Customer Reviews

Stone Cold

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The book "Stone Cold" by Robert Swindells is about a teenager living on the street. He desribes his life in detail and the experiences of a street-life, the dangers and the feelings of a homeless. The novel wants to show us that we should be careful when judging homeless, because many of them are not guilty of their situation, like this young man, called Link, who left home because of the bad conditions there. Because Link is describng his life in his own words the text is full of slang, but you learn to understand it quickly. The structure of the novel is interesting, too. It is written from two different points of view. One is Link's, the other is Shelter's. Shelter is also one of the main characters, because he is crazy murderer killing the homeless. I think this novel is really worth reading, especially if you are between 12 and 18 years, because of the very realistic and exciting description of "street-life" by Link. If you read this book you learn to understand these poor "dossers" and their life.

I've read Stone Cold for my English study.
The story begins when a boy named Link, who faces domestic abuse from his mother's boyfriend. After a while he can't take it anymore and he moves out and wants to live with his sister. However, his sister's boyfriend isn't very pleased with this situation, so Link is more or less forces to live on the street, but he feels so rejected and uncomfortable in his own hometown, that he decides to go to London. With some borrowed money he tries his luck there, but quickly realises that it isn't easy to find work or to get benefits from the authorities. He then ends up on the streets, where he tries to survive. It's cold, he gets mugged and he feels miserable. Then he shares a doorway with Ginger for the night and the next day Ginger tells Link the ins and outs of living on the streets. Link now has to try to make a living by begging for money, because nobody wants to hire him due to his scruffy appearance. Then homeless people start to mysteriously disappear and the story takes a suspenseful direction.
What I like about the book is that the story is told from two perspectives: from the killer's point of view and from Link's perspective. While reading the book, I came to the conclusion that my own view on homeless people was incorrect. The book has changed my opinion on the matter and I think it's a great book to use in the classroom, to make youngsters understand that we have to take away prejudice and that homeless people are people too. We don't know their story and we don't know why they ended up on the street, so we shouldn't be so judgemental.
I can recommend this book to anyone, because the setting/background, the characters and the language are very real and recognisable.

This book is about a boy, Link, who made himself homeless because of what he suffered at home. He moved to London and befriended another homeless boy, Ginger. He got along fine with Ginger but one night Ginger disappeared. Link felt angry at Ginger thinking he had just deserted him and planned on just going around on his own but fell for a girl called Gail who was apparently homeless too. He later came to find out that Ginger hadn't deserted him but had been killed by a psycho killer who named himself Shelter who had killed many other homeless children. Shelter, who was an ex-army solider, believed that homeless people that lived on the streets were just `filth' so planned on cleaning them up - in a cruel way. Shelter's and Link's lives and stories entwined when Ginger asked Shelter for money. After refusing, Shelter planned to `have it in' for them and managed to get Ginger but had to work hard to get Link. After trying to forget about Ginger, Link hung around with Gail until they had an argument which led to Link being caught by Shelter. Shelter didn't manage to kill Link though; he got caught by the police due to Gail telling them. In the end, we found out that Gail was actually not homeless at all; her name was Louise and she was a journalist who was researching homelessness.


I liked this book and how it was set out; Link's `diary' and then Shelter's `daily routines', especially when Link and Shelter had already met so it started getting interesting and we got to know things from Shelter that Link didn't but wanted to. I think the ending could have been improved as the story builds up, all exciting, then the ending is really rushed and leaves with loads of questions that aren't answered. I think Gail/Louise was actually very cruel to be all nice to Link and get him to like her then just leave him all of a sudden. All in all, I would give this book 7/10

I've read Stone Cold for my English study.
The story begins when a boy named Link, who faces domestic abuse from his mother's boyfriend. After a while he can't take it anymore and he moves out and wants to live with his sister. However, his sister's boyfriend isn't very pleased with this situation, so Link is more or less forces to live on the street, but he feels so rejected and uncomfortable in his own hometown, that he decides to go to London. With some borrowed money he tries his luck there, but quickly realises that it isn't easy to find work or to get benefits from the authorities. He then ends up on the streets, where he tries to survive. It's cold, he gets mugged and he feels miserable. Then he shares a doorway with Ginger for the night and the next day Ginger tells Link the ins and outs of living on the streets. Link now has to try to make a living by begging for money, because nobody wants to hire him due to his scruffy appearance. Then homeless people start to mysteriously disappear and the story takes a suspenseful direction.
What I like about the book is that the story is told from two perspectives: from the killer's point of view and from Link's perspective. While reading the book, I came to the conclusion that my own view on homeless people was incorrect. The book has changed my opinion on the matter and I think it's a great book to use in the classroom, to make youngsters understand that we have to take away prejudice and that homeless people are people too. We don't know their story and we don't know why they ended up on the street, so we shouldn't be so judgemental.
I can recommend this book to anyone, because the setting/background, the characters and the language are very real and recognisable.

This book was a bit boring. The switch between the two narrators was not at all confusing. Using bad language was a good writing technique because it emphasize that Shelter (the murderer) was mad. It includes big words like; scrounger, circumstances and distinctions. This may cause difficulty for the younger generation and may also be disturbing.

The author writes the book in a style that I've never met. He changes narrators often. This helps the reader to understand how both characters feel about the situation.

To conclude I feel that this book was relatively boring, but I have learned how hard it is to live on the streets.

The book is about link who get`s in a fight with his mother`s boy friend.And he kickes him out. he lives with his sister.But have to move.He movid to london.he is living in the street of london.He get a friend who is calld ginger.Link and Ginger se`S a lot on the street.Suddenly she disappeard.No wan now any thing aboute her.there is a murdere going and clining the street of homeless people.Link meet`s a nother girl.who realy are a jurnalist who riths about homeless people.The murdere want to kill Link. He said that Ginger is in his house.Link went there to se Ginger.But gail helped him from the murder. The book is to realise haw homeless people gets throuh a lot.You can have personel problem to live on the street you don`t have to be alkoholek or insain.The book is very good and intresting.

This book book "Stone cold" is a book about a guy called Link. he was born and raised in Bradford. His dad ran off when he was fourteen,later on his mother got a new boyfriend,that Link didn`t like. He thought of him as a boozer. He also had a sister called Carole,who is four years older than Link. Carole got fed up with Vincent and movedto her boyfriend David. Something happened with Vincent,he started to change,he hit Link. Link decided to runaway from home,he went to a place he know he could have peace. Carole's place was perfect at first,but after a while he felt unwelcome by David. He left with some money , sleepingbag and a devistated face.

I think this book is trustworthy,my oppinion is that this book is not so good maybe for those who loves to read books.

The novel "Stone Cold" written by Robert Swindells in the year 1993 deals with the topic of homeless people.
The first protagonist called "Link", he is 17-years old after he have left his home he discided to live on the streets in London.
This book show the live outside on the streets and the relationships to other homeless people.
This story is sectional in two parts, the second protagonist is called "Shelter" he is a "killing machine".
In the book he is killing all these homeless young people.
I find it easy to imagine all the parts in the story, but the language is difficult.
To read the book alone it`s boring, in the class with other people it is interesting, this is my opinion.

The novel "Stone Cold" written by Robert Swindells deals with the topic of young homeless people in London.
It's a creepy book, but it's good for reading in school.
If you read the book, you can imagine how poor dossers feel alone in the streets.
All in all it's a book with many kills and poorness of dossers.

had to read the paper edditition in school for a state exam in third year . our class read it in second year. so i got the book on the kindle this march(third year) to refreah my memory.

it was good but expected about link. gaul charachater was inportant but stuipid