UNA MACCHINA DA GUERRA

Is your enemy clearly defined? Is your world conveniently black and white, and you are one of the good guys, fighting the evil of an official state enemy, whose citizens are devils by definition? For some Northern English school children during the Second World War, this worldview is deeply shaken wh Leggi tutto

First published in 1975, I read this in the late seventies, aged 9 or 10. I've since read it twice more as an adult and am always gripped by the excitement, the suspense, the build-up and the action. As an adult I can see new aspects to the book, tales of friendship and evolving relationships, heart Leggi tutto

My grandfather prompted me to read this book when I was about 11 and I thought that it was absolutely brilliant. On all the times I've read it since, it has lost none of it's original lustre and, if possible, has got even better now that I understand everything better. What makes this book even bette Leggi tutto

Young adult second world war adventure As a child of the late 60's I loved to read everything from Captain Hurricane in the Valliant, the wonderful William by Richard Compton, and the amazing adventures of those intrepid five, the famous five. The machine gunners harks back to an innocent time, set

Like much of Westall's work, this book is set in WW2 England, where boys' idea of fun is to collect assorted debris from the carnage of the Blitz (bits of planes and bombs, with the nose-cone of a Messerschmitt the ultimate prize). But when some boys find something rather larger, and more dangerous, Leggi tutto

I'm on a literary mission to re-read all the books I loved as a child. Well, the ones I remember anyway, I only started keeping a list in 1999. Thoroughly enjoyable read. Think this is one I read in primary school and picked it up initially based solely on the fact that it is set in the North East of Leggi tutto

Gripping story of home front England during WWII. This book does a good job of portraying the relationships between a certain kind of children and the adult authorities (parents and institutional types).

Despite the to-the-point storytelling, The Machine Gunners does not shy away from unconventional turning points in the narrative. This being a time of war, the boys are violent and brutal, irreverent and crude. But underneath all that is the unabashed childhood that springs to the surface that makes Leggi tutto

Kids play at war then it gets real in an ever so slightly far-fetched way. Page-turner adventure that keeps you wanting more but there is a lot going on, in particular different relationships not always covered in enough depth -quite adult in that respect as leaves a lot to our own imagination. Simi Leggi tutto

My response after reading chapters 1 to 5. So far in this book it has been rather interesting, and it makes me want to read more. It has been the first novel that has contained World War II. Has it is also set in the town Garmouth which is in England. In chapter 1 it started in the morning after an a Leggi tutto