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Summary: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Review: This amazing book is the first one in a very long time that left me helpless to do anything but drop my entire life until it was finished. From desperate, hopeful love, to a piece of the world most of us may never know, and ironically visa versa, the integrity of this book is insurpassed in my memory.
Please read this and praise Mr. Faulks for his ability to convey human nature and it's reaction to reality across time, gender, and paper.
Thank you sir
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Summary: Powerful tale on alienation brought about by war
Review: The story revolves around the life of Stephen Wraysford, a British soldier during WWI, fighting in the trenches of France. Though primarily a story about survival and the cruel realities of war, the author kicks off with a love affair between Stephen and a married woman during his younger days. This relationship builds the foundation for Stephen's torment in his later days as a army captain, when not only he loses the love of his life, he also loses his men, one by one. The narrative is very descriptive, especially on the grotesque outcome of trench and tunnel warfare. There were sections of the book that kept me totally mesmerized and rivetted to every action of each character of the tale. Overall, it is a sad, sobering story about a man who appears helpless as he sees his humanity being etched away by the insanity of war. The pace of the book varies greatly - at times fast and fluid (early sections before the war) and at times, beguilingly slow. Portions of the book dedicated to the life of Stephen's granddaughter, I felt, were long drawn, and did not contribute as much to the story as its volume warranted. Nonetheless, it is still a great read and I would recommend it to anyone seeking an insightful tale on love and loss in a time of war.
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Summary: A WAR IN TWO FIELDS---LOVE...AND WWI
Review: The first 80 pages of this novel describes a torrid love affair that should hold your interest. The next 320 pages describes action in WW I in France of a British squad or Company. The details are typical war material (without the heavy swearing that is in most war literature)related in an interesting way and much of the action takes place underground while digging tunnels. This is not for the feint of heart as the horrors of war get quite detailed. Mr. Faulks surely knows how to write!
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Summary: Incredible novelist, superb novel....
Review: This one will rate among my all-time favorite novels. It took me weeks to get through the opening in Amiens because of the incredibly slow pace. It was so bogged down by emotionless, and seemingly unconnected detail that I was overcome by a thick boredom (much like the overheated, stagnant, water gardens). However, I was well rewarded for my patience. Stephen's story on the front is absolutely the gripping. I finally began to connect to this character once Faulks got him to the trenches. It was such a compelling connection, that I read the rest of the book in a little under 4 days. In retrospect, the slow pace of the opening is a good analogy of the frivilous cares and slow pace of a nation at peace. The frenzied pace of Faulks' war story deepens the characters and the plot while standing in strong contrast to peacetime. Faulks moves his novel in such a way that the reader is able to live the story with the characters. This is a must-read for anyone interested in excellent literature--not just historical fiction and especially not romance. Stick with Faulks through the beginning because the story that follows is unforgettably beautiful all the way to its ending.
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Summary: Superb
Review: Every word is a pleasure, the novel is a tour de force. Sensual, erotic and deeply moving. His prose is a delight to read and the love stories are first rate. He is a flawed hero, one we can identify with. His women are also fascinating characters making heroic sacrifices. The book is one you will never forget. A huge novel, but you will want to read it twice in one sitting! A testimony to love, and the so-called lost generation.
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Summary: Sweeping and Riveting
Review: I kept passing over this book thinking it fell into the 'historical romance' genre (which to me means less than good writing). I was definitely wrong. The story is sweeping with impecably good writing. I was engrossed from page one. The romance in the book, which is central to the story plot, is touching. But it is the war writing which is unforgetable. The writing is mysterious and evocative. I think Faulks does a better at describing World War I trench warfare than Hemingway. The last part of the book which deals with the main character's grandaughter is fine but could have been deleted from the book altogether as it does nothing to advance the plot. Although it does serve as a foil to the war scenes by showing how good and simple life can be without war.
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Summary: My all time #1?
Review: Its interesting reading the reviews posted here to observe that this is a book which draws 5's and 1's, scorn and adulation. For me, it is a benchmark for all novels and the "holding my breath as I read" from the American reviewer or the "tears streaming down my cheeks" from the British Bobby encapsulate so much of the impact which I felt on reading this beautiful yet awful tale.
Novels are generally unappealing to me - I regard them as self indulgent and perhaps a waste of time. I tend towards non fiction. But I found myself reading Birdsong while on holiday in 1995, locked into the book from start to finish, aching with the passion, pain and sadness which comes with this book. And today, seven years after I first read this book, it still pulls me.
And it is wonderful to read of others who have been equally touched by Birdsong - and I am incredulous at a few of the negative comments made.
I would echo the sentiments of the reviewer who opined that this will be ranked as one of the great novels of the late 20C. And on that note, sitting in the airport, I think I will go and buy another copy and re-read it!
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Summary: Much To Do About Nothing
Review: Avoid. This book is not worth your time or money. The first thirty pages are REAL SLOW and I had to force myself to keep going in hopes of it getting better. It didn't. The characters are boring and underdeveloped. The writer sends way too time on trench warfare and, while its supposed to be a love story, I saw precious litle of it in the book. Most of the activity is pointless and leads nowhere. The ending leaves you unfulfilled and puzzled. Why did he use so many words to say nothing?
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Summary: Compelling & Spellbinding
Review: Recommended by a British friend as the best novel he had read in 20 years, I was a bit dubious when I began reading Birdsong. The prose style is so steady and unemotional that I wondered at how this could be moving enough to be a great novel. Certainly the love story...was interesting, but when I got to the description of the trenches and the battle, I was mesmerized. At one point, I realized that I was holding my breath as I read. Sebastian Faulks very steadiness in his prose actually heightened the horror of what he was describing. This is the best anti-war book I have read since I read Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun in the early 70's. As other reviewers have pointed out, the modern story line is a rather artless device, but ingore that, and read this book for the powerful story of WWI.
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Summary: An Inspiring Story of the Great War
Review: This novel can be divided into three parts. The first tells the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman sent to France in 1910 to learn about the textile industry, and his love-affair with Isabelle, the neglected young wife of a French industrialist. The second part tells of what happens to Stephen as an officer in the British army during the First World War. The final section (which is intercut with the second)is set in the 1970s and deals with the attempts of Stephen's granddaughter to find out more about the grandfather she never knew. Although the first part of the book dealing with the love affair is well done, the main strength of the novel lies in the vividness of its descriptions of the life of the trenches. Mr Faulks does not shy away from describing the privations and suffering of the soldiers who fought in that most terrible of wars, and the result is a sombre but inspiring work which increases the reader's respect for the bravery of those men. The book also has its weaknesses, which is why I have only awarded it four stars. Like others who have reviewed it here, I found the modern scenes dull and unconvincing, leaving a sense of anti-climax after the powerful battle-scenes. The character of Stephen himself is perhaps too cold and detached fully to engage the reader's emotions (although there are other characters who do, notably the sapper Jack Firebrace,whose death near the end is perhaps the most poignant scene in the book). The wartime affair between Isabelle and the German soldier Max (something that at the time would have been regarded by most French people as a betrayal of her country)is a potentially interesting theme but is treated all too briefly. It would, however, be wrong to end this review on anyhing other than a positive note. This novel fully deserves the praise it has won as a powerful treatment of both the brutality and the heroism of warfare.
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