Boys of Blood and Bone Essay

David Metzenthens Boys of melody and B single is an challenging novel linking the stories of total heat Lyon, in the summer before he starts his outgrowth year of Law at university, and Andy Lansell, Australian digger killed in the Somme in 1918. Andy and heat contents stories meet when Henrys car breaks graduate in the small country t knowledge of Strattford on his way to a sailboarding weekend with his mates and his disgruntled girlfriend Marcelle. While stuck in Strattford, Andy gets to turn in Trot and his girlfriend Janine and centenarian Cecelia Hainsworth, never-married fiancee of the long-dead Andy.Henry is given Andys diary to read, and finds himself fascinated bythe tragic story of this issue man of his own age from another time, another world. The narrative of Boys of Blood and Bone alternates among Henrys contemporary story and the war time experiences of Andy and his mates. The lead is not so much that the two young mens lives are directly paralled its rather that the comparison of their stories points up the entire difference between the experiences of the generations in question, and their attitudes to life and death.Henrys outcome of physical braveness when he board sails into a wild and sober sea points up his reckless sense of immortality, as contrasted with the young soldiers rueful, resigned courage under the most extreme, nightmarish and unbelievable circumstances. Similarly, Henrys one passionless sexual encounter contrasts powerfully against the diggers frank embracing of (as they know, maybe first and last) sexual opportunities with, it must be stressed, entirely willing young women.This is not to infer that the novel romanticises the olden, or past generations at the set down of the current generation. Yet at that place is a sense of frustration with Henrys somewhat aimless, even unambitious wandering through life, compared to Andys clear-sighted, focused recognition of what is required of him in his here and now. And dont forget were talking about 18 year olds here. Boys of Blood and Bone is on its surest ground in the chapters dedicated to Andy and the desperate, bloody subject field of the Somme.Metzenthens year spent researching the war is evident, and the physical and emotional trial by ordeal these young men is vividly realised (although Andys last twenty-four hour period is dragged out a little too much in unspotted horror movie Im not dead that style). Less well depicted is the romantic tribulations that form the core of Henrys story. His conflict with Marcelle is presented, but not adequately explored his subsequent solicit is more fleshed-out and recognisable, yet this narrative thread still seems somewhat piquet in comparison to the life and death circumstances of Andy and his mates.In the past decade or so, young Australians have demonstrated a sincere interest in the war-time experiences of their counterparts from decades ago. Attendances at ANZAC Day ceremonies and visits to Gallipoli have increased enormously, and there is a new-found respect for the war-time experiences of Australian service men and women in generation gone by. In this context, Boys of Blood and Bone is bound to find an charmed and open audience.