Entry One - Major Aspects of the Novel

I am reading the book Revolver, by Marcus Sedgwick. In this novel, there are five major characters. Their names are the Einar, Sig, Anna, Maria, and Gunther Wolff. This story takes place during the time frame that runs from the Alaskan gold rush to the Vietnam War. This story mostly takes place in a cabin in the Arctic Circle. The conflict for the audience is the circumstances that surround the family, and the challenges that they face in those conditions and within the family, when bad things continue to happen to good people.

There is a loving family, the Andersson's, who are living in a small cabin in the Arctic Circle with very little food and money. Sickness and crime surrounds them. There is no law enforcement where they live. Sig has to see his whole family drift away from him, through death or from people just leaving, except his sister, Anna. Sig and Anna have to eventually live on their own in this cabin. The character of Gunther Wolff presents a major conflict for Sig. Wolff threatens to kill Sig and Anna if they don't tell Wolff where the gold that Einar, Sig and Anna's dad, supposedly stole from him. Sig and Anna honestly have no idea where the gold is. They didn't even know that their dad stole any gold because their family was so poor, and they get injured physically and emotionally. They had no idea what to do about Wolff, because he was not going to leave without either killing both Anna and Sig or getting his gold.

I predict that Anna and Sig get rid of Wolff, but not by giving him his gold. I also predict that the gold will be founded by Sig and Anna, but Wolff will not know. I predict that Anna and Sig will be alive at the end of this novel.

Some questions that I have are 'Why include Nadya in the novel – she doesn’t seem to be a major character, or add much?' Another question that I have is ‘Why did Marcus Sedgwick write this book? Is it based on a true story?'

This novel could connect to the movie 'Hercules.' The connection that I see between the two is that Hercules and his team go out to complete a mission and are paid a lot of gold in return. Hercules must, in completing his mission, kill other people in the armies he and his team fight while on their mission. The difference between the book and the movie, however, is that Hercules is the good person – a positive character – in his story.  Gunther is the enemy – a negative character – in the novel.

To read a summary of the movie 'Hercules' click here.