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.
Rating: 
Summary: Hackneyed
Review: This was such a disappointing read after all the hype. I'm giving up halfway through, and passing my copy to someone who may appreciate it more. The first part of the book was so hackneyed that I found it laughable - I was not at all convinced by the love story. I got very annoyed by Faulk's omniscient narration, the viewpoint constantly flitting from person to person. As other reviewers here have pointed out, Faulks has a tendency to "tell rather than show", which deprives the reader of much of the pleasure of reading. I also found that I couldn't care less about the characters, particularly Steven, who remains vague and shadowy. That I stuck with the book so long is testimony to the fact that Faulks recreates the scenes in the trenches so well. Both my grandfathers fought in WW1 and I am so hungry to know more about what they experienced. But maybe I'd be beter off reading a good history book.
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