Rating: 
Summary: WW1
Review: Birdsong is truly a masterpiece. It is a combination of the WW1, love and a miserable life of a soldier who has nothing more to prove. It is a poignant story of a an innocent soldier, Stephen. The condition of his life and the difficulties that he face. This book is an amazing account of the life in the front where everybody around you is dying and that you lose your loved ones and your family while you leave the world in front of your naked eyes. People are just exhausted of everything thats going on and are in search of tranquility in their life. The most significant point made in the story was how ignorant people can be of the war that happened long time back and not care about it for everything they did for their motherland and the next generation. And possibly only few seems to care. Overall, a fantastic novel. May the soul of the one who died in the war rest in peace.
Rating: 
Summary: A book of two halves...
Review: Having read 'All Quiet on the Western Front', 'A Farewell to Arms' and 'Goodbye To All That', I snapped up Birdsong as soon as I saw it... The books mentioned above provoked many different reactions and emotions in me; mainly sadness, anger and frustration that such a senseless conflict between governments and empires could result in so much bloodshed and suffering. Here are my thoughts on Birdsong.Faulks' tale of life in the trenches is everything a WW1 novel should be; graphic, moving, explicit, disturbing and compelling... with an intriging and passionate love story chucked in for good measure, and in this respect it reminded me of Hemmingway's 'A Farewell To Arms'; but the comparision ends there. The author describes trench life with great detail that leaves nothing to the imagination (sometimes a little vividly so), but this has the knock on effect of drumming the images of war, and the turmoil it creates, into your mind - it's a powerful realisation of human suffering that is hard to expel from your thoughts. The flashbacks to the 1970's are, however labourious in the extreme (it takes a lot of willpower to plod through them until you reach the next chapter of mud and bombardments, which are far more more involving), but they are mercifully few and far between. While Birdsong tends to touch on some of the horrific cliches of WW1 and life in the trenches, the author treats his subject with compassion and respect, and skillfully weaves them into the story to create a book that I found difficult to put down, and images that will stay with me for some time. If it were'nt for the flashbacks, this could be a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, moving story
Review: Having recently read "All Quiet on the Western Front", it was with some reluctance that I picked up another book that is primarily about the First World War. What swung it for me were the reviews, which were full of phrases like "deeeply moving", "incredibly visceral". However, I am gald that I read the book, and would thoroughly recommend it. Faulks has basically written a novel about the horrors of war. He has tried to mix it up (with varying success) by introducing incidents/characters before and after the war. However, the main guts of the book is the central character's struggle to survive during the slaughter in the mud of Flanders. This is were the book is at its most compelling. Faulks does a superb job in capturing this nightmare. The claustophia of the "underground" chapters is particularly well done. "Enjoy" is the not the right word to describe my reaction to this book. "Respect" is closer to the mark.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story of love and war
Review: I had a wonderful escape reading this book that was recommended to me by two dear friends in England (Trina Owens and Jean Ford). I like how the author flashed back to current times when the main characters' granddaughter chose to research her past. It's really a fantastic, heartfelt story. The WWI scenes took me back to a time that I had never really dwelled on...a great historic effort built into this classic novel!
Rating:
Summary: After 10 years still one of my top 10
Review: I read this book for the first time at its initial publication... cover to cover in one sitting,and have re-read it twice since then. Each time has been as riveting as the first, although I find that with each re-reading my understanding of the characters grows, and I find something new about each one of them every time. In addition, the trenches scenes still have me gripped, horrified and mesmerised no less than 10 years ago.
The story begins in Amiens, with the main character Steven Wraysford being drawn into a passionate and steamy love affair with the wife of his landlord. This erotic but doomed relationship gives way to the second part of the novel - Steven in the trenches in WW1 - the Great (or Not So Great)War. The account of war is harrowing and yet mesmerising, and I found myself simultaneously horrified by the gritty and stark imagery,and moved to tears by the spare and lucid prose. The third part of the novel describes Steven's grandaughter, Elizabeth, on her quest to find out more about her grandfather's life.
Many reviewers have commented that they found the third part meaningless and irrelevent. I myself cannot agree. I think the very fact that one generation removed, a close family member knew absolutely nothing about the turn of events, is what brought home the truth of the entire novel to me. I had no idea of what went on in WW1 and this book changed my view of history. I knew that people died, but the horror and sheer waste on such a stupendous scale, the unbelievable meaninglessness of it all, and the fact that it did nothing to stop events just 20 years later, still leaves me speechless. I felt every emotion of Elizabeth's as she stood in that field so many years later, and realised how very little the world knew, or remembered.
I felt that the way the three sections of the story are juxtaposed is very effective. Each section builds on the previous. Steven,clearly a man of deep and turbulent emotions, never recovers from his initial affair and its failure almost shocks him into numbness against the horrors of war. And as horrifying as the war was, no matter how many lives were wasted and lost miserably, one still feels that love prevailed.
To me, I was left with two very profound impressions. One is the huge and meaningless loss of life that war provokes, and how it rips through the fabric of our lives, and the second is how equally powerful love can be - that love too can rip through our human existence and mark us forever. We are left victims by both.
This book is not for the faint of heart - despite its almost poteic prose, it is not an easy read.
And yet, it is quite quite unforgettable. It will stay with you for a very long time to come.
Rating:
Summary: Shattering
Review: If you have never really understood the extent to which WWI was the most badly planned, stupidest, and inhumane conflict in history, "Birdsong" will leave you in no doubt of it. The account of trench warfare, of soldiers walking in suicidal ranks directly into machine gun fire because the command didn't know any better, is supremely realistic and horrifying but never overstated. The opening love story is masterfully subtle and insightful, and provides a civilized contrast to the monstrosity that comes later. You will not be able to put this book down.
