Customer Reviews

Age 14

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I think a lot of parents would not want their 14 year old (or younger) to read this book. I was hoping this would be a good selection for my son, who loves military books, to learn a little about the time period. The length, difficulty, title, and cover picture, not to mention that it appears to be published by a children's division of the publisher, made me think it was a kids' book, probably for kids around age 14. Yikes! Not really! At least, not for us!

I was startled early in the book by a scene of pederasty that immediately put me on guard and made me wonder if anything in the book would make it worth even keeping it. The pedophile in question is also a highly offensive character in that (other than that he rapes boys) his biggest flaw seems to be his obesity. "Fatso" (I kid you not; that's his nickname) is repulsive, and the author seems to relish describing his disgusting rolls of fat. Wonderful; as if we needed to encourage children to nurture a prejudice against heavy people.

Then, not much farther into the book, the 12-year-old hero is awakened in his bed to find the buxom farm hand Moira half-naked and straddling him, "moaning" with her "hot breath" in his ear. The scene doesn't, thankfully, play out as it might have but I think that some parents may choose to avoid such erotic scenes in their children's historical fiction!

Next to objections like these, some of my other problems with the book---like implausibility (e.g. he writes a letter home with perfect grammar and nearly perfect spelling, in spite of being a 12-year-old dropout from an illiterate family) or silly word choices (one point the translator had me rolling my eyes when she described a place where the boy used to "romp")---seem less important. Stilted writing, forced dialogue, and unrealistic elements are ultimately less of a showstopper for me when choosing historical fiction for my kids than simple appropriateness of the plot.

There are some good qualities to the book, such as the prevailing theme that war is not a game, and the subtle web that Patrick gets caught in as his lies multiply. An adult or older teen could enjoy this quick read and, yes, learn something about the time period. But parents looking to choose it for a child around "age 14" need to be aware that if it were a movie it would probably be rated R. Lots of R-rated books are awesome; this one is merely fair, so given that it seems to be presented as a children's book I have to say that I would NOT recommend it to kids at the age most likely to want to read it

I chose this book because read a lot of historical novels with our children to help flesh out their understanding and recall of historical facts.

It is a story about a very underage Irish boy who works his way into the army by changing identities with his older brother. As far as I can guess, the underage part of the plot was to make it appeal to young readers. I have only girls, and it can't imagine this book appealing to them. I'd like to hear about it from a boy perspective.

The good: It has couple of pages worth of encyclopedia-type history, and reading it might make names, dates, etc, stick a little better.

The bad: The characters are flat and the plot is simple and predictable with apparent encyclopedia excerpts instead of sub-plots. There is some sexual content that seems extremely out of place and inappropriate for the targeted reader level.

The summary - we won't be using this one for our girls.

Although the book was based on the true story of a fourteen-year-old Irish lad lying about his age and going off to war, the authors didn't deliver on what could have been a fascinating tale about a child experiencing the horrors of World War I. The characters, including the main character, are not well-drawn. The book seems to be written in a simple style for readers younger than twelve and yet the subject matter should be rated R. There is not only a pedophile whom the authors attempt to make more disgusting by describing him as fat, but a farm girl who climbs into bed with the then twelve-year-old main character with the idea of seducing him. The letter the boy wrote home didn't seem to fit at all with his background. The dialogue didn't seem right for the time or place and the whole weak storyline seemed contrived. This book didn't work for me.

A young Irish 14 year old with nothing to lose, runs away from home to join the British troops in World War I. This is a sad but familiar story about a young man who runs off to war. What is a bit different is the description of a life where school isn't an option and poverty means working at 14. The young boy from an impoverished Irish family goes to war, not just of excitement to help feed himself and his family. The government in need of troops look the other way and everyone agrees to let him participate. Because he claims to be 17 at the time he enters the war, he can be sent to the front when he is 18. What he experiences there is a tragedy many young people will empathize with. Since World War I is such a mysterious war to many, this book may help illuminate it for current generations. An Interesting book.

Hmmm... one would think that with the book being titled "Age 14" that it should be geared toward the 14 year old crew. I'll be honest; I'm not sure who this is geared toward. I can't imagine the younger the 14 crew reading this and getting much out of it due to the sheer vagueness and boredom that it would invoke. Also many parents will have an issue with the two scenes containing sexuality in them. One involves a fat, filthy man attempting to sodomize a young boy but being foiled and the other involves a farm girl attempting to seduce the 12 year old in disguise. Neither of them is in great detail but the simple fact that they add nothing to the tale makes them feel rather gratuitous.

