Rating: 
Summary: Convoluted, but oh so worth the effort
Review: I made the mistake of starting this book, misplacing it, finding it, and discovering I couldn't pick up where I'd left off and had to start at the beginning again. It's just not a book to read casually. You've got to concentrate and pay attention and read long chunks at a time.
Dissatisfied with the official account of her lovers death in WWI, crippled artist Mathilde sets out to learn the truth. Here's the deal: five soldiers were condemned to death for self-mutilation. The manner of their execution was odd: they were forced into the no-man's-land between the French and German lines and left to fend for themselves. Everyone assumed they would all quickly die, but it seems at least one didn't . And there's confusion about his identity. And there's the fact that one of the buried men was wearing German boots, so what's that all about?
A spellbinding and enchanting story, Japrisot's A Very Long Engagement is a little of everything: history, mystery, romance, intrigue, and all done in a splendidly literary style.
This book was translated from the French, which may account for a small bit of the obscureness of the writing. But oh boy, is it worth sticking with it. If you're not smokin' anything, not drinkin' anything - if you're paying attention all the time, you're in for a superb reading experience.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Long Engagement--A Very Short Night
Review: I read this book in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. Japrisot not only artfully held the suspense until the last possible moment, he gave me such wonderful characters to care about that I couldn't *help* but frantically turn the pages trying to find out Did Manech die or didn't he?? But it's not just a good mystery story. It's realistic historical fiction that gave me a vivid sense of the trenches and post-war life. It's a beautiful, painful romance story. It's a clever, astute rendering of how people help each other and lie to each other and care for each other and punish each other. All of this, brilliant at every facet, in one little book. It's a brilliantly *woven* story...like Mathilde, the heroine, you have to hold on tho the wire and don't let go until you get to the end as Japrisot winds you through his labyrinthine tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Monodimensional characters kill an otherwise decent book
Review: The plot is a sort of mystery, decently realized. The fact that it's entwined with WWI makes it somewhat novel (forgive me).But the flatly drawn characters all but kill the story. There's little growth, little development -- for all their experiences, all the characters seem to remain the same as when they were first introduced in the novel. And what's worse, the lead character is almost saccarine sweet -- so much sentimentality! The writing itself is decent, but not good enough to overcome the poor characterization and the sentimentality. Great literature it is not.
Rating:
Summary: An evocative, brilliant novel on the First World War
Review: Part historical, part detective-mystery, this is quite a remarkable work which combines fiction and fact and evokes a whole gamut of emotions from pain, anxiety, curiousity to some precious moments of beauty. The title may form preconceptions, but this isn't Mills & Boon romance, or even a love story in the accepted sense. The reality of the horrors of war, particularly trenchlife in the 1st World War are vividly brought to life--the story relolves around the grim sentence of 5 soldiers caught for desertion and thrown into No Mans Land between the French & German Lines at the Front Line of the Somme; and Mathilde Donnay, a cripple from childhood who is afianced to one of those soldiers. Her courage and fortitude to discover what happened to her fiance isn't super hero(ine) stuff, but her character grabs you so much, that you, the reader, can't bear not to find out too. Linda Coverdale has done a superb translation, although this book was a best seller and prize winner in France there was no guarantee that much of the essence would be lost (as happens with so many translations fronm one language to another), but she has done full justice to the original work. She has captured it all in the well-written, even flowing, riveting and compulsive reading--nothing has been lost in the translation. You don't have to be a war-story buff to enjoy this poignant tale. I whole-heartedly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Well worth the time....
