Arts & Entertainment

Love is a battlefield

World War I-set story tells gay love tragedy

Published

14 years ago

July 12, 2012

Terri Schlichenmeyer

‘The Absolutist’
By John Boyne
Other Press
$16.95
320 pages

Author John Boyne (Photo courtesy Other Press)

For some reason, you just can’t seem to let it go.

It happened so many years before. You were a child then, really: old enough to know better, but not old enough to resist your impulses. Old enough to act, but not old enough to understand that you’d carry your pain for decades.

Everyone says to forgive yourself. Move on. Let it go.

What they don’t know is that, though the years pass, the regret you feel never does/

Tristan Sadler hoped his memories of battle would eventually fade. He hoped that nobody would ever know what he’d seen. And in the book “The Absolutist” by John Boyne, he hoped they’d never know what he did.

Marian Bancroft lived quite far away from London. It wouldn’t be easy to get there; nonetheless, Tristan Sadler made the journey. He wasn’t sure why he needed to give her the letters but somehow, it seemed important.

Not long before, he’d written to Marian, telling her about the letters, knowing she’d want them. Though she’d answered back that, yes, it would be nice to have some of her brother Will’s last possessions, Tristan wasn’t sure of the reception he’d get from her.

After all, he had survived World War I, and Will had not.

Upon meeting, he thought that Marian was a little addled but, no, she was nervous and after a cup of tea, Tristan believed they might be friends someday. Sometimes, when she scrunched her nose just so, he could see Will in her — they were siblings — and a jolt went through his heart.

Tristan and Will had been through military training together. Just 17 then, Tristan had lied about his age so that he might join the army. He supposed it was what he needed to do, especially since he had nowhere else to go. Especially since his father sent him away for kissing another boy.

And Will, he was handsome. He had a great sense of humor and a deep sense of honor. Throughout their training, Tristan and he became friends.

They became more than friends.

Now, there was Tristan, three years after war’s end, holding a bundle of Will’s letters. And when Marion asked what happened on the day that Will died, Tristan knew suddenly why he’d brought the letters all the way from London.

So he told her…

Let me try to explain how much I loved “The Absolutist.”

I loved it for its grainy black-and-white-movie feel, like an old British film from the ‘40s. I loved that author John Boyle teased out just enough information throughout this book to make me think I’d figured out what had happened to Tristan and Will (I didn’t!). I loved the mixture of horrific brutality and insanely beautiful prose.

And I loved the ending, which made me gasp, gasp, and gasp again.

“The Absolutist” starts out a tad slow, but don’t let that deter you from reading this absolutely stellar book. Start it, stick around, and you soon won’t be able to let it go.

Related Topics:John Boyne Other Press The Absolutist

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Online Culture

Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer

Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters

Published

2 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Joe Reberkenny

Braden Peters a.k.a. "Clavicular" (Screen capture via NBC News/YouTube)

Online personality Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, has been accused of rape.

According to NBC, Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza, an 18-year-old influencer known online as Alorah or Alorah Ziva, accused Peters of sexual assault, and the case is making its way through the court system.

The alleged incident occurred on May 23, 2025, when Mendoza was 17.

According to a criminal complaint from the Chatham (Mass.) Police Department, Peters called her an Uber to his family’s home. Once there, he allegedly got her drunk on vodka while they livestreamed on Twitch and then raped her. His mother and grandmother were allegedly in the house.

The documents allege Clavicular committed rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and procuring and providing liquor to a person under 21.

According to court documents acquired by NPR, Mendoza began communicating with Peters on Instagram, where he paid her to appear on his livestreams to help her “make her name known on social media.”

According to those documents, Peters arranged for the minor to come to Cape Cod home to participate in a videostream for his 437,000 followers on Kick, 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and more than 1 million followers on Instagram.

At his home, Peters allegedly instructed Mendoza to say she was 18 on his videostream and to claim the alcohol on camera was water instead of vodka. Mendoza said she felt peer-pressured to drink the spirit and that she became noticeably intoxicated after a couple of drinks.

The allegations go on to state that after stopping the stream, Peters and Mendoza kissed on a couch and then had sex in his bed without her consent. Mendoza said she did not receive a sexual assault forensic exam after the incident. NPR does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

The charges come months after Mendoza sued Peters in Miami, accusing him of sexual battery in connection with the events of May 2025. The civil lawsuit also separately alleges that he injected her face with a non-FDA-approved fat-dissolving substance during a November livestream in Florida.

Peters is known for his “looksmaxxing” concept of vanity, which is at the core of his online presence. The “looksmaxxing” culture he has helped cultivate combines elements of incel culture and heterosexuality, with the stated goal of attracting the opposite sex. He has gone as far as to say he has undergone “bonesmashing,” or hitting his own face with a hammer; taken anabolic steroids to more rapidly grow muscle; and used crystal meth as an appetite suppressant.

At the same time, looksmaxxing has been described as having elements of homoeroticism, with “looksmaxxers” appearing more concerned with impressing other men than women. Peters has multiple times pointed to openly gay actor Matt Bomer as the gold standard for male facial aesthetics.

Peters’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.