Will be back soon. Bit busy at the moment so finding hard to find time.
Will be back soon. Bit busy at the moment so finding hard to find time.
Member since:18.03.2004
Reviews:24
Members who trust:17
A history teacher friend of mine recommended Sebastian Faulk's 'Birdsong' to me a number of years ago, on the basis that it had two main ingredients that I would find irresistible: a World War I setting combined with a endearing romantic vein running throughout. So, on his advise, I bought a copy of the book almost immediately, however, it stood on a shelf until two years ago, forgotten and completely unread.
One day I picked up the book by chance and started to read. I have just recently read the book for my second time. No mean feat I must point out, as it is seldom that I ever read a novel twice. My friend’s advice and its predicted appeal was uncannily accurate.
The story is based around Stephen Wraysford, a young English graduate who finds himself in pre-World War I France on a work-placement. He is staying with a French family, and falls hopelessly for his host’s wife Isabelle, eventually eloping with her, only to return home one evening to their rural French cottage, where he finds, to his utter devastation, she has unexpectedly packed her belongings and left him.
From there, the plot is then swiftly transported to the Western Front of 1916, where Stephen is an officer in the British Army facing the Germans over the shell-holed expanse of No Man’s Land.
Rather than merely concentrate on Stephen’s battles with both the enemy and Isabelle’s memory, Faulk peers into the lives of the supporting characters of Officer Michael Wier and Engineer Jack Firebrace, weaving together their relationships with Stephen, their comrades, and their families at home, whilst keeping alive Stephen’s beliefs that he will one day be reunited with Isabelle.
Faulk’s prose is often shockingly and repugnantly detailed, but it paints a vivid picture of the gruesome and hellish life and conditions endured by the common British soldier during the trench warfare of 1916 to 1919, and perfectly conveys the irreversible loss of innocence that many now recognise the First World War to have been.
On 1st July 1916, the Battle of Somme commenced, and when that first day had ended, 20,000 British soldiers were dead. Many regiments consisting entirely of friends and family from the same towns and villages had been wiped out. As Stephen and his regiment march with heads down into the blizzard of bullets that put an end to the lives of so many young men and boys that day, Faulk’s imagery leaves us shocked as he witnesses, one by one, close friends and comrades meet savage and sickening deaths.
Faulk’s words transport the reader to the very centre of the battlefield where bullets whistle by the ears, and blood from fallen comrades sprays up into the mouth and eyes. His depiction of the futility of the battle is such that is arouses butterflies of fear, and the aftermath from the carnage is in such tragic and painful detail that it can bring a quiver to even the sternest of stiff upper British lips.
The conscience of Stephen and the other character measurably ebbs as time progresses, until towards the final chapters of the novel, death becomes expected rather than feared and they seem immune, cold and distanced to the suffering around them.
When the pace is a little slowed as the scene jumps to the nineteen seventies, where Stephen’s granddaughter is retracing his life, it only serves to build anticipation for the following chapters as the war progresses and Stephen finds himself closer and closer to seeing Isabelle again and the end of the war.
If it’s a light read you want to pass away a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, ‘Birdsong’ is not the book for you.
If you feel the need for a story that will leave you with a warm and contented glow, again, you’d be best advised to look elsewhere.
What ‘Birdsong’ is, is a novel that grips and draws you in from the very first chapter. It is a modern masterpiece, and will leave you wanting to read just one more chapter or two before you turn the bedside light out.
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Brilliant summary of one of my favourite books. You concisely but with intense precision explain everything skilfully. I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't love this book.
fairenoughclough 22.12.2004 15:33
A book of exquisite beauty and real agonies, well reviewed.
My favourite book.
Mike
annettc99 06.05.2004 21:39
I'll have to look out for this. I've just bought another of his, "On Green Dolphin Street" after vaguely remembering someone recommending him. Always thought he wrote blokey books, but you've persuaded me otherwise.
Readers who are entranced by sweeping historical sagas will devourBirdsong, Sebastian ... more
Faulks' drama set during the first world war. There's even a little high-toned erotica thrown into the mix to convince the doubtful. The book's hero, a 20-year-old En...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Readers who are entranced by sweeping historical sagas will devour Birdsong, Sebastian ... more
Faulks' drama set during the first world war. There's even a little high-toned erotica thrown into the mix to convince the doubtful. The book's hero, a 20-year-old E...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Readers who are entranced by sweeping historical sagas will devourBirdsong, Sebastian ... more
Faulks' drama set during the first world war. There's even a little high-toned erotica thrown into the mix to convince the doubtful. The book's hero, a 20-year-old En...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Readers who are entranced by sweeping historical sagas will devour Birdsong, Sebastian ... more
Faulks' drama set during the first world war. There's even a little high-toned erotica thrown into the mix to convince the doubtful. The book's hero, a 20-year-old E...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Mar 19th, 2004
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