REVIEW: Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne

'>Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne

Published Feb 2009 Doubleday Canada - To purchase click this link:

Mutiny on the Bounty

The day I bought this book I was doing my annual birthday browse at a Chapters and had literally a pile of books in my arms. Normally I don't wander up and down the fiction aisle and look at every book that's there, but this day I did. Beside a shelf in a pile was Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne. Personally I love books about life on ships, and I haven't read many of them. So I picked it up and read the first page. HOOKED.

To say I loved this novel is an understatement. The language the author uses in the dialogue is ingenious! Words like "scut" to describe a scumbag, or "squits" for... well.. obvious bodily issues you may or may not get on a ship, and my personal favourite when our hero John Jacob Turnstile suddenly finds himself in the company of a lady, let's say, he "gets the motions." Honestly, I laughed out loud at this almost every single time.

I was not familiar with the Bounty story so for me this was a great read on that level as well. The story of Bligh and his ill fated voyage is told from the perspective of a 14 year old n'ere do well Turnstile. He narrowly avoids jail time by agreeing to serve time as Bligh's personal "assistant" on the Bounty for an eighteen month voyage. The interesting thing about using Turnstile to tell the story is we get to "be there" and watch the events unfold as a fly on the wall, so to speak. Boyne uses the boys perspective that filter the story as well as his reaction to what he sees and often overhears that helps us to understand what went wrong. The story is a fictional account of what happened, but follows the historical version pretty closely. And the characters you love to hate are much more fun when you interact with them thru a 14 year old boys impatient and rebellious yet controlled manner.

This is one of those books that I could not put down. I read it every spare moment I had and talked of little else. It was funny, heart breaking, compelling and unpredictable. (At least for me since I had no idea what actually happened in the history books) After I finished it I was thoroughly satisfied right to the very last page, which in and of itself is an amazing feat for an author.

RATING: 5 STARS