Stone Cold by Robert Swindells

Stone inhuman is a story aimed at young adults, and was written by Robert Swindells. The books basic plot revolves nigh the manner of 16 year-old marry, born in Bradford in 1977. Links real name is not qualify at any point throughout the course of the book. The book begins with Links life in Bradford, with his mothers new lover Vince moving in to the ho exercisehold (Links father had disappeared) and victorious a firm, cruel stance towards Link.The tension in the home begins to make the relationship of the young teenager and his mother strained, and eventually, after a particularly heated argument, Link is locked outside of the house by Vince, and starts to rest rough on the streets of his hometown. After a while, Link becomes increasingly independent, and after the Christmas season, he decides to leave Bradford for London, to key work and start a new life, away from the turbulent place back home. Stone algid is unusual in terms of books aimed at younger readers, as it ha s a feature known as a dual narrative.This means that the story is told from two perspectives, in this movement existence Link, the main protagonist, and some other character known only as Shelter. He is the primary antagonist of the book. Shelter is a armament veteran, possibly around the age of 45, and was suspended from his recruitment post at the British Army on what is only described as medical grounds. The more specific reason is of course unknown adding to his already mysterious tendencies however it is evident that he has an unstable mental condition, that wont undertake this and feels it is his job to clean up the streets of the stateless.To do this, he takes his military background and makes his own army, the Camden Horizontals. The one divagation between this army and any other regular army is that the Camden Horizontals are all dead homeless people, killed by Shelter in cold blood. The book reflects on the hardships the homeless have to face daily, and effic aciously demonstrates this life by its use of the source-person setting, and the different perspectives of both Shelter and Link.It shows people at their worst, in the case of Shelter and his perverse thoughts and meticulously calculated and calm way to dispose of human life, which he describes as rubbish. It also demonstrates the importance of truth, as at the end of the book, Link is no better off than he used to be, even though he thought he had met someone special. On the whole, I enjoyed the book, and fix it interesting and captivating in the way it described Links quest to get through life on the streets.Stone Cold by Robert SwindellsStone Cold by Robert Swindells Stone Cold is an absorbing refreshed by Robert Swindells which follows Link, a sixteen year old boy from Bradford, England. The novel tells you about his life over the past two years, how he leaves his violent home and lives on the street, first in Bradford and then in London, where the story starts to take shape . The novel also follows Shelter, an ex-military man who served for xx nine years, discharged on medical grounds. In my essay, I will aim to analyse Swindells triumph in writing an absorbing novel. In 1991, when Link was fourteen, his father ran off with a receptionist.He told us how that mucked up his school work for quite a while. He goes on to say that that is not the cause for him being where he is now, the streets. He tells us that it was in fact his step-father, Vince, who was the real cause. He recalls coming back from a adorers one night, to find that the door to the house had been locked by Vince. Vince wouldnt let Link in, so he had to go round and spend the night at his sisters, Carole. When he went home the next day, Vince started slapping him around the head for passing game off and worrying Mum.He decided to make himself homeless. Now on the streets, the novel gives us a real taste of what it is like to be on the streets. So you pick your spot. Wherever it is ( un less youre in a squat or a derelict house or something) its dismission to have a floor of stone, tile, concrete or brick. I other words its going to be hard and cold. Ginger is a rattling right(a) friend of Links. After being robbed and kicked out of his doorway, Link found Ginger and instantly became friends. Ginger is Links first friend on the streets.Ginger also shows Link the basics to being on the streets, like the best places to beg and good places to eat. We meet Gail further on in the book, after losing Ginger. As Link is sitting in a cafe, he sees the best looking dosser hes ever seen. Gail is Scottish and not unsloped a dosser. Shes actually a reporter looking for a story on what its like to be homeless. Gail came over to sit next to Link, every eye in the place following(a) her. He describes how he feels as Gail sits next to him. I was acting so cool it was unbelievable but thats all it was acting.In the real world the blood was pounding in my ears and it was as mu ch as I could do to keep from goggling at that fantastic face. Shelter, the ex-military man, is portrayed mainly by his use of speech. His speech is presented very to the point, army like. Daily Routine Orders is how Shelter always starts his part of the story, suggesting he lives his everyday life in a militaristic lifestyle. In many of his sections, shelter dwells on his eld in the army, and how things like national service would take the dossers and teddy boys and turn them into real men.The story definetly gave the subject matter to never judge somebody you see on the street, as everyone has their side of the story. I think Robert Swindells is very sympathetic towards homeless people, particularly young homeless people as it affects their future, as in jobs, social, family and so forth The ending is quite a depressing ending as you find out that Gail has been using Link as a piece for an article on homelessness. This leaves Link feeling betrayed and angered.