Gulf [Paperback]

Robert Westall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1993

Robert Westall provides a powerful, realistic and important new view of warfare in this novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-10. Andy has an intense imagination, and he feels things deeply. Once, when he saw a newspaper photo of an Ethiopian woman and her starving child, he lapsed into a trance of sorts for a couple of days, taking on the persona of the child until Andy pronounced him dead of starvation. When the Persian Gulf conflict erupts, Andy is so profoundly affected he "becomes" a young Iraqi fighter named Latif, speaks Arabic, endures the battles, and is so disconnected from his former life that he has to be hospitalized and treated by a psychiatrist. Dr. Rashid treats the phenomenon as a mystery of nature that does not fit neatly into schizophrenia or other known diseases. The doctor's compassion and quiet good sense, Andy's parents' suffering and love, and Andy's brother Tom's heartfelt narration of the tale strike to the reader's heart. The late British author Westall has told a stunning story that will appeal both as a family novel and as a war novel. Anne O'Malley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

A savage tale of a psychic child witnessing the terrors of the Gulf War through the eyes of Latif, a 13-year-old Iraqi soldier. Narrator Tom's younger brother, Andrew, has always had vivid "dreams," sometimes fun and splendid, sometimes discomfiting - but since the invasion of Kuwait, his whole pattern of behavior has changed: At night he scratches at nonexistent lice, mutters triumphantly in an unknown language and behaves as if he were in a camp, surrounded by comrades. Soon Andrew's personality becomes totally subsumed by Latif's, and the boy is hospitalized. Tension mounts as the land war begins in Iraq; in a horrifying climax, Tom sees Andrew/Latif bombed, burned, and machine-gunned (all conveyed by his realistic reactions to his phantom environment). Andrew returns physically unharmed, but no longer the dreamy, sensitive child he was. Westall (Falling into Glory, p. 563, etc.) mordantly contrasts not only the fearful but proud Latif's view of the war with the impersonal, nearly bloodless version seen on TV, but also each side's affirmations of legitimacy and different perspectives on the war's causes. The result is an antiwar statement every bit as harrowing and furious as Peter Dickinson's AK (1992), at a third of the length. (Kirkus Reviews)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Mammoth (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749714727
• ISBN-13: 978-0749714727
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,434,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This review does not do Gulf ANY justice., June 30, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Gulf (Library Binding)

Gulf, by Robert Westall, is an amazing, amazing book. I read it recently during the war against Iraq. It was the seventh time I have read the book.
Gulf is about Figgis, a strange child who does abnormal things. In the book, they are called his Things. He will see something, hear something, read something, or discover a piece of information and immediately connect with it.
He will obsess over the Thing for days until it is simply over. Then he'll find a new Thing.
One of his most peculiar things happened when he saw an article in the newspaper. On the front page was a picture of a man. There was no caption underneath the picture with his name. Figgis suddenly wanted to write to the man. His parents managed to find out where the man lived, but they didn't know his name. Figgis wrote the man a letter. He began it, "Dear Charlie." When Figgis received a letter from the man, it was signed Charlie. It was addressed "Dear Andy", Figgis' real name. But the odd thing was that Figgis had signed the letter to Charlie "Figgis."
Then one night, Figgis' brother finds Andy muttering in a strange language. When Figgis awakes, he doesn't remember ever doing it and he can't speak the language. After that, it happens more and more. Every night, Figgis becomes someone else. He doesn't know Tom, his own brother. He climbs to the rooftop one night and sits there, speaking in the strange, harsh language, muttering to himself.
After a while, you find out what has happened to Figgis. He is speaking Arabic. He is experiencing what a soldier in the Gulf War is.
Figgis is taken to a mental hospital. There he speaks the language to himself, wears Army clothing, builds bunkers around himself, and uses a gun that the hospital staff found him. The Arabic soldier has taken Figgis over. Figgis not only experiences the soldier's life at night, now he IS the soldier the entire day.
Everything is made worse by everything else. Figgis no longer exists. It is like some terrible disease has taken him away from his family and friends. His dad, a true patriot, is always screaming at the television and watching in glee as more enemy soldiers are killed. Now his son is one.
This book is a somber, scientific read. It's definitely not for everyone. Also, true patriots who think that their country is always in the right shouldn't read this book. Some of it has to do with whether war is ever right. It points out that the soldiers on the other side are just as real as we are. They think that their view is more right than ours and they are also willing to die for it.
Later on in the hospital, when Figgis returns to himself for a few brief moments, he says to Tom that maybe his position is to make up for all the people out there who don't give a damn about who's going to die, and who is going to be wounded. Maybe Figgis' terrible state is because no one in his family except Tom really cares about the other side of the war. His father just wants to see as many dead men from the other side as he can. Tom's mother is sympathetic, but perhaps not enough. Maybe Figgis must suffer because NO ONE except those actually fighting wars seems to care about them. I have to admit that I didn't even know what the Gulf War was until I read this book.
Gulf is an amazing title because it's not only about the Gulf War, it's about the Gulf between us and everyone dying out there, it's about the Gulf between happy if not normal kids and kids who are soldiers. It's also about the Gulf between the real Figgis and the soldier he becomes.
This book might change your life. But if you're stuck in your own point of view and you can't handle all the horrible, maybe even possible things that happen to Figgis, don't read this book. Everyone else, give this amazing, thought-provoking, life-changing, better-than-any-book-I've-ever-read-and-that's-saying-something-because-I-read-EVERYTHING book a chance.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool Book!!!!, October 11, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Gulf (Library Binding)

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book takes you to the outer limits of imagination, April 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gulf (Library Binding)

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. ...