Flanders

Rating:
Summary: An amazing book far transcending genre
Review: Anthony joins the list of authors you really need to seek out. Flanders pleased me and left me quiet after reading it. Few other books have done this; the Border Trilogy by McCarthy comes to mind, or All the King's Men by RPW. As other reviewers have stated, I'm not certain why this is classified as science fiction, and I hope this s.n.a.f.u. does not result in poor sales for the book. While there is an element of magic, it is of a spiritual nature, not "fantastic" as the LOTR is fantastic. Think Marquez and the Solitude book.

But you need to read it. With this book, Anthony joins Gene Wolfe as the best stylist in the genre (yes, I'm contradicting my point three sentences earlier, but there are few stylists in the genre, so I'm reaching). It is really, really, solid. On the one hand, I hope Anthony keeps experimenting, so that there is a chance we'll get another success like this one. On the other, her tight, clever sci-fi yarns may be a thing of the past, as this book really is a wonderful achievement. I suspect she may be tempted to try for another.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: Flanders is an excellent novel about an American soldier in World War I. Travis Lee Stanhope, a Texas farmboy and Harvard pre-med graduate, volunteered for duty on the British side because he wanted to see the world and have some adventures before settling down back in Texas. He thought the war would be exciting, something he could brag about to friends and family. His experiences in the trenched soon changed his mind. He began to see war as a nightmare, where his friends died without warning and without reason, and where his survival depended on ignoring his own humanity.

The living conditions at the front were execrable. The trenches they lived in were filled with mud and sewage. Rats thrived in the death-filled environment, eating dead bodies and nibbling on the living ones, too. The soldiers slept in niches carved into the sides of the trenches and sometimes these caves collapsed under artillery fire, burying the soldier alive. The food was bad and so was the water. The survivors learned to ignore the conditions, making jokes about the rats and food and shaking the hand of a corpse buried in the wall for good luck. Reading about these conditions makes the reader very grateful not to have to live like that.

Anthony describes the trench warfare as mostly anxious waiting as artillery fire pounded all around. At night, the officers would lead their troops over the top, into a No Man's Land filled with shell crates and bodies, trying to get into the enemies trenches. Even when the soldiers did get into the other side's trenches, hand-to-hand combat against seasoned German troops was difficult, and mostly deadly. Stanhope became a sniper, and his experience was even more intense as he stayed out in No Man's Land throughout the days, picking off Germans who became visible. This type of fighting was not effective, as no land changed hands permanently throughout Stanhope's career.

The author really did an excellent job of portraying the horrors of World War I. Her descriptions match up with material in history books, but are much more vivid. While you should not depend on this book to learn all there is about the Great War, it is very good at letting the reader know what it was like for the soldiers in the trenches.

This book is almost impossible to stop reading. Anthony gets you hooked early and never lets go. The hero, Travis Lee, reveals more and more of himself and his past in his letters to his brother, and he transforms through his experiences. The best part of the book is the plotline of Travis Lee's past being revealed, and the worst part are the too-true depictions of violence and life in the trenches. You need a strong stomach for parts of this book, but you never want to put it down. The ending will take your breath away.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: Flanders is an excellent novel about an American soldier in World War I. Travis Lee Stanhope, a Texas farmboy and Harvard pre-med graduate, volunteered for duty on the British side because he wanted to see the world and have some adventures before settling down back in Texas. He thought the war would be exciting, something he could brag about to friends and family. His experiences in the trenched soon changed his mind. He began to see war as a nightmare, where his friends died without warning and without reason, and where his survival depended on ignoring his own humanity.

The living conditions at the front were execrable. The trenches they lived in were filled with mud and sewage. Rats thrived in the death-filled environment, eating dead bodies and nibbling on the living ones, too. The soldiers slept in niches carved into the sides of the trenches and sometimes these caves collapsed under artillery fire, burying the soldier alive. The food was bad and so was the water. The survivors learned to ignore the conditions, making jokes about the rats and food and shaking the hand of a corpse buried in the wall for good luck. Reading about these conditions makes the reader very grateful not to have to live like that.

Anthony describes the trench warfare as mostly anxious waiting as artillery fire pounded all around. At night, the officers would lead their troops over the top, into a No Man's Land filled with shell crates and bodies, trying to get into the enemies trenches. Even when the soldiers did get into the other side's trenches, hand-to-hand combat against seasoned German troops was difficult, and mostly deadly. Stanhope became a sniper, and his experience was even more intense as he stayed out in No Man's Land throughout the days, picking off Germans who became visible. This type of fighting was not effective, as no land changed hands permanently throughout Stanhope's career.

The author really did an excellent job of portraying the horrors of World War I. Her descriptions match up with material in history books, but are much more vivid. While you should not depend on this book to learn all there is about the Great War, it is very good at letting the reader know what it was like for the soldiers in the trenches.

