Stone Cold by Robert Swindells

Stone Cold is a novel aimed at young adults, and was written by Robert Swindells. The book’s basic plot revolves around the life of 16 year-old ‘Link,’ born in Bradford in 1977. Link’s real name is not specified at any point throughout the course of the book. The book begins with Link’s life in Bradford, with his mother’s new lover Vince moving in to the household (Link’s father had disappeared) and taking a firm, cruel stance towards Link.The tension in the home begins to make the relationship of the young teen and his mother strained, and eventually, after a particularly heated argument, Link is locked outside of the house by Vince, and starts to sleep 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 find work and start a new life, away from the turbulent place back home. Stone Cold is unusual in terms of books aimed at younger readers, as it has a feature known as a dual narrative.This means that the story is told from two perspectives, in this case being Link, the main protagonist, and another character known only as ‘Shelter. ’ He is the primary antagonist of the book. Shelter is a military 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, but won’t accept this and feels it is ‘his job’ to ‘clean up the streets’ of the homeless.To do this, he takes his military background and makes his own ‘army,’ the Camden Horizontals. The one difference between this army and any other regular army is that the Camden Horizontals are all dead homeless people, killed b y Shelter in cold blood. The book reflects on the hardships the homeless have to face daily, and effectively demonstrates this life by its use of the first-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 found it interesting and captivating in the way it described Link’s quest to get through life on the streets. Stone Cold by Robert Swindells Stone Cold by Robert Swindells Stone Cold is an absorbing novel 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 twenty nine years, discharged on medical grounds. In my essay, I will aim to analyse Swindells’ success 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 friends one night, to find that the door to the house had been loc ked by Vince. Vince wouldn’t let Link in, so he had to go round and spend the night at his sister’s, Carole. When he went home the next day, Vince started slapping him around the head for ‘going 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. â€Å"So you pick your spot. Wherever it is ( unless you’re in a squat or a derelict house or something) it’s going to have a floor of stone, tile, concrete or brick. I other words it’s going to be hard and cold. † ‘Ginger’ is a very good friend of Link’s. After being robbed and kicked out of his doorway, Link found Ginger and instantly became friends. Ginger is Link’s 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’ he’s ever seen. Gail is Scottish and not just a dosser. She’s actually a reporter looking for a story on what it’s like to be homeless. Gail came over to sit next to Link, every eye in the place following her. He describes how he feels as Gail sits next to him. â€Å"I was acting so cool it was unbelievable but that’s all it was – acting.In the real world the blood was pounding in my ears and it was as much 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. â€Å"Daily Routine Orders †¦Ã¢â‚¬  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 days in the army, and how things like n ational service would take the dossers and ‘teddy boys’ and turn them into real men.The story definetly gave the message 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 etc. 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.