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Summary: Seeking a lost love amidst the wreckage of the Great War
Review: War is not glorious. Especially if you're Manech, a 20-year old French soldier convicted by a military court, along with four others, of committing self-mutilation with the intent of escaping service in the front lines of World War I. The punishment is grotesque. Rather than death by a firing squad, the five are to be thrust, hands bound, over the wire fronting the most forward trench and into the No Man's Land between the French and German positions - there to die by whatever bullet, mortar shell, or bomb strikes them down. The subsequent deaths of all five are attested to. Letters are sent to surviving family members by the French authorities saying their boys "died in battle". This was in 1917.Mathilde was Manech's fiancée when he marched off to battle. She's also confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk since she fell off a stepladder at age 3. In 1919, she's contacted by a dying survivor of the war, ex-Sergeant Esperanza, who'd been in charge of the provost detail assigned to escort the five condemned men to the front trench, as well as act as censor for the last letter each was permitted to write home. He tells Mathilde of their bizarre fate, and gives her copies of their last letters, transcribed by him personally. Using these copies and the veteran's story to provide clues, Mathilde embarks on a multi-year search for the truth behind Manech's death. Interviewing friends, family members, and lovers of Marech's four condemned companions, as well as other soldiers present in the trench, Mathilde needs to answer the question, "Is he truly dead?" She has doubts. The evidence is inconsistent. A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is an odyssey of mystery, official cover-ups, lies, misperceptions, secrets, coincidence, tenuous clues, guilt, innocence, and honor. And, ultimately, love. Astute and sardonic Mathilde, perhaps because of her affliction, is a take-no-prisoners dynamo of perseverance. No obstacle is too great that it can't be overcome. In the end, she finds ... Truth. This novel by Sébastien Japrisot is an unusual and unusually intelligent detective story, as well as a look at an almost-forgotten time and place strewn with the wreckage - physical, emotional and psychological - of the War to End All Wars. You'll put it down feeling ... satisfied. I recommend it unreservedly.
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Summary: An Amazing, Compelling Story
Review: During the winter of 1917, five French soldiers, all with self-inflicted wounds, are brought to a trench at the front. The army has decided to "execute" these men in a gruesome show, to discourage others from wounding themselves to get out of the war. In the dead of night, with hands tied behind their backs, the five are thrown out of the trench into no-man's land between the French and German troops and left to die as the fighting begins. Two years later, wheelchair bound, Mathilde Donnay, fiance of one of the doomed soldiers, receives a letter from a sergeant who was at the front and met her fiance that fateful night. After visiting him and hearing his story, she is convinced that at least one of the men survived and is still alive somewhere in France, hopefully her fiance. The very resourceful and tenacious Mathilde begins a relentless search to find out exactly what happened that night and after..... A Very Long Engagement is a magical, spellbinding novel that has it all...history, mystery, romance, intrigue and suspense...From the first page, you are pulled into the story and transported back in time to France during and after World War I. The original, interesting characters are beautifully drawn; the plot, intricate and compelling, full of twists, turns and surprises that will keep you off balance and turning pages to the end and the scenes, vivid and riveting. But the real strength of this book is Sebastien Japrisot's eloquent writing and great attention to detail. This is an amazing story told with insight, wisdom and sensitivity and a novel that shouldn't be missed.
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Summary: Maybe it's the translation
Review: The plot, the characters, the story, these are all very good, and very compelling, but I can't help but be annoyed at the translation. If you speak French, you can see right through lines that have been poorly translated too literally, and areas where too much liberty has been taken to get a particular point. At least, I hope this is the fault of the translator and the original is not this poorly done. My experience of French literature has been such that I can't imagine muddled phrases and incomplete lines would receive the resounding praise in France as is advertised on the book jacket. Worst of all, I have found myself frequently reading the re-reading a sentence three or four times to discover in vain what the devil is going on. In a description of Angel and another soldier's pact to shot each other in the hand (p.14): "At the last moment, because his entire being felt revulsion at the prospect of keeping his word, Angel had snatched his hand away from the mouth of the other man's gun and had closed his eyes. He'd pulled the trigger on his own gun, however. Now he was missing two joints from a ring finger and the tip of a middle finger, but the cootie-counting days of the other poor clod were over for good, as he'd taken Angel's blast full in the face, and the horses, desperate to escape this mess of human lunacy, had trampled the rest of him to a pulp." First off, it sounds as if Angel pulls his hand away totally, but you find that's not so. Then, it makes you go back and re-read the passage a few more times, wondering, "Did Angel shoot this guy in the face? What am I missing?" My only conclusion is that the translator could have used different words, such as "full on in the hand." For all that, the translator could also have avoided the painful use of phrases such as "cootie-counting days." Is the original this bad as well? I like a good story as much as the next person, but part of what makes it great is the telling.
