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Summary: a poignant story of love in war
Review: Rarely have I read a more frightening description of the terrible conditions of war in the trenches; and the beautiful counterpoint of escape to the love story of Stephen and Isabelle. The book influenced me to read more of the trench warfare of the First World War and the madness that left millions dead for such precious little gain. A magnificent book, weakened only by Elizabeth's modern day quest which seemed trvial in comparison to the power of the core story.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't care about the characters
Review: I found this a very hard book to get through. The writer didn't make me care about the story and the characters. The scenes were well described, but I just couldn't picture most of them in my head. Some scenes were obviously better than others, but overall just a two star book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Key to Humanity
Review: Birdsong is a book which will never quite leave me. It's overiding themes of unrequited love, the pointless slaughter of doomed youth, and the never-ending cycle of generational inheritance give it an awesome profoundity that touches on the very essence of familial humanity. Necessarily, Stephen Wraysford's heroic struggle for survival in the trenches is contrasted to that of his grand-daughter, Elizabeth, sixty years later during late 1970s. It is Elizabeth's attempt to reconcile the deeply unsatisfactory life she leads with the terrible sacrifice suffered by her grandfather and his comrades that sets Birdsong up as a book that gives glory and heaven to the dead of the First World War, whilst leaving the rest of us behind to ponder why, how, and what for? After finishing Birdsong I felt enthralled and deeply moved but also empty and quite unworthy of the sacrifice laid down for me eighty years ago. Birdsong is quite simply a brilliant, brilliant book.
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Summary: There is a connection
Review: It has been quite a while since I read this book, which I found excellent and rivetting. The only reason that I did not give it 5 stars is a personal one: I like a book to have just a little more lightness in it, if only for the contrast (sort of the way the technique in painting of chiaroscuro emphasizes both light and darkness). However, that is just a personal thing, as I say, and it really should have...well, there isn't a 4 and 3/4 star category... There is a connection between the steamy sex in the book and the war. Aside from the fact that steamy sex is always a good read, I think the author intended it as metaphor: sex and death. However, this sex was somewhat depressing in its intensity, no doubt intended to parallel a very intense war. But that's why I choose to withhold my imaginary "quarter star."
Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: It is not very often that a novel comes along that lives up to the promotional blurbs on its jacket cover. However, Birdsong is a notable exception. This book is clearly one of the finest books I have ever read. The story is compelling throughout and the war sequences which comprise the bulk of the book are some of the most poignant I have ever read. The meaning of the love story, which seems extraneous at first, becomes crystal clear in understanding the main character. The ending, which I found to be unique, adds further meaning to the entire story, revealing the absurdity of war, yet showing the basic dignity and decency of individual men. There are few books today which draw a true emotional response from a reader.....this is one of those precious few.
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Summary: Literature at its best
Review: Books like this seem to come along so rarely that when they do you have to make the most of them. It is a powerful book that tells a love story set within the first world war. It is quite simply an amazing book and one that makes you feel fully the exhaustion and hysteria that the soldiers must have felt and makes you appreciate to some extent just what they went through. The book moved me more than any other I can remember and as soon as I had finished it I started it again. The writing is of such quality that it has a chilling impact on the mind. It is gripping, moving, revelatory and the adjectives could keep on coming. I have never read a book about the first world war that so encapsulates the horrors of trench warfare and that so makes you appreciate what the young soliders went through. It is an event that is slipping out of living memory now but books like this will help the memory of those men live on and will stop attempts to trivialise the war. We should remember the sacrifices that were made in that war by people who did not really know what they were fighting for. This book really does have it all though: plot, superb crafting, beautiful language, strong characters and an important point to make. I urge anyone to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Review: It was the most profoundly moving book I have read in many years. Not only was the love story portion of the book completely captivating, but it gave me details and insight into the First World War which I never had. Excellent read that will stay with you.
Rating:
Summary: An evocative masterpiece.
Review: Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks, is as good a book as I've ever read. It's imagery is most stunning and so real, I found myself thinking that I had seen the unmade movie some weeks after having finished the book. It begins with an offbeat love story - no mush - that is captivating even for one who doesn't read romance novels. When the war scenes begin, you are initially upset that the romance portion has ended. But this is the heart of the book. To give too many details would be a disservice to potential readers. I can say, however, that the graphic descriptions of bunker life have you wondering just how much the human mind and body can endure. The characters are very real and you certainly feel, while reading, that you are indeed Stephen Wraysford, the central character. You feel pleasure, joy, horror and revolt as surely as if you were within the pages. At one point, I felt the physical sensation of touch, as Stephen was experiencing a particularly wrenching moment. When this book is over, you are upset. You want it to last longer. You never want it to end! This is an important and brilliant novel. Truly a masterpiece. Those to whom I have recommended this book have all started with a skepticism. Surely I was raving. Each has thanked me and echoed my enthusiasm. To sum up the entire book in 2 words I would proclaim loud and strong "READ THIS!"
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Summary: Birdsong: an unforgettable account of WW1
Review: I could not put down this book. This was the best book of WW1 I have read. It was objective and just told it like it was. The sequence of the war through the life of the hero kept me captivated to the end. I wish more authors would write about history in this way.
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Summary: never again
Review: I doubt whether I will ever read Birdsong again. I enjoyed it very much indeed. Unlike some readers I thought that the 1978 section and the love story were relevant because of the possibility of safe intimacy and support they describe which was obviously ripped away in war time. Elizabeth,although appearing briefly, was an effective vehicle with which to introduce the decrepit Gray and Brennan and illustrate the way in which the war had stolen away any possibility of a future. The birth of her son somehow creates hope and intrepidation about the future. The war scenes are astounding. They are incredibly effective at portraying the waste and the horror. I had several sleepless nights while reading Birdsong. I think it is hard not to think of fathers, sons and husbands while reading Birdsong, that thousands of men who are so cherished could suffer such a fate. So I won't be reading Birdsong again because it is a very difficult book to try and internalise.
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