---
product_id: 162020293
title: "A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel"
price: "920552₫"
currency: VND
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reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.vn/products/162020293-a-ladder-to-the-sky-a-novel
store_origin: VN
region: Vietnam
---

# A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel

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desertcart.com: A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel: 9781984823021: Boyne, John: Books

Review: Outstanding - A Ladder to the Sky is so hard to describe properly but it's so damn good that I'm going to give it a try: man without scruples (or empathy, or any basic human emotions, really) wants more than anything to be an author. Never mind the fact that he can't write. Is he a success? You betcha! Oh, Maurice. From the start, when a late in life moderately successful author, Erich, sees you and is instantly besotted, you take his time, his money, and a story from his past and boom! You're on your way. Getting there, you encounter Dash, who also becomes besotted, and use him to make sure you wedge open every door in publishing you can, with an unsuccessful encounter with Gore Vidal (!) along the way. The brief interlude with Gore Vidal was my favorite (say what you will about Gore Vidal, but he was deeply aware of the human capacity for terrible behavior) until there's the section narrated by: Edith. Up and coming British author, madly in love with Maurice, and oh! She's my favorite. So full of charm and passion and with such a bright future. And that second book she's working on... Well. Maurice, you "help" that along, don't you? Then, finally, you're a huge success, with an actual literary magazine, Stori (the title seems to have punctuation of some " at the end, naturally) and you have your own other heart's desire, a child. Your very own son, Daniel. Too bad children are so much work. And so needy! But he's a bright boy and he does love to read. Of course, there's that pesky asthma. Still. Onward! There are more ideas to steal, (convient, to run a magazine every aspiring author appears to want to be in) more novels to write. More fame to be had. And then, you're older and no longer published but maybe, with this doctoral student, Theo, who has been sniffing around (and who has a big publishing house editor father!), there's still one last idea to be found and appropriated (because, really, it's not the writing that's hard, it's the idea!) perhaps it's time for one more great novel... Ladder to the Sky is a deft skewering of publishing while still managing to be a love letter to both books and the way the very best of them work, by laying bare some part of what our best and worst selves are. Oh, and Maurice? The main character, on whose life so many authors enter (and exit)? Sociopath. (On a good day, mind!) Ladders to the Sky has to be experienced. It manages to be full of life while its main character is best at stealing it, full of love (again, while Maurice has none), and a love letter to the power of words starring someone with no real facility for them. It's brilliant, it's thoughtful and yes, it's core character has none of these traits. And the ending! Oh, I laughed out loud as Maurice recounts his last act of "writing." (And how the publishing world receives it) Ladder to the Sky is, hands down, one of the most twisted love letters to books and their power I've read. IOne of the best books of 2018.
Review: A darkly funny psychological drama about authors and their industry - Until recently my top three John Boyne books were The Heart’s Invisible Furies, A History of Loneliness and The Absolutist. But, having just finished his most recent novel, A Ladder to the Sky, I’m rethinking my ranking. A Ladder to the Sky is a darkly funny psychological drama that tells the story of a relentlessly ambitious Englishman, Maurice Swift. Swift decides at a young age that he wants to be an author – not just any author, but an acclaimed and awarded one. “I want to be a success…It’s all that matters to me. I’ll do whatever it takes to succeed,” says Maurice. While working part time as a waiter in Berlin, twenty-two-year-old Maurice meets novelist Erich Ackermann, who has found literary success late in life. Erich is attracted to the beautiful young man and not unmoved by his admiration for the novelist’s work. Desperate to prolong their interaction, the older man offers to critique Maurice’s writing. He’s infatuated, which means Erich wants to like Maurice’s work, but he’s disappointed. While his writing is impressive, Maurice’s plotting is mundane and, thinks Erich, too boring to be publishable. Indeed, Maurice is a good writer, but lacks the imagination and/or creativity to come up with ideas for stories. Fortunately for Erich, the younger man recognises this weakness and asks for advice. “The more you read, the more you write, the more the ideas will appear,” says Erich. “They’ll fall like confetti around your head and your only difficulty will be deciding which ones to catch and which to let fall to the floor…There are stories everywhere. When you find one, when you hear one, make it your own and then the world will come to you.” Erich doesn’t stop there. “Everyone has secrets. There’s something in all our pasts that we wouldn’t want to be revealed…And that’s where you’ll find your story,” he counsels. Maurice is a fast and driven learner, and – spellbound by youth, beauty and a tiny promise of passion – Erich finds himself telling the youngster his own secret, which, as he’ll later discover, will lead to him becoming “the author of my own misfortune”. Erich is Maurice’s first victim. His second, Dash Hardy, introduces Maurice to American writer, Gore Vidal in a wonderful chapter written from Vidal’s vantage point. Boyne does such as great job emulating Vidal’s tone and sharp humour that it seems entirely plausible that he really met and wrote about the young parasite. Just when you think Maurice can’t be more dreadful, you meet his wife who tells her story as if addressing her husband. And then there’s his son, Daniel. A Ladder to the Sky tells a story of ambition and deception. It’s a book about writers and some of their worst characteristics. Maurice is the literary world’s Talented Mr Ripley amplified tenfold. There were moments that I felt he was too evil and predatory to be real, and wanted reasons to understand his choices. But then Maurice rationalised his conduct (and apportion blame to his victims) in his narcissistic and psychopathic way, and I was convinced once more. And, of course, the book is satire. So, where does A Ladder to the Sky fit in on my list of favourite Boyne novels? It’s a cracking good read and, since I was captivated by the story and the characters (Maurice, deserves a place in The Gallery of Most Renowned Literary Rogues); awed by the author’s ability to alternate perspectives, locations and structured; and once again admired his humour and taut writing throughout, I think A Ladder to the Sky might now be my favourite Boyne novel. If nothing else, it is, as my family will attest, definitely a “LEAVE ME ALONE, I’M READING*!” kind of novel. * The best kind of holiday book.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #79,322 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #658 in Psychological Fiction (Books) #1,943 in Psychological Thrillers (Books) #2,270 in Literary Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 7,594 Reviews |