I was more concerned with what I perceived as a severe lack of detail for a historical novel. Sure we follow a child who lies about his age to join the military - but as readers we watch from a distance and learn very little about daily life in that time period or other worldwide events. There is some passing mention of a few minor events leading up to the war but very little will be learned as far as how the world worked in those times. Huge opportunities were left on the table. In the end the reader is left with a rather ho-hum version of a kid running away, lying about his age and joining the army. We never really get to know him or care about him. We know very little about his family other then there are a lot of them and not much money to go around.

I personally believe that one of the weakest aspects of this book is letting the reader know in the first few sentences that our "real" main character dies. Right off as a reader you've already chalked the kid up as a loss so you never emotionally invest in him (not that there is much here to invest in). I had been looking forward to a good YA book on WW1, in the end it was about as effective as watching "Saved by the Bell goes to Ireland" to learn about culture. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone because it is sadly, a waste of time.

"Age 14" is classified as juvenile fiction, but I'm not sure just how young you are supposed to go with a novel like this. There is some mild cursing, depictions of graphic violence, and a brief episode of pedophilia. If it's your job to select books for young readers, be sure that they can handle something like "Age 14."

This is a novelization of a true story involving a young Irish boy who wants to join the army so badly that he lies about his age and assumes his older brother's name in order to enlist. Then World War I breaks out. Patrick Condon, or "John" as he is known to his fellow soldiers, is shifted around from basic training to odd jobs to combat. The bulk of the second half of the book describes life on the front. And anyone who has studied history already knows that the battlefield trenches of WWI are the last places anyone ever wanted to be.

I have no major complaints of the writing, but I did have a hard time immersing myself into the story and picturing myself there on the battlefield of Ypres. Many of the chapters had these expository passages starting them out. And unless you are a stickler for historical accuracy, they threaten to be the kinds of details that allow your mind to wander to something else.

And when you get to the meat of the combat stories, they are sickening and sad. Which I guess is the point, right? The author depicts what it was like to be under attack from German gas bombs. Not fun.

It is not a bad book, I just recommend that adults read it first before handing it over to younger readers.

I love historical fiction, and was excited to get this book -- it's from a time period (World War I) and viewpoint (a young Irish soldier) that you don't see a lot of in YA historical fiction.

There's almost always *something* I like about books, and it's pretty rare for me to give a book less than 3 stars. With this one, though, there just wasn't anything about it that worked for me. The writing is not smooth, and jumps from place to place. There isn't much compelling about the storyline, especially since you know the ending from the outset, well before you know much of anything else about the character. The sex scenes bother me not so much in a "Oh noes, it's sex in a YA book!" sense, as it is they just don't work within the story. The book manages to be crass without being exciting, and historical without being compelling -- I really can't think of anyone I'd want to pass the book on to.

Age 14 promised to be an interesting read, but ultimately failed. A fan of historical fiction, I was excited to read about a well-known event through a fresh perspective. Unfortunately, the characters were poorly developed and the plot flat.

Others have mentioned the inappropriate content, and I'd second that, but the larger issue is that it didn't work in service of the story. You can guide kids through troubling material, but only if it's worthwhile.

There was so much potential here for an outstanding story, but the author didn't deliver. Too bad.

I have a 10 year old son who has a very high reading level and finding books that are challenging enough, yet still appropriate for his age is difficult. I received this book free and thought that the story sounded like a promising coming-of-age tale. We will never know for sure.

About a quarter of the way through the book, there is a chapter that I can only assume was meant to explore the changes going on in a young man's life during puberty. Perhaps the author was trying to create tension not only by having the character face manhood on the battlefield, but with women also. But the scene is so crude that I would not have wanted to read it as an adult, let alone let my child. I don't understand why this was put into the story. It adds nothing other than further contributing to the sexualization of our children. I wish publishers would think twice about publishing books like this for children.

If you are a parent who is sensitive to the material that your children read, I would pass on this one. Which really is a shame because the stage was set for a great story.

I tried to read this one, but the subject matter was too disturbing for me. The pedophile boss was just creepy. There should be a warning on this one... I thought this was a young adult novel.