John Boyne's Latest Exploration: Interconnected Stories of Suffering
Young Freya stays with her distracted mother in Cornwall when she meets 14-year-old twins. "Nothing better than being aware of a secret," they inform her, "is having one of your own." In the days that come after, they sexually assault her, then inter her while living, a mix of anxiety and frustration darting across their faces as they finally free her from her improvised coffin.
This may have functioned as the disturbing main event of a novel, but it's just one of numerous terrible events in The Elements, which assembles four short novels – published separately between 2023 and 2025 – in which characters confront past trauma and try to achieve peace in the current moment.
Controversial Context and Subject Exploration
The book's release has been marred by the presence of Earth, the second novella, on the candidate list for a prominent LGBTQ+ writing prize. In August, nearly all other candidates dropped out in dissent at the author's controversial views – and this year's prize has now been called off.
Debate of trans rights is absent from The Elements, although the author explores plenty of significant issues. Homophobia, the impact of traditional and social media, caregiver abandonment and abuse are all investigated.
Four Narratives of Trauma
- In Water, a grieving woman named Willow relocates to a secluded Irish island after her husband is imprisoned for horrific crimes.
- In Earth, Evan is a athlete on trial as an accessory to rape.
- In Fire, the mature Freya juggles revenge with her work as a surgeon.
- In Air, a father journeys to a burial with his young son, and wonders how much to divulge about his family's history.
Pain is layered with trauma as damaged survivors seem doomed to bump into each other again and again for all time
Related Narratives
Connections abound. We first meet Evan as a boy trying to escape the island of Water. His trial's panel contains the Freya who reappears in Fire. Aaron, the father from Air, partners with Freya and has a child with Willow's daughter. Supporting characters from one narrative resurface in homes, taverns or legal settings in another.
These storylines may sound complicated, but the author is skilled at how to drive a narrative – his prior popular Holocaust drama has sold millions, and he has been translated into numerous languages. His businesslike prose shines with gripping hooks: "in the end, a doctor in the burns unit should know better than to play with fire"; "the first thing I do when I reach the island is change my name".
Character Development and Storytelling Power
Characters are sketched in succinct, powerful lines: the caring Nigerian priest, the troubled pub landlord, the daughter at war with her mother. Some scenes resonate with melancholy power or insightful humour: a boy is punched by his father after wetting himself at a football match; a narrow-minded island mother and her Dublin-raised neighbour swap jabs over cups of diluted tea.
The author's talent of bringing you fully into each narrative gives the reappearance of a character or plot strand from an previous story a real frisson, for the initial several times at least. Yet the aggregate effect of it all is numbing, and at times almost comic: pain is piled on suffering, chance on accident in a dark farce in which hurt survivors seem fated to encounter each other repeatedly for eternity.
Thematic Depth and Concluding Assessment
If this sounds less like life and resembling purgatory, that is aspect of the author's message. These damaged people are oppressed by the crimes they have experienced, trapped in routines of thought and behavior that churn and descend and may in turn hurt others. The author has spoken about the impact of his personal experiences of mistreatment and he describes with understanding the way his cast navigate this perilous landscape, extending for remedies – solitude, icy sea dips, forgiveness or refreshing honesty – that might let light in.
The book's "fundamental" structure isn't particularly informative, while the brisk pace means the discussion of sexual politics or digital platforms is mainly superficial. But while The Elements is a flawed work, it's also a completely engaging, survivor-centered epic: a appreciated riposte to the usual preoccupation on detectives and criminals. The author demonstrates how pain can affect lives and generations, and how time and tenderness can soften its reverberations.
