Rating: 
Summary: Discreet Harm of the Bourgeoisie
Review: Ford Madox Ford's "The Good Soldier" isn't really worthy of some of the more recent adulation heaped on it. It is not one of the greatest novels in the English language. Ford's friend and colleague, Joseph Conrad, was turning out far superior novels during this same period of time. Ford's rediscovery and positive reassessment by a new generation speaks more to their own concerns with finding truth at a personal level in a time of turmoil and deceit than it does to any transcendental perfection inherent in the novel. The same people who have re-inflicted Henry James on us over the past 15 years are this book's biggest admirers. So, why do I give "The Good Soldier" four stars?Because it is a damned fine novel in its narrative dimensions and its psychological analysis of its characters. Told through the tattered memory of John Dowell, the story weaves back and forth across time and personal perspective. Its non-linearity is acknowledged up front by Dowell, who warns us that he intends to tell this saddest of stories to us as if we were sitting right next to him in a room, listening to him speak while the night wind moans and thrashes outside. In fact, Dowell so tangles up his narrative that, at one point, he has to backtrack and put the sequence of events back into chronological order to clear up the confusion he has caused for himself through his knotted recitation of what happened. The non-linearity of the story line should be a major clue to the reader of the main theme of this novel -- how we deceive even ourselves when it comes to our most private passions. Dowell is a Nabokovian delight, an untrustworthy narrator who can only be relied upon for the basic facts and not the emotional nuances that create or shape them. Reluctant at first to admit anything unseemly in he and his wife Florence's twelve-year friendship with Leonora and Edward Ashburnham, Dowell eventually begins to trip himself up and, seemingly unknowingly, reveal things that contradict his earlier depictions of what transpired between the Dowells and the Ashburnhams. Dowell is sticking his hand in a fire and, in the process, coming to terms with his inner turmoil and pain at the turn of events which leave him widowed and nursing an insane young woman he loves, as well as Edward Ashburnham dead by his own hand, Florence Dowell likewise and Leonora Ashburnham, married off to a dull, proper member of the English gentry. Ford's mastery of psychological detail and insight into his characters is astonishing. It also reinforces the untrustworthy nature of Dowell's role as narrator. We wonder how a man can be so keen an observer of human behavior, yet not understand until after his wife has committed suicide that she has cuckolded him throughout their marriage. Nevertheless, Dowell's ability to analyze the motives and behaviors of those around him is uncanny. By the end of the novel, it is obvious that Dowell has lied to us about his understanding of his own feelings and actions. He knows Ashburnham, a man he claims to love and admire without reservation, is about to slit his throat, but makes no effort to stop him. "The Good Soldier" is a well-told tale of deceit between lovers and between the self and the soul. It is set at a time when an old ethos was rotting from within due to its own contradictions. That same sense of tearing through the hypocrisy of conventional wisdom and expectations of what we should expect in the form of love from others is what makes this novel very relevant for our own troubled era.
Rating: 
Summary: Master of irony
Review: Ford's use of irony and juxtaposition is brilliant. He uses the story and the telling of that story to make readers examine their own lives. The reviewer who could not understand how this could be "the saddest story" needs to look beyond the basic plot and examine the narrative voice. The narrator's existence and his distance from reality is the "saddest" part of the book. One of the reasons so many people have difficulty with this book is that they have difficulty understanding the concept of questioning the reliability of the narrator, and this book provides an excellent opportunity for discussion of how far we are to trust the narrative voice of any novel.
Rating: 
Summary: The Good Soldier? In what respect?
