The Sparsholt Affair review: A blitz of gay longingAlan Hollinghurst is very good on aspects of gay life in a novel to admire, perhaps, rather than loveSat Oct 07 2017 - 06:00
Kazuo Ishiguro deserves Nobel prize but others deserve it moreJohn Boyne: He’s a supremely talented writer, but Atwood and Banville have a greater claimThu Oct 05 2017 - 13:45
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie: provocative work from a brave authorLonglisted for the Man Booker prize, this nuanced examination of the place of Muslims in a hostile world will infuriate some readers and win the hearts of othersSat Aug 26 2017 - 06:00
The Hidden Keys by André Alexis review: a playful tale of farce and dangerThe third in the author’s sequence of novels is a mystery about a secret inheritanceSat Aug 19 2017 - 06:00
Pachinko review: a masterpiece of empathy, integrity and family loyaltyMin Jin Lee tells an endearing tale of hardship and inhumanity suffered by KoreansSat Aug 05 2017 - 06:00
The Zoo review: John Boyne on a jovial guide through Stalinism’s dying daysChristopher Wilson has written an entertaining but unremarkable political satireSat Jul 22 2017 - 06:00
At Swim, Two Boys is a great Irish novel, a gay love story but so much moreJohn Boyne: Jamie O’Neill’s masterpiece was first great Irish novel of new millenniumWed Jul 19 2017 - 10:06
How to Stop Time review: This novel is too short. (That’s a compliment)Matt Haig enjoys himself in this worthy addition to the time-travel canonSat Jul 08 2017 - 06:00
Arundhati Roy: 'It’s a hatred that crosses the line'Arundhati Roy’s new novel has made her a target for violent threats from the Indian government but she’s not about to back downSat Jun 24 2017 - 05:00
A good priest, an abuser and his victimsCrimes of the Father review: Thomas Keneally explores abuse and injustice in AustraliaSat Jun 17 2017 - 06:00
A History of Running Away review: ambitious and elegant interwoven talesPaula McGrath captures 1980s Dublin in a tale of middle age, an orphan and a boxerSat Jun 10 2017 - 06:00
Spoils review: A female soldier sees men ‘descend to the level of beasts’Ex-military man Brian Van Reet brings authenticity and urgency to his war novelSat Apr 29 2017 - 06:00
Let Go My Hand review: A grown-up love story between a father and his sonsIt’s a curious thing when a book about death can prove so life affirmingSat Apr 15 2017 - 06:00
First draft of ‘The Boy in Striped Pyjamas’ took me two daysAuthor John Boyne writes every day, and is ‘not sure what to do with days off’Mon Apr 03 2017 - 10:30
Larchfield review: John Boyne on a 'passionate and surprising debut'Polly Clark has re-created part of WH Auden’s life remarkably and movingly, says John BoyneSat Mar 25 2017 - 06:00
John Boyne: A tale of Manhattan, sex, drugs and AidsBook review: Tim Murphy’s novel about young New Yorkers treats the subject of Aids with deep respectSat Feb 25 2017 - 06:00
Homegoing review: Generations united and divided by colourYaa Gyasi’s striking debut novel traces racism from Africa to the US and back againSat Jan 07 2017 - 06:00
Nothing to Declare, a short story by John Boyne12 Stories of Christmas - Day 8: An old resentments boil over when two brothers from the same litter meet again by chanceTue Dec 27 2016 - 06:00
Swing Time review: Zadie Smith’s new novel can’t overcome faultsJohn Boyne is frustrated by an uninspiring narrator and condescencion towards AfricaSat Nov 12 2016 - 06:00
Graham Norton ‘wasted on TV’: John Boyne reviews his new novelPut all preconceptions aside: this is a fine novel - the TV star may just have discovered his true vocationFri Sept 30 2016 - 12:00
Conclave review: Robert Harris out-camps Dan BrownJohn Boyne calls this thriller about the dirty doings around selecting a new pope fast-paced but sillySat Sept 24 2016 - 05:00
Nutshell by Ian McEwan review: ridiculous or rather brilliantJohn Boyne on a novel narrated by an eavesdropping foetus: it is certainly Ian McEwan’s most intriguing book since On Chesil BeachFri Sept 02 2016 - 15:00
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old review: a nome de geezer’s life in an old folks homeJohn Boyne says this Dutch literary sensation is a joyous read, be it fact or fictionFri Aug 26 2016 - 18:00
Everyone Is Watching by Megan Bradbury review: an elegant debutFour fictionalised real-life characters conjure up a highly original vision of New YorkSat Jun 11 2016 - 01:00
Review: The Gustav Sonata by Rose TremainEach book from Tremain is a wonder. She writes of both men and women with equal passion and curiosity. The Gustav Sonata might, however, be her finest novel yetSat May 21 2016 - 02:42
What Belongs To You by Garth Greenwell review: a powerful debutLoneliness and desire are delineated by a promising young writer, writes John BoyneSat May 14 2016 - 01:30