Rating:
Summary: A Gripping Tale - Superior Writing Style
Review: Sebastian Faulks is clearly a talent to be reckoned with. Never have the horrors of the Second World War been described so manifestly. From the desperate experiences of the tunnel diggers to the useless attempts to rid themselves of body lice that choked their bodies in the filthy, dark trenches, this book has it all. The storyline was intense and powerful. A gripping read that I couldn't put down.
Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Novel
Review: This book entered my world through recommendation from an author friend. I opened it with no previous adventures into the realm of WWI and no knowledge of the author. I was immediately intrigued and immediately a fan of Sebastian Faulks! I struggle to review this book without telling you the story line. Therefore, I am not going to tell you an overview of the plot - you need to experience it as it unfolds. I will, instead, tell you the impact of this novel.
Mr. Faulks' writing is so intimate that I was almost embarrased during the love scenes as if I had intruded upon the lovers in their throws of passion. The bitter sweet moments of love found and love lost are feelings that reverberate through time. They were as agonizing to read as if I was experiencing them myself. As the story moves forward and Stephan is at front lines of WWI, I was again amazed at the detail of the story. I can scarce believe that Mr. Faulks was not the actually Stephen Wraysford in a previous life. His vivid depiction of the horrors of war are troubling yet poignont. The friendships among the men, the shared commonality of their situation, the reality of death and the difficulty they had expressing ANY emotion was painful to read. You want to reach out to them and rescue them from the danger of death - and equally so from the agony of life.
Now - flash forward to the 1970s as the generation who experienced the trenches are dying off. A young woman - about my age - with as little knowledge of the war as I previously had - seeks information about her grandfather. Her quest leads her to uncover a family secret, a forgotten generation, a personal desire for true love, and the knowledge that life goes on. 1917, 1978 or 2005 - Sebastian Faulks shows that we all desire love, we all struggle to cope with our personal demons, and we all wonder what we will leave the world to remember us by. This book may be set in the past - but it is truly timeless in its message.
Rating:
Summary: A RICH EXPERIENCE (but not perfect)
Review: This book sat on my book shelf for 10 years. I had consistently heard about it from many sources and so gave in and took it on my holiday last week. This book lived up to the hype and made up for the bad weather (Abruzzo in Italy.. rained all week). I had read an earlier book of his and thought it a load of pretentious twaddle (Girl from Lion D'or). The book has a number of startling pieces: the first world war is obvlously dealt with at length, but the most moving parts for me were those that dealt with the love of our children. Jack Firebrace's love for his son John was expressed in a way that fundamentally relayed my feelings for my own children. I was mesmerised and deeply moved as he described his feelings. I was genuinly apalled by the suffering of the ordinary soldiers in the pointless war, and one of the aims of the book I am sure was to make clear what they endured. In that it succeeded. I have often thought about the war as members of my family died on the first days of the fighting in Turkey. On the negative side: I did not at all relate to Stephen the main character. His detachment and self belief are charactersitics I would more associate with a public school boy from a priviliged and wealthy family and not from a lad brought up in an institution. I did feel that the book was overly long, with a number of scenes in the tunnels that could easily have been dispensed with. There was a particularly silly scene of Stephen carrying a bird in a cage and overcoming his fear. I was not taken with the literary devise of the enquiring grand daughter,and not at all interested in her love affair with Robert. I appreciate that this did produce the desired result i.e. a "surrogate" son for Jack Firebrace, but their lives in comparison with those of the soldiers seemed pale and vapid. The London Underground and the descriptions of the tunnels also seemed a little too contrived. However, this is a masterpiece of a novel: moving and evocative. It was not perfect but its richness made up for any flaws in its construction.
Rating:
Summary: A RICH EXPERIENCE (but not perfect)
Review: This book sat on my book shelf for 10 years. I had consistently heard about it from many sources and so gave in and took it on my holiday last week. This book lived up to the hype and made up for the bad weather (Abruzzo in Italy.. rained all week). I had read an earlier book of his and thought it a load of pretentious twaddle (Girl from Lion D'or). The book has a number of startling pieces: the first world war is obvlously dealt with at length, but the most moving parts for me were those that dealt with the love of our children. Jack Firebrace's love for his son John was expressed in a way that fundamentally relayed my feelings for my own children. I was mesmerised and deeply moved as he described his feelings. I was genuinly apalled by the suffering of the ordinary soldiers in the pointless war, and one of the aims of the book I am sure was to make clear what they endured. In that it succeeded. I have often thought about the war as members of my family died on the first days of the fighting in Turkey. On the negative side: I did not at all relate to Stephen the main character. His detachment and self belief are charactersitics I would more associate with a public school boy from a priviliged and wealthy family and not from a lad brought up in an institution. I did feel that the book was overly long, with a number of scenes in the tunnels that could easily have been dispensed with. There was a particularly silly scene of Stephen carrying a bird in a cage and overcoming his fear. I was not taken with the literary devise of the enquiring grand daughter,and not at all interested in her love affair with Robert. I appreciate that this did produce the desired result i.e. a "surrogate" son for Jack Firebrace, but their lives in comparison with those of the soldiers seemed pale and vapid. The London Underground and the descriptions of the tunnels also seemed a little too contrived. However, this is a masterpiece of a novel: moving and evocative. It was not perfect but its richness made up for any flaws in its construction.
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