Gulf

Rating:
Summary: This review does not do Gulf ANY justice.
Review: As copy editor of Gulf when it was published by Scholastic, I was intrigued by the far-fetched but oddly believable story of an English boy whose consciousness becomes entangled with that of a desperate Gulf War soldier. The book uses the conceit familiar in so many children's books--that adults dub a child's experience "fantasy" when he is telling the truth--and pulls it into the real world with a troubling impact. I became a serious fan of Westall through this book, progressing to Blitzcat and then every other book of his I could obtain; he was a wonderful author, too little known in the United States.

Rating:
Summary: Awful...
Review: I was recently forced to read this book in class. It is the sort of book that i would ever choose to read or enjoy, and this probably affects my judgement of the book.
To begin with, it starts by trying to hook your attention, using the past tense in regards to the narrators brother and all the way through drops hints as to what happens in the insipid ciimax, this i disliked strongly, as a good book should be able to keep you reading without obvious "cliffhangers"
The characters are under-developed, apart from Figgis who is the only character who i share any sympathy with. The narration, done by Tom, Figgis' brother, is littered with metaphors and similies and this is unlike any male i know of.
I was, all in all, disappointed with my english teacher for choosing such a dull book for my class.

Rating:
Summary: This book takes you to the outer limits of imagination
Review: This book is about a 'normal' family in England. Suddenly Figgis, (whose real name is Andy) starts thinking he is in the Gulf war. He spends his time polishing his gun and shouting out things in perfect German even though he has never learnt this language. Andy's brother, (Thomas) is the only one who knows about Andy's visions, and feels guilty because he tells no-one about it. Figgis gets put in a mental hospitol, but the doctor there knows that Figgis is not a mental case and trys to figure out what to do about it. ...

Rating:
Summary: Cool Book!!!!
Review: This book is cool. It starts out in England talking about a kid named Andy whose nickname is Figgis. His older brother tells the story. Figgis is a little different. He seems to feel things more than other kids and always asks questions no one else seems to. He also feels differently than other kids. When he sees something on tv about kids starving he stops eating too.
The Gulf War begins. Everyone in his class is excited and hoping that the allies win. All except Figgis who begins to speak in Arabic and starts talking about the Gulf War as though he can really see what it is like. Soon his parents have to take him to the hospital because he goes into trances.
I don't want to give away the ending. I really reccomend this book. It was Coooooooooooooool!!!

Thomas D

Rating:
Summary: Essential!
Review: This book made me cry. All three times I read it. It succeeds completely in its goal of making you see the Gulf War from the other side, the side of the "enemy" Iraqis. "Gulf" is about a British boy, Andy, who has a strange emphatic gift. He can identify with anyone or anything, from an injured baby squirrel to an African witch-doctor he reads about in the paper. He seems to be a bit psychic. His family is used to his strangeness, so when he starts dreaming about the desert, they think nothing of it. His older brother, the narrator, is only entertained by Andy's half-asleep retelling of these dreams, which coincide with the first war in Iraq. Soon enough though, Andy can't be fully awakened. He will only speak in a gutteral language that is unfamiliar to them and stalks around as if he is under attack. He has traded bodies with a young Iraqi soldier, under attack by the Americans and fiercyly loyal to Sadam Hussein. This book is really short and gripping. You will be thinking about it for much longer than it takes you to read it. Why did we go to war? Why are we at war again?

Rating:
Summary: Essential!
Review: This book made me cry. All three times I read it. It succeeds completely in its goal of making you see the Gulf War from the other side, the side of the "enemy" Iraqis. "Gulf" is about a British boy, Andy, who has a strange emphatic gift. He can identify with anyone or anything, from an injured baby squirrel to an African witch-doctor he reads about in the paper. He seems to be a bit psychic. His family is used to his strangeness, so when he starts dreaming about the desert, they think nothing of it. His older brother, the narrator, is only entertained by Andy's half-asleep retelling of these dreams, which coincide with the first war in Iraq. Soon enough though, Andy can't be fully awakened. He will only speak in a gutteral language that is unfamiliar to them and stalks around as if he is under attack. He has traded bodies with a young Iraqi soldier, under attack by the Americans and fiercyly loyal to Sadam Hussein. This book is really short and gripping. You will be thinking about it for much longer than it takes you to read it. Why did we go to war? Why are we at war again?