Review: I enjoyed this book to a certain extent, but I found some aspects of it troubling and annoying. It was difficult for me to stomach the portrayal of Americans. The book is thoroughly English in every respect, and I thought his writing of American characters betrayed a fundamental misunderstanding of America. It's not that he's stereotyping Americans; it's more like he's never met one before. The story itself was riveting, but the narrative style, while it may be fascinating in a literary criticism class, was more of a liability than an asset to me as a reader. I also would have liked to develop my own empathy or distaste for these characters, but instead, I was continually reminded by the narrator how noble all these pathetic people were supposed to be. It disappointed me. If that makes me a literay cretin, so be it.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting arrangement, but boring
Review: i liked the way that details are revealed in this book: you think you've got the story pretty much down, then 50 pages later the narrator gives you a little more insight. it comes in little unexpected burst like--oh yes, did i tell you that so-and-so was a paraplegic? no, no, i suppose i left that out somehow. also, the little garden paths he walks you down for pages before bringing you back into the story are genuinely fun (and funny) and the character development is even more than that--the narrator paints a picture of a wretched man, then changes his mind and repaints him as harmless, almost a victim...but overall this book requires too much diligence for a relatively small number of pages. oh yes, did i tell you it took me six years to get past the first 12 pages? no, no, i suppose i left that out somehow. (no joke)
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I read this book for a class 30 years ago, forgot about it, and then saw it on a list of the top 100 novels of the 20th Century. This is a wonderfully constructed, thoughtfully written, and facinating story. Independent of the story and the issues of change and transformation thematically dominating the book; the style and prose are intriquing and creative. An easy read well worth the time to revisit or discover new.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I read this book for a class 30 years ago, forgot about it, and then saw it on a list of the top 100 novels of the 20th Century. This is a wonderfully constructed, thoughtfully written, and facinating story. Independent of the story and the issues of change and transformation thematically dominating the book; the style and prose are intriquing and creative. An easy read well worth the time to revisit or discover new.
Rating:
Summary: Influenced me as a writer as much as any I've ever read..
Review: I read this novel years ago and it has stayed with me like a personal experience of my own. I still think of it as a sob stuck in one's breast - and yet I can say that I did not fully understand it. I think the "Reader From Europe" (below) has summed it up pretty well, however. I know I felt great compassion for "The Good Soldier" of whom the narrator speaks. To me the novel was aboutl his sexual suppression. I also found I hated his wife and his friends...they colluded in keeping him swaddled in moral "responsibility" to his so-called marriage. How touching and exquisite is this precious little book. I wonder why no one ever tried to make a film out of it.
Rating:
Summary: Perfectly fine
Review: I really wanted to like this book. It is quite good -- an intriguing story that pulls you in, with a nice conversational tone. However, I really didn't find it as masterful as the other reviews led me to expect. It seemed to me terribly overwrought, and a little unbelievable. Also, Ford doesn't seem that fond of the ladies, while he really worships not-that-bright, rich men. If you're thinking of reading it, I think you should, as it's a short and quick read. But if you find it a little much, don't say I didn't warn you.
Rating:
Summary: It truly is one of the saddest stories ever told
Review: I was in a bookstore and picked a copy of this novel up, and from the second I read what I later learned was a famous first sentence (and justifiably so)--"This is the saddest story I have ever heard"--I knew I had to read it. What is truly sad about the book is that the narrator has no conception of where the tragedy in the book lies. While he is articulate and seemingly insightful in his analysis of others, he remains blissfully unaware of his own enormously failings, both in morals and in character. It is indeed a very sad story, but the narrator leaves out the fact that he is quite possibly one of the most pathetic characters in all fiction. If one prefers one's narrators and ostensible heroes to be truly heroic and sympathetic, then this novel will not please. If one, however, can imagine enjoying a novel written with J. Alfred Prufrock as the narrator and central character, then one is in a position to appreciate THE GOOD SOLDIER. The novel is not a page-turner. If you read this novel quickly, you have read it wrongly. The beauty of the book is the exquisite prose, and should be read slowly, savoring each sentence and each sentiment. There is a dreamlike (one could say nightmarish) quality to the book, and one will most enjoy it by allowing oneself to become entranced by the atmospheres summoned up. If you are willing to take the novel on its own terms, with its unheroic and unadmirable characters, with its pathetic elements and situations, and its subtle psychological observations, then there will be few reading experiences that will match THE GOOD SOLDIER. One of the most remarkable novels of the past century. But if you only like novels where there is a definite hero and admirable characters, you probably wouldn't enjoy this very much.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Modernist Work
Review: It is essentially a simple story, but it is done so creatively through the use of a non-linear story line and multiple perspectives that it becomes a complex analysis of human thought and social behavior. FMF may be the most underrated craftsman of the century. His work and impact on fellow writers, especially Rhys, make him one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. The Good Soldier is an amazing achievement.
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