The day the First World War broke out, Alfie Summerfield's father promised he wouldn't go away to fight--but he broke that promise the following day. Four years later, Alfie doesn't know where his father might be, other than that he's away on a special, secret mission. Then, while shining shoes at King's Cross Station, Alfie unexpectedly sees his father's name on a sheaf of papers belonging to a military doctor. Bewildered and confused, Alfie realizes his father is in a hospital close by--a hospital treating soldiers with shell shock. Alfie isn't sure what shell shock is, but he is determined to rescue his father from this strange, unnerving place. . . .
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND FINISH THIS BOOK!
By the GreatReads!
Stay Where You Are And Then Leave by John Boyne is a gripping story of the First World War for middle graders from the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and is soaked in tenderness. It is a touching look at the effects war has on a family.When England declares war on Germany, it was Alfie Summerfield's fifth birthday, July 28th 1914. It had an immediate impact. Most of his friends were prevented from attending birthday party. He lives with his parents Georgie, the local milkman, and his mother Margie. Alfie’s grandmother Summerfield lives close by. Alfie's best friend, Kalena Janacek, lives nearby, just down the street. Kalena’s father owns the local shop. Joe Patience is the best friend of Alfie’s father. His father leaves home to join duty and trains at Aldershot. It was an eventful time in history but young Alfie couldn’t quite comprehend what it was all about.Georgie didn’t return home but kept sending letters regularly. And soon the letters stopped coming. To calm him Margie tells Alfie his dad is on a secret mission, and couldn’t write letters. However, Alfie was now able to understand the situation and thought his father is dead, and that his mother was hiding the truth from him. Life is becoming more and more difficult for Alfie and his mother. Alfie made up his mind to help his mother. He sneaks into Kalena’s house while they were being interned on the Isle of Wight, took Janacek’s shoeshine box and start shining shoes to earn some money.Four years passed by and there is still no sign of Georgie. While many believed him to be dead, Alfie is convinced his father is alive. He unexpectedly sees his father's name on a sheaf of papers belonging to a military doctor and learns that he is suffering from shell shock in a hospital in Ipswich, which is nearby. How it unfolds is what Stay Where You Are And Then Leave by John Boyne is all about.The author paints a stark picture of the devastation and pain war inflicted on mankind. It is poignant, earnest and mesmerizing. The character of Alfie is simply amazing. John Boyne has crafted a truly absorbing story which revolves around a young and courageous boy. This heartfelt story is peopled by memorable characters you’ll not easily forget. It is a book not to be missed.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.Vivid and moving portrayl of the impact of war
By Liat2768
Written in time for the centennial of WWI, this deceptively simple read is the story of Alfie Summerfield whose father is a milkman turned soldier who seems to have disappeared without a trace. Alfie's mother maintains that his father is on a secret mission but Alfie fears his father is dead. When he discovers that his father is in a hospital for treatment for those suffering from shell-shock, Alfie is determined to rescue his father and to bring normalcy back into his life.John Boyne has written a moving and, at times, wrenching story of The Great War and its impact on those back home. While the war is a looming presence in the background, this book is mostly about the love for one's family and friends, Through Alfie's naïve observations of events unfolding around him we get to see the strain and the fear felt by the adults around him. Alfie is not immune to all this.While our young hero does not always understand the events, he is observant and has a deep drive to do what must be done to make things right for those he loves best. He knows his mother is struggling to make ends meet and he tries to do his part to help her. He wants to help his father and does what he can to correct what he sees as a terrible wrong.Boyne writes in a simple narrative style and yet he manages to fill this slim volume with much fodder for thought. The petty racisms, the fear, the prejudice and the meanness that rise up in the people around Alfie are balanced, more often than not, by those striving to hold on to their dignity and kindness. Shell-shock, or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, first gained recognition as a diagnosis during WWI. Initially ridiculed and treated with contempt it was a diagnosis that many sought to hide and to cope with it was lonely battle. Boyne