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grahamclements's review against another edition
2.0
Brother in The Land begins with teenager Danny taking a break from working in his father’s corner store to go on a long bike ride into the English countryside. It starts to rain, so he takes shelter in a World War II pillbox. As he waits for the rain to stop, he sees the flashes of nuclear missiles exploding.
Aware that the rain might contain radiation, he waits for it to stop and then rides back to his fictional hometown of Skipley. It is badly damaged and hundreds are dead. The rest of the novel tells the story of Danny’s attempts to survive.
Brother in the Land is a young adult novel told exclusively from Danny’s point of view. Danny seems slightly emotionally detached from what is going on around him. He mourns little for family and friends who died, which leaves the reader wondering if he had had any friends. But perhaps he is just in shock and too busy getting on with surviving to mourn.
The novel does a realistic job of describing the aftermath of a nuclear attack: the breakdown in authority, the wait for help while many people do whatever it takes to survive, people dying of radiation sickness, crops failing, deformed babies being born.
The novel was written and set in the 1980’s, at a time when nuclear war was a big fear. But the novel reads like it could have been written in the 50’s. One of the reasons for this is the near total absence of females in leadership roles. There is only one substantial female character in the novel, the tough, but pretty Kim. She is used to show that Danny still has teenage hormones.
The novel has a real boy’s own adventure feel to it. It is obvious that its author Robert Swindells had a military background, with Danny’s devotion to duty being one of the novel’s big themes. Duties that include helping his family and joining a militia to fight those who sought to enslave the survivors.
The prose is straightforward, with little creative flair. The sentences are short and there is a lot of foreshadowing. Brother in the Land won the “Other” award, but I could find no reference to that award on the web.
Originally the novel ended with little hope for Danny’s survival, but Swindells added a new chapter that gives some hope. This seems unnecessary and goes against the novel’s overall bleakness. It also seems unrealistic.
Except for the additional chapter, Brother in the Land appears to be a relatively realistic portrayal of a teenager trying to survive after a nuclear war. As it progresses, it becomes a passable action novel, with Danny forced to fight to survive. But his lack of emotion left me thinking the author was too scared to explore the inner thoughts of his main character. It is very much a novel for teenage boys who don’t want to read any girly emotions.
Aware that the rain might contain radiation, he waits for it to stop and then rides back to his fictional hometown of Skipley. It is badly damaged and hundreds are dead. The rest of the novel tells the story of Danny’s attempts to survive.
Brother in the Land is a young adult novel told exclusively from Danny’s point of view. Danny seems slightly emotionally detached from what is going on around him. He mourns little for family and friends who died, which leaves the reader wondering if he had had any friends. But perhaps he is just in shock and too busy getting on with surviving to mourn.
The novel does a realistic job of describing the aftermath of a nuclear attack: the breakdown in authority, the wait for help while many people do whatever it takes to survive, people dying of radiation sickness, crops failing, deformed babies being born.
The novel was written and set in the 1980’s, at a time when nuclear war was a big fear. But the novel reads like it could have been written in the 50’s. One of the reasons for this is the near total absence of females in leadership roles. There is only one substantial female character in the novel, the tough, but pretty Kim. She is used to show that Danny still has teenage hormones.
The novel has a real boy’s own adventure feel to it. It is obvious that its author Robert Swindells had a military background, with Danny’s devotion to duty being one of the novel’s big themes. Duties that include helping his family and joining a militia to fight those who sought to enslave the survivors.
The prose is straightforward, with little creative flair. The sentences are short and there is a lot of foreshadowing. Brother in the Land won the “Other” award, but I could find no reference to that award on the web.
Originally the novel ended with little hope for Danny’s survival, but Swindells added a new chapter that gives some hope. This seems unnecessary and goes against the novel’s overall bleakness. It also seems unrealistic.
Except for the additional chapter, Brother in the Land appears to be a relatively realistic portrayal of a teenager trying to survive after a nuclear war. As it progresses, it becomes a passable action novel, with Danny forced to fight to survive. But his lack of emotion left me thinking the author was too scared to explore the inner thoughts of his main character. It is very much a novel for teenage boys who don’t want to read any girly emotions.
crypticspren's review against another edition
4.0
This was a KIDS book and Jesus Christ, did that go dark. If you like to read kids books for sunshine and rainbows, stay the hell away from this one.
But yeah, it was really good.
But yeah, it was really good.
fellowsjm's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. A simple dystopia, I just wish the characters were more fleshed out so that I could make more of a connection to them
beckez94's review against another edition
5.0
It was even more amazing the second time round, so real, so heart breaking.
hil4l's review against another edition
3.0
A post-apocalyptic nuclear bomb story told through the eyes of a young boy. It's full of emotion while staying rough around the edges. I was surprised that I enjoyed this one, as this isn't my usual genre of choice.
solaana's review against another edition
4.0
I read it with the new ending, but still, a YA book set in a post-nuclear-catastrophe martial-law-ruled UK is going to be a downer. Even without the cannibals.
some1uused2know's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting read, some key thought provoking ideas. There were gaps and inconsistency in the story.
tombomp's review against another edition
4.0
Harrowing novel about the aftermath of a nuclear war. Like Threads in book form.
HOWEVER, I know there are at least 2 editions of this, with different endings. One is the original, which is realistic and depressing. There's another one which makes no sense but gives a reasonably happy ending. I prefer the first. Funny story: we read this book in school and half were the first and half the second but the teacher hadn't realised they had different endings. When we got to the end there was a lot of confusion and the teacher expressed her disappointment with the depressing ending. WHATEVER TEACH YOU WERE DUMB AS HECK DEPRESSING ENDINGS FOR LIFE
HOWEVER, I know there are at least 2 editions of this, with different endings. One is the original, which is realistic and depressing. There's another one which makes no sense but gives a reasonably happy ending. I prefer the first. Funny story: we read this book in school and half were the first and half the second but the teacher hadn't realised they had different endings. When we got to the end there was a lot of confusion and the teacher expressed her disappointment with the depressing ending. WHATEVER TEACH YOU WERE DUMB AS HECK DEPRESSING ENDINGS FOR LIFE
deathcabforkatey's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I picked this up with no idea it’s a children’s/YA book. I lean more toward YA just because of the romance part but I guess it may be more middle-reader.
I really enjoy dystopian books, because of the themes they explore. Surprisingly, this was the first book I read that explicitly had a nuclear apocalypse. Following the characters in the immediate fallout is interesting. However, the author doesn’t do a lot to flesh out the characters and give them more depth, so I end up very ambivalent about them.
The world is very walking dead-esque, and centers upon the question of what would remain of humanity in an apocalypse situation. What does it mean to be human sans-society? How do we survive while keeping our humanity? All questions I enjoy.
I definitely recommend this book to a younger audience. Adding it to my “for my kids” shelf.
Read if you like: dystopia, nuclear apocalypse, YA/middle readers.
I really enjoy dystopian books, because of the themes they explore. Surprisingly, this was the first book I read that explicitly had a nuclear apocalypse. Following the characters in the immediate fallout is interesting. However, the author doesn’t do a lot to flesh out the characters and give them more depth, so I end up very ambivalent about them.
The world is very walking dead-esque, and centers upon the question of what would remain of humanity in an apocalypse situation. What does it mean to be human sans-society? How do we survive while keeping our humanity? All questions I enjoy.
I definitely recommend this book to a younger audience. Adding it to my “for my kids” shelf.
Read if you like: dystopia, nuclear apocalypse, YA/middle readers.
ljp223's review against another edition
2.0
Fairly well written, found it a bit too traumatic to be enjoyable