Review: I confess that I feel just a bit stingy in offering only four stars to this book, because I cannot identify a single area in which it is lacking. Japrisot's story is both moving and entertaining, the characters are richly developed and easy to care about, and the events described seem completely credible. I guess I find myself comparing it to books like ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and A FAREWELL TO ARMS, which is, of course, grossly unfair. For one thing, it could reasonably be argued that those books are among the best written in the twentieth century, and how fair is it to judge every new novel on its ability to measure up favorably to such a standard? Secondly, although ENGAGEMENT is about the First World War, it is more accurately read as mystery/love story. My favorite thing about this novel is the way in which Japrisot offers the reader an opportunity to form quick intitial judgements about many of the characters, and then slowly provides the reader a deeper understanding of these individuals and their motives as the book progresses. I found that, by the end of the book, I liked almost everyone involved in this story. Perhaps not a "great" book, but certainly a very good one - and a damned sight better than most of what has proven to be publishable/marketable over the last fifteen to twenty years.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: A Very Long Engagement is a magical book, one which weaves a tale and catches you in its spell--it will haunt you long after you put it down. The novel begins as five condemned French soldiers walk to their doom during World War I. They have all shot themselves, trying to get out of fighting and as punishment, will be thrown into the no-man's-land between the French trenches and the German trenches. Their families know nothing of this and after they die, are told them men died honorably. A few years later, Mathilde, the fiance of one of the men discovers some of the truth about what happened and she becomes convinced that her fiance has did not die--or at least did not die as she was told. She tries, doggedly, to uncover the truth. Along the way, she discovers many atrocities of that war. The novel pulls you along to its rather unexpected, yet still deeply satisfying ending, pulls you so much you won't be able to put this one down. The power of love, the strength of friendship, the failure of memory--all these come into play in this outstanding novel. I highly recommend this novel to all devoted readers. It's a bit of a challenge, following all the little clues Matilde gets, putting the truth together and tossing out the lies, but it's worth it. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Unbearably Beautiful
Review: This is a wonderful little book, a best-seller and heart-wrenching tear-jerker in the best sense (and there is a good sense of those terms). A girl's fiance' is reported dead in World War One, but she has reason to doubt the report. She tracks down leads for years, with the sort of perseverance only such a motivation brings. In the process she encounters help and hindrance, lies and truth, wisdom and incompetence, enough so that those who detest suspense can value this book while pretending to ignore it. Only after more than half of the story has been told are we given a glimpse of our heroine's pre-war happiness. The scene could stand alone, but is unbearably beautiful when read in its place.
Rating:
Summary: much ado about little
Review: Two people whose opinions I respect recommended this book to me - one even said it was the best book she had ever read, and she is a mature, intelligent and serious reader. So I approached the book with great anticipation. Sadly, after an interesting beginning, the book became quite tedious. Ultimately I finished it just so I could get it done with, not because I was enjoying it . Some prior reviewers have blamed the translation but the problem lies in the story itself. There is a very linear simple and obvious plot which is made overly complicated by a plethora of ancillary inessential characters and confusing twists and turns which are impossible to keep straight. In addition there is no character development - the characters are drawn once (very simply and always sentimentally) and never change, and are drawn with thick crayon at that. The depiction of WWI was well done, but other than that it is not a book I would recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing mystery set in France, WWI
Review: More than a year has gone by since Mathilde received word of her lover's death in the war, when in the summer of 1919 she is contacted by an ex-soldier dying in a hospital who tells her he knew Manech (her fiance) and that Manech's death was not what was officially reported. Instead of dying in combat as she had believed, Manech was part of a group charged with cowardice & to set an example for other soldiers was condemned to die by being tossed into "no man's land", the area between the French & German trenches to be killed by the Germans. Mathilde needs to know exactly what happened to Manech, has the money to pursue the truth & does so, and along the way it begins to appear possible that not all 5 men died that night, 1 or maybe even 2 may have survived, but if they did and were found they would now have prison terms to serve. The author has given us an intricate puzzle, Japrisot's style of writing is something new to me there is no one I can think of to compare him to. This is a first rate detective story for the intelligent reader, definitely not a "formula" mystery, also it is a war novel with grim descriptions of trench life. The prose is blunt, there are no wasted words in the main plot, yet along the way there are so many "asides", little anecdotes and fascinating glimpses into the private lives and motivations of ordinary people during the war, the book is never dull. Highly recommend this bestseller from France.
Rating:
Summary: Yaaay!!!
Review: Just finished reading "A Very Long Engagement" and boy-o-boy was it good! Five soldiers are sentenced to be killed for desertion. One (maybe) survives. But which one? Ah... therein lies the mystery. Beautifully translated, "A Very Long Engagement" succeeds on every level. It's super romantic, clever/funny, and a damn good mystery. The ending is entirely satisfying. The characters are multi-faceted and the story flows along smoothly. One of the best books I've read in a long, long while.
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