does an excellent job portraying the mentality of the time when PTSD was something shameful and deserving of ridicule. The book does seem a bit rushed at the end and we do not get a clear picture of how Georgie (Alfie's dad) slowly improves and how Alfie's life regains some sense of normalcy. Pat Barker treats the same subject and time period at greater depth in her Regeneration trilogy which is definitely not a series for young readers.The book is being marketed as a 'Book for young readers' and McMillan recommends it for ages 9-12. I would say that this is a book more suitable for Grades 9 to 12 - High School or, at a stretch, middle school since, while not violent compared to some books for young adults, there is an underlying thread of violence and trauma that could be very disturbing for the younger child or more sensitive reader. There are references to impotence, suicide, an abusive parent, violence in prisons and much more that could raise many disturbing questions in the mind of the younger reader. Alfie may be aged 9 in this book but I would think twice before handing this book to a 9 year old to read.Having said that though, I do think this is an important book that can help our children gain a deeper appreciation not only of the experience of war but also of familial love and ties that hold us together through thick or thin.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.My Favorite Read of the Year So Far
By Sarah-Hope
John Boyne’s Stay Where You Are and Then Leave is an absolute gem of a book. It’s being marketed as a YA novel, but don’t let that fool you. This is a book that will reward readers of all ages, one that’s definitely going on the “essentials” shelf.I don’t want to say too much about the contents because I don’t want to spoil them for you, but I do want to say enough to convince you that this is a book you should track down and read—and soon!Alfie Summerfield is five when his father volunteers for the British Army at the start of World War I. He’s an interesting, quirky kid, with a child’s sense of time: “Georgie and Margie [Alfie's parents] had been very old when they got married—he [Alfie] knew that much. His dad had been almost twenty-one and his mum was only a year younger.”At first, Alfie’s father writes regularly, but then the letters stop coming. Alfie’s mum tells Alfie his dad is on a secret mission, but Alfie grow less and less sure of her honesty as his father’s absence grows more extended. Is his father dead? If he’s on a secret mission, what sort of mission is it?Alfie and his mum quickly become “perilously close to penury,” as she puts it. She works double shifts at a hospital, waking him before she leaves for work in the morning. Sitting alone eating his breakfast each day, Alfie props the newspaper up in font of him as he remembers his dad doing, but he’s only interested in one kind of news:[H]e did what he always did in the morning. He turned to page four to read the numbers. The numbers of deaths on our side. The number of deaths on their side. The number of wounded. But there was only one number Alfie really cared about: 14278. His dad’s number. The number they’d assigned him when he signed up.Now the man of the family, Alfie (who ages from five to nine years old over the course of the novel) cuts school and spends four days a week at King’s Cross Station shining shoes in order to make a few pennies to slip into his mother’s purse. But he never cuts school on Monday or Thursday—those are History day and Reading day, his two favorite subjects.Alfie’s losses extend beyond his missing father and less-present mum: his best friend Kalena and her father are deported to the Isle of Man as enemy aliens because they come from Prague; Alfie’s father’s best friend Joe is first jailed, then regularly assaulted once he returns home, for being a Conshie, a Conscientious Objector; lots of young men leave the neighborhood, never to return. Alfie understand what is meant when a friendly passenger on a train comments on his age: “you’ll be ten soon enough, I imagine. Nine-year-old boys usually turn ten at some point. It’s the nineteen-year-olds who have difficulty turning twenty.”The writing in Stay Where You Are is deceptively simple, communicating complexities in ways that will be clear to younger readers and intellectually satisfying to older ones. This isn’t a book that ends “happily ever after,” but it doesn’t rob readers of all sense of hope. People fail one another, but they do their best. They have courage to change as they see their own actions in different lights. “Less bad” is better than “more bad,” even if it isn’t “good.”This book is being released in the U.S. on March 25 (it’s also been published in the UK). Look for a copy, read it, pass it on to a younger (or older) friend. You’ll have much to talk about as you share Alfie’s attempts to understand—and to affect—the adult world that he sees around him.