Gods and Angels by David Park: lovers, relatives and other strangersThe difficulty we all have in communicating is central to this skilful collection of stories, writes John BoyneSat May 07 2016 - 01:22
Book Review: Slade House by David MitchellA series of tweets let to this gripping modern twist on the haunted house genreSat Oct 31 2015 - 04:00
John Boyne: why I’m nervous publishing Beneath the Earth, my first short storiesCuriously, out of all the novels I’ve written, only one is set in Ireland. And yet almost all my short stories, including most of the ones in this collection, are set here. What’s that about?Thu Aug 27 2015 - 09:54
Betrayed – Harper Lee wrote the great American novel. She doesn’t deserve thisReview: ‘Go Set a Watchman’ is Boo Radley. Like that key character from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, it was meant to stay inside, locked away, hidden from the world. It was never supposed to be publishedSat Jul 18 2015 - 07:00
Tender, by Belinda McKeon: a fresh twist on doomed love in 1990s DublinReview by John Boyne: Rich with wisdom, truth and beauty, and free of gimmicks or overblown prose, Belinda McKeon’s second novel shows she is capable of becoming Ireland’s Anne TylerSat May 30 2015 - 01:11
In praise of Claire Kilroy, by John BoyneIrish Women Writers series: ‘She could be seen as the literary love-child of Jennifer Johnston and John Banville, reflecting the Anglo-Irish aristocratic concerns of the former with the incomparable linguistic precision of the latter’Tue Feb 24 2015 - 13:07
Rest Day, by John BoyneFirst published in The Irish Times last December, John Boyne’s war story has won the Writing.ie Short Story of the Year awardFri Nov 28 2014 - 10:10
John Boyne: ‘The Catholic priesthood blighted my youth and the youth of people like me’John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, grew up gay in Dublin. Now, after years of silence he is finally ready to write about sexual abuse within the church – and to talk about the effect it has had on his lifeFri Nov 07 2014 - 12:30
Bracing encounter with icy depths: The Surfacing, by Cormac JamesReview: Highly original and poetic story of isolation and responsibility upon the seaSat Oct 18 2014 - 01:08
Review: Michael Harding’s wonderful new memoir: Hanging With the ElephantReview: Set over six weeks when his wife is away, and Harding has to cope with the solitude, this is a worthy successor to Staring at LakesSat Sept 20 2014 - 01:00
More power to Roddy Doyle’s elbow: Two More PintsReview: – The writer with the baldy head’s only done it again. – What are yeh talkin’ about?– He’s written another book about us. – Is it any good?– It’d have you in stitchesSat Sept 06 2014 - 01:00
The Living: a debut that stretches credibility to breaking pointVacant characters and implausible coincidences thwart the intriguing premise of examining the effect of republican activities on the post-peace generationSat Aug 02 2014 - 01:00
John Boyne on Sinéad O'Connor: 'I’d been half in love with her for a large portion of my life'Listen to Sinéad O’Connor and you will hear the story of Ireland. The troubles. The sadness. The rebirth. She may not know it, but The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author John Boyne has shared his life with her. The Sinéad superfan takes us on their voyageFri Jul 25 2014 - 00:00
Choose your future. Choose life. Choose a different book to read: The Sex Lives of Siamese TwinsJudging by his new novel, it may be time for ‘Trainspotting’ author Irvine Welsh to pipe downSat May 24 2014 - 01:00
Passion for life survives a deathHugo Hamilton’s novel is a powerful blend of experience and imagination that draws on a vist to Berlin with Nuala O’FaolainSat Mar 01 2014 - 01:00
The Thing About December, by Donal RyanWith this unsettling study of the greed that tore us apart, Ryan is carving out his terrain and striking at the heart of Irish lifeSat Oct 19 2013 - 01:00
The Book of my Lives, by Aleksandar HemonThe best sections of an intermittently interesting memoir deal with the lead-up to the Bosnian war in the early 1990sSat Mar 23 2013 - 06:00
Fun with Mammy and KatieHUMOUR: The collected wit and wisdom of the Irish mammy and the political thoughts of a less-than-happy baby citizen make entertaining…Sat Dec 15 2012 - 00:00
Casting her spell on the dark sideFICTION: The Casual Vacancy, By JK Rowling, Little, Brown, 503pp. £20Sat Oct 06 2012 - 01:00
Leaving the readers to fend for themselvesFICTION: Will Self’s ambitious new novel, a work of ‘audacity, originality and utter perplexity’, has been nominated for the…Sat Aug 25 2012 - 01:00
A kink in the line of beauty?FICTION: The Stranger’s Child , By Alan Hollinghurst, Picador, 564pp. £20Sat Jul 02 2011 - 01:00
A fantastical fiery adventureCHILDREN'S FICTION : Luka and the Fire of Life By Salman Rushdie Jonathan Cape, 216pp, £12.99Sat Oct 30 2010 - 01:00