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Summary: Wonderful story, I'll read it again.
Review: This is a fantastic story; a mystery, love story, and historical account. I won't recount the plot, since that's provided above. I just finished Corelli's Mandolin, which is similar but not nearly as flawless as this. Although translated from French, the language is beautiful and lyrical. You will be trying to figure out what exactly happened during the entire reading, and then at the end will want to go back to put the pieces together. Truly an aching, touching story.
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Summary: A Very Long Read
Review: I did not find this book to be as enchanting as the rest of the reviewers. The story takes place in the early 1900s in Europe. It is about a woman who cannot accept the fact that her fiancée died at war. She begins an investigation by travelling all over the world to find out exactly what happened that fateful day. Over the course of many years she begins to unravel the terrible event and all the people that this affected. The story is actually quite interesting and the ending is beautiful but the way it was composed was poor. I understand the author wanted to introduce numerous characters due to the fact that this was an investigation and many people would be involved. However, I had a hard time keep all the characters straight. The book is also composed of a lot of letter correspondence, half the time I didn't know wrote the letter or what relevance it. Most letters began with a story of the writers life when we really only wanted to know what exactly you know about the day in question or persons involved. I thought there was a lot of useless information and useless characters when I really just wanted to get to the point. I ended up skimming the last few pages just so I could finish the book and move on to something else. I was very disappointed in the book, I do think it could have been a beautiful story.
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Summary: A Very Fascinating Story
Review: I've read this book twice and am ordering another copy to give away. At once a literary mystery, a WWI history lesson, and a love story with a true heroine, A Very Long Engagement will keep you turning pages until the very end. The characters were beautifully drawn (though I had to make notes to keep them all straight) and the story is totally engaging and baffling. Don't plan to do anything else while you're reading this book!
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Summary: Took my breath away
Review: I hardly know how to describe this book. Saying "I couldn't put it down" is not sufficient. It is different, unlike any book I have read. The plot was intriguing and the writing exquisite. Don't miss it.
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Summary: Compelling to the end.
Review: I read this book in 2 days. I could not put it down. I was thoroughly caught up in the mystery and in the search for the truth. Like other books highlighting consequences of war, I was saddened and revolted by the tragedies. I truly cared what happened to these men. I didn't like all of them - but the author makes you care about them by his description and dialogue. Even some of the extraneous and minor characters had a charm of their own and each brought you closer to the truth. I was maddened at times trying to figure out the ending. That's what makes this book worthwhile.
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Summary: unforgettable
Review: After I finished this book, I went online and ordered all the books of Mr. Japrisot's from Amazon. Some of the reviews cautioned against expecting the same level of narrative in the other books, but who cares? I'd try anything by this author. The other books haven't arrived yet and meanwhile I am chewing over parts of this book, so wonderfully painful, uplifting and chock-full of truths about "the ways of the world".
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Summary: Cross-Genre and Character Development
Review: This book was recommended by a co-worker and, boy, am I glad it was. The book is a bit slow getting going but I quickly found I didn't want to put it down. The cross-genre aspect (part romance, part mystery, part historical fiction) was amazingly well-done. I doubt that few authors could pull this off; Japrisot did so beautifully. The character development is also incredibly well done. Although you never meet many of the characters, by the time you're done reading the book, you feel like you knew each and every one intimately. I've recommended this book to a friend who teaches high school English as a study in Character development--she intends to incorporate this into her class next year! GREAT book!
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