## Images

![A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/816NWQJEIwL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Outstanding
*by A***R on November 14, 2018*

A Ladder to the Sky is so hard to describe properly but it's so damn good that I'm going to give it a try: man without scruples (or empathy, or any basic human emotions, really) wants more than anything to be an author. Never mind the fact that he can't write. Is he a success? You betcha! Oh, Maurice. From the start, when a late in life moderately successful author, Erich, sees you and is instantly besotted, you take his time, his money, and a story from his past and boom! You're on your way. Getting there, you encounter Dash, who also becomes besotted, and use him to make sure you wedge open every door in publishing you can, with an unsuccessful encounter with Gore Vidal (!) along the way. The brief interlude with Gore Vidal was my favorite (say what you will about Gore Vidal, but he was deeply aware of the human capacity for terrible behavior) until there's the section narrated by: Edith. Up and coming British author, madly in love with Maurice, and oh! She's my favorite. So full of charm and passion and with such a bright future. And that second book she's working on... Well. Maurice, you "help" that along, don't you? Then, finally, you're a huge success, with an actual literary magazine, Stori (the title seems to have punctuation of some " at the end, naturally) and you have your own other heart's desire, a child. Your very own son, Daniel. Too bad children are so much work. And so needy! But he's a bright boy and he does love to read. Of course, there's that pesky asthma. Still. Onward! There are more ideas to steal, (convient, to run a magazine every aspiring author appears to want to be in) more novels to write. More fame to be had. And then, you're older and no longer published but maybe, with this doctoral student, Theo, who has been sniffing around (and who has a big publishing house editor father!), there's still one last idea to be found and appropriated (because, really, it's not the writing that's hard, it's the idea!) perhaps it's time for one more great novel... Ladder to the Sky is a deft skewering of publishing while still managing to be a love letter to both books and the way the very best of them work, by laying bare some part of what our best and worst selves are. Oh, and Maurice? The main character, on whose life so many authors enter (and exit)? Sociopath. (On a good day, mind!) Ladders to the Sky has to be experienced. It manages to be full of life while its main character is best at stealing it, full of love (again, while Maurice has none), and a love letter to the power of words starring someone with no real facility for them. It's brilliant, it's thoughtful and yes, it's core character has none of these traits. And the ending! Oh, I laughed out loud as Maurice recounts his last act of "writing." (And how the publishing world receives it) Ladder to the Sky is, hands down, one of the most twisted love letters to books and their power I've read. IOne of the best books of 2018.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A darkly funny psychological drama about authors and their industry
*by P***Y on January 5, 2019*