This book is almost impossible to stop reading. Anthony gets you hooked early and never lets go. The hero, Travis Lee, reveals more and more of himself and his past in his letters to his brother, and he transforms through his experiences. The best part of the book is the plotline of Travis Lee's past being revealed, and the worst part are the too-true depictions of violence and life in the trenches. You need a strong stomach for parts of this book, but you never want to put it down. The ending will take your breath away.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful...
Review: I finished Flanders today and, quite simply, was moved by the novel from start to finish. I've been a fan of Patricia Anthony ever since I first read Cold Allies a number of years ago, but now I must admit that Flanders has made me more than a fan -- call me an awe struck Patricia Anthony worshipper from now on. So wonderful, this book. So beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Astounding
Review: I had never read a Patricia Anthony novel prior to reading Flanders. Not being a fan of sci-fi I am pleased that I was not put off the author by reading one of her earlier books. Flanders is a truly unique novel. Set in the Great War it's about a young Texan who volunteers to fight in Europe. Anthony's ability to portray the beauty this young man saw in the trenches and surrounding areas in such a terrifying time of horror is suberb. The entire book is written as the Texan writes letters home to his little brother. The strangeness of war, the English and personal circumstances are done beautifully. As is her detailed character of Pvt. Stanhope. She has written one of the best war novels ever - a masterpiece for anyone interested in humanity, WW1, the redeeming power of nature and the brotherhood that exists in time of horror - one that transcends onto a psiritual level too. This is a must read and worthy belonging to a collection of great books on WW1

Rating:
Summary: Shattering
Review: I have been a fan of Patricia Anthony since I read Cold Allies. With each novel her talent to entrall and entrance has grown. Flanders takes place during the Great War, but its story has never been more timely. The horrors of war and those who join in war under some misguided notion of duty or adventure speaks to me of our current world and the misbettogen ideas of the nobility of war. The images are terrifying and the characters are alive - even those who are dead. Travis Lee and Captain Miller continue to haunt me. I agree that marketing the novel under the genre of science fiction was a serious error and narrowed its potential audience. I can only hope that it comes back into print and marketed as a mainstream novel. Ms. Anthony deserves a wider readership. This is truly one of the finest novels I've read in a very long time.

Rating:
Summary: Shattering
Review: I have been a fan of Patricia Anthony since I read Cold Allies. With each novel her talent to entrall and entrance has grown. Flanders takes place during the Great War, but its story has never been more timely. The horrors of war and those who join in war under some misguided notion of duty or adventure speaks to me of our current world and the misbettogen ideas of the nobility of war. The images are terrifying and the characters are alive - even those who are dead. Travis Lee and Captain Miller continue to haunt me. I agree that marketing the novel under the genre of science fiction was a serious error and narrowed its potential audience. I can only hope that it comes back into print and marketed as a mainstream novel. Ms. Anthony deserves a wider readership. This is truly one of the finest novels I've read in a very long time.

Rating:
Summary: Anthony defines World War I!
Review: It was touted as "the war to end all wars"! Young Texan Travis Lee Stanhope has volunteered to join a British regiment in the spring of 1916 for "a piece of adventure," he says. He soon re-defines his own idealism and discovers that instead of "acts of nobility" that "war is hell." Patricia Anthony in her novel "Flanders" vividly recounts this tragedy with a poetic sense of style--and justice. The storyline depends upon a series of letters that Travis Lee writes to his younger brother, still at home in Harper, Texas. A crack sharpshooter, Travis tries to be assimilated into the ranks of his British comrades (despite the differences in the common language!) who have found themselves in the trenches in Flanders. He soon recognizes the sheer horror, depravity, uselessness, and stupidity of this war and experiences booze, unleashed sexual appetite, and even ritual violence. As the war is a tragedy (isn't there tragedy is all wars!), Anthony seems to have captured the essence of this one, from the muddy, bloody trenches themselves to the relationships between the soldiers, who seem to come in every shape and form. As war itself is disquieting, so in "Flanders." It is not an easy book to read, nor to digest; it is a book that is not easy to forget. Anthony's poetry loving (and reciting) Texan-among-the-Brits in far off Flanders fields is also one character that's memorable.([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: Anthony defines World War I!
Review: It was touted as "the war to end all wars"! Young Texan Travis Lee Stanhope has volunteered to join a British regiment in the spring of 1916 for "a piece of adventure," he says. He soon re-defines his own idealism and discovers that instead of "acts of nobility" that "war is hell." Patricia Anthony in her novel "Flanders" vividly recounts this tragedy with a poetic sense of style--and justice. The storyline depends upon a series of letters that Travis Lee writes to his younger brother, still at home in Harper, Texas. A crack sharpshooter, Travis tries to be assimilated into the ranks of his British comrades (despite the differences in the common language!) who have found themselves in the trenches in Flanders. He soon recognizes the sheer horror, depravity, uselessness, and stupidity of this war and experiences booze, unleashed sexual appetite, and even ritual violence. As the war is a tragedy (isn't there tragedy is all wars!), Anthony seems to have captured the essence of this one, from the muddy, bloody trenches themselves to the relationships between the soldiers, who seem to come in every shape and form. As war itself is disquieting, so in "Flanders." It is not an easy book to read, nor to digest; it is a book that is not easy to forget. Anthony's poetry loving (and reciting) Texan-among-the-Brits in far off Flanders fields is also one character that's memorable.([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: Dark and compelling novel from a talented author
Review: Strictly speaking Flanders falls outside of Anthony's science fiction novels. There is an element of fantasy to this fine novel. It's also one of Anthony's finest accomplishments to date. I'm looking forward to her future novels from her. It's difficult to find a novelist that manages to take genre conventions and turn them on their head--and write a great novel as well. Anthony manages to do both with this dark, compelling look at WW1.