"The Elements" | Reviewed by William Winkler

John Boyne’s most recent novel, “The Elements,” is an amalgam of four separately published novellas entitled “Water,” “Earth,” “Fire,” and “Air,” released from 2023 to 2025. Each can be read as a standalone piece, but the combination, read in sequence, proves the adage that “The sum is greater than the whole of its parts.”

Each segment is told in the first person by a different narrator. Each of the narrators has a connection, sometimes peripheral, sometimes more direct, with one or more characters in the other three novellas. And there are overarching themes, such as victimhood, that tie the pieces together.

“Water” tells the story of a woman whose life has been torn apart by the well-publicized crimes of her husband. Water is a prominent component of the story. Set on a desolate, sparsely populated island off the west coast of Ireland, the narrator changes her name and appearance in order to insulate herself amid the hostile waters of the north Atlantic ocean.

“Earth” features a young man who escapes the island in the hope of becoming an artist. He is unsuccessful and is forced to resort to degrading work in order to survive. His skill on the soccer field leads him to a life of glamor and riches, which in turn brings him to an encounter with the law and the courts.

“Fire” tells the story of a renowned plastic surgeon, specializing in reconstruction of burn victims, who was repeatedly traumatized as a young girl, and who resorts to her own means of dealing with the scars left upon her psyche by that trauma.

And “Air” centers on the interaction of a father and his 14-year-old son as they fly from Sydney to Dublin, then travel by train and ferry to the island featured in “Water.” During their trip they manage to reconcile what at first appear to be irreconcilable differences, and in doing so wrap up the loose ends left dangling in the preceding stories.

“The Elements” deals with some issues the author has struggled with in his personal and literary life. A lesser author might have allowed these issues to weigh the book down with tawdry language, but Boyne skillfully uses his writing to convey the images in a non-graphic yet effective manner.

Buy the book.