Until recently my top three John Boyne books were The Heart’s Invisible Furies, A History of Loneliness and The Absolutist. But, having just finished his most recent novel, A Ladder to the Sky, I’m rethinking my ranking. A Ladder to the Sky is a darkly funny psychological drama that tells the story of a relentlessly ambitious Englishman, Maurice Swift. Swift decides at a young age that he wants to be an author – not just any author, but an acclaimed and awarded one. “I want to be a success…It’s all that matters to me. I’ll do whatever it takes to succeed,” says Maurice. While working part time as a waiter in Berlin, twenty-two-year-old Maurice meets novelist Erich Ackermann, who has found literary success late in life. Erich is attracted to the beautiful young man and not unmoved by his admiration for the novelist’s work. Desperate to prolong their interaction, the older man offers to critique Maurice’s writing. He’s infatuated, which means Erich wants to like Maurice’s work, but he’s disappointed. While his writing is impressive, Maurice’s plotting is mundane and, thinks Erich, too boring to be publishable. Indeed, Maurice is a good writer, but lacks the imagination and/or creativity to come up with ideas for stories. Fortunately for Erich, the younger man recognises this weakness and asks for advice. “The more you read, the more you write, the more the ideas will appear,” says Erich. “They’ll fall like confetti around your head and your only difficulty will be deciding which ones to catch and which to let fall to the floor…There are stories everywhere. When you find one, when you hear one, make it your own and then the world will come to you.” Erich doesn’t stop there. “Everyone has secrets. There’s something in all our pasts that we wouldn’t want to be revealed…And that’s where you’ll find your story,” he counsels. Maurice is a fast and driven learner, and – spellbound by youth, beauty and a tiny promise of passion – Erich finds himself telling the youngster his own secret, which, as he’ll later discover, will lead to him becoming “the author of my own misfortune”. Erich is Maurice’s first victim. His second, Dash Hardy, introduces Maurice to American writer, Gore Vidal in a wonderful chapter written from Vidal’s vantage point. Boyne does such as great job emulating Vidal’s tone and sharp humour that it seems entirely plausible that he really met and wrote about the young parasite. Just when you think Maurice can’t be more dreadful, you meet his wife who tells her story as if addressing her husband. And then there’s his son, Daniel. A Ladder to the Sky tells a story of ambition and deception. It’s a book about writers and some of their worst characteristics. Maurice is the literary world’s Talented Mr Ripley amplified tenfold. There were moments that I felt he was too evil and predatory to be real, and wanted reasons to understand his choices. But then Maurice rationalised his conduct (and apportion blame to his victims) in his narcissistic and psychopathic way, and I was convinced once more. And, of course, the book is satire. So, where does A Ladder to the Sky fit in on my list of favourite Boyne novels? It’s a cracking good read and, since I was captivated by the story and the characters (Maurice, deserves a place in The Gallery of Most Renowned Literary Rogues); awed by the author’s ability to alternate perspectives, locations and structured; and once again admired his humour and taut writing throughout, I think A Ladder to the Sky might now be my favourite Boyne novel. If nothing else, it is, as my family will attest, definitely a “LEAVE ME ALONE, I’M READING*!” kind of novel. * The best kind of holiday book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another compelling, if dark, novel by Boyne
*by P***H on July 13, 2023*

I just recently discovered John Boyne's novels and he's quickly become a favorite. This particular book is excellent and I found it difficult to put down, always wanting to just read a few more pages, and then a few more after that. The story itself is dark, telling the tale of an extremely flawed man and his lifetime of using any means necessary to achieve fame and acclaim in his chosen field, fiction writing...despite his lack of talent. Boyne is a superb writer and that fact shines through in this novel as it has in his other works. This book is both easy and difficult to read, it makes one think, and is not a so-called "beach read". I highly recommend it.

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*Last updated: 2026-02-10*