Swallows Universe

4/5

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  • 5/5
    Wonderful book - partly a page-turning thriller, partly a slightly mystical family memoir, and partly a boy-does-good-from-bad-background tale.I was spellbound from the first chapter, and read the book in two days, wishing there was more to come.
  • 3/5
    Slick and interesting - if a bit creepy
  • 5/5
    Smiling through tears. Favourite book in years.
  • 5/5
    I loved every page of this remarkable story. Absolutely un-put-downable. The story gained momentum right to the last page. This is now on my top ten books of all time list.
  • 5/5
    A novel hard to forget and hard to top.
  • 1/5
    Started twice. Gave up at 145 pages (one fifth of the book) the second time. Something about the writing style really irritated me and reading this felt like such a chore. I just don’t get all the hype. At least I have enjoyed reading the other 1 star reviews. I feel better now.
  • 4/5
    An enjoyable romp that will make for a great TV series. Not sure it will stick with me for long but was good while it lasted. A decent summer read.
  • 4/5
    A different type of story. I enjoyed the stories and the characters. The story is told by Eli from the ages of 13 to 19. Like many teenagers, this book heads off into many tangents but always returning to the main story. The tangents, many and oh so varied, make the overall book a pleasure to read, while at the same time they take the reader to places you weren't expecting.
  • 4/5
    Very well written, really evokes the Australia of the era (early '80s). But I found its really hard to get into, worth it once I did, just a bit of a slog.
  • 3/5
    Loved - really warmed to the positive characters: Eli, Gus, Slim, Lyle and Caitlyn Spies- really loved to hate the negative characters: Tytus Broz, Dustin Vang, hitman- loved the bizarreness and humor of Broz prosthetic limb research, Dustin Vang’s teenage bravado, - Gus and Eli’s brotherly interactions- group hug- stories about Boggo Road prison and Eli’s Christmas break in- Eli’s struggle to contain his tears - Eli’s love for Caitlan Spies- the positive male characterizations and role models in Slim and Lyle even if they are imperfect - your end is a dead blue wren- the final reveal under the red silk - the high paced thrilling endingDidn’t love- the meandering pace for some of the book- the voice (I found it a bit self aware)
  • 4/5
    A little bit hard to follow at first, but perseverance paid and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Delightful characters of the two boys and their parents and even the "criminals " they met along the way.
  • 3/5
    This one rushed to the top of the charts here in Australia, and I bought it. Wasn't money well spent, at least for me. Doubtless, lots of people enjoyed it but I was rather disappointed. Dalton is certainly a competent writer but sometimes his descriptive passages have an enervating whiff of thesaurus about them. The plot is creative enough, and there's enough weirdness about the characters to engage the reader. I loved the evocation of Brisbane where I spent a decade and a half of my teens and young adult life. Always fun to read something set in familiar places.However, the book is longer than it needs to be (almost 500 pages) and the climax tamer than I hoped. Not to mention, it begins to read like a chase from a screenplay. In a cinema near you soon.

    1 person found this helpful

  • 3/5
    This is a very engrossing story, once you get halfway in. Suddenly millions of things start happening, all at once, tying every loose thread together. A bit over the top. I didn't really like it, though. The writing style was very grating. It isn't bad writing, it feels right for the character, but too harsh for me.

    1 person found this helpful