Book 118: Finished.

I very much enjoy books about war and hardship. I'm not sure which part of me craves knowing the darker side of the human condition, but there is something very powerful about these kind of stories. I think knowing that actual people lived it is what grabs me.

Birdsong is an excellent representation of The Great War, or WWI. It is dark and luminous. It captures the pain of being separated from loved ones on many different levels, and the scenes in the trenches were as gruesome as I expected they would be.

It is a stark contrast from the beginning part of the novel, which I posted about here. In the beginning of the novel, the thought of war, death, and destruction is far from the minds of the main characters. Instead, they are consumed by their own love and desire.

When the narrative switches from love and romance to the trenches of WWI, the novel takes a steep turn in the other direction. It no longer has the beautiful romantic prose, but instead the reader is greeted by stark descriptions of war. Before I began reading, I did a little research on the title. The one thing I found over and over again is that the trench warfare descriptions were some of the most accurate and the most disturbing passages in WWI literature. And while I am not incredibly familiar with ALL WWI lit, I will say that some of the images in the war scenes really got to me. It is hard to imagine that people LIVED in those trenches with such horrid conditions for so long...

Overall, I really loved the novel. It was very passionate and moving.

However, there was one massive issue in the story-telling that I didn't like. After the first part, which was set during the war, the novel then flips between focusing on Stephen in the trenches during the war, and another narrator living in the 1970s. While there is a connection between the two, I found that the later sections jolted me from what I felt the really story was about.

That being said, Faulks did a masterful job combining the two and I walked away understanding why he chose to create the story in that way. It was still powerful and a great representation of the era, in addition to doing something new and wonderful. I definitely recommend giving this one a try of you are at all interested in the era-you won't be disappointed!



*This has been sitting in my drafts folder for weeks. I apologize for the delay.*

Book 118: Part 1; The Romance.

This has been an elusive title for me. When I originally made my list back in the August of 2009, this book was removed and added back in a couple of times. I was concerned that it was a "modern classic," but because it had such wonderful reviews and acclaim, I left it on.

And then I couldn't find it. Every time I went to a bookstore, there were certain books I always looked for, and this was one of them. It was never there and when I asked about it, no one had heard of it.

But, in the midst of all the closing Borders stores over the summer, I found a lone copy mis-shelved. I bought it and gave it a home (and of course, now I see it everywhere I go).

The question is...was it worth the wait?

And from the first part of this novel, 113 pages in to a 483 page chunker, I say yes. Yes, yes, yes.

The subtitle of the book is "A Novel of Love and War," and while I am certainly looking forward to the war aspects, the romance and love Faulks builds in the opening section warmed my heart.

The novel opens by introducing us to Stephen Wraysford, an Englishman who is in France on business in the year 1910. While observing the production methods in a mill, Stephen finds a home with the Azaires, a well-to-do family. It is here that Stephen falls for the beautiful Isabelle Azaire, wife of the man Stephen is staying with.

Faulks does a masterful job if building their romance slowly. It bubbles beneath Stephen's consciousness for a bit before it hits him. While he may be young and foreign, Isabelle cannot help but to be attracted the strength of Stephen's passion. They begin a love affair full of passion and strength. They doubt each other and the strength of their emotions, but the scenes with just the two of them alone are simply beautiful.

"'And do you?' he said. 'Do you feel guilty?'
Isabelle shook her head. 'I think perhaps I should feel guilty. But I don't.'
'And do you worry about that? Do you worry that you have lost something, lost the power to feel ashamed, lost touch with the values or the upbringing that you would have expected to make you feel a sense of guilt?'
Isabelle said, 'No. I feel that what I have done, that what we are doing, is right in some way...'
...
There was the sounds of doves in the garden. He felt his heart beat against her shoulder. The smell of roses came faintly from her scented neck. He settled his hand in the curve of her ribs. His nerves were stilled in the sensuous repletion of the moment that precluded thought. He closed his eyes. He slept, at peace" (73-74).


What I also love about this opening, is that I know that pain and struggle are coming. After all, this is a novel of love AND war, so I know that Stephen will find himself in the trenches, battling for his life. And will it be Isabelle who pulls him through?

Because really, that is the question Faulks leaves his reader with at the end of Part 1. In the last few snippets of chapters, Stephen and Isabelle out themselves to her family. In the dark of night, they leave the house in disgrace. They find themselves in a new place, living as husband and wife. But when Isabelle learns she is pregnant, she leaves him behind.

Stephen is left with nothing but the hope she might return. But since the next section starts in 1916 on the front lines in France, who knows what has happened between.

I can't wait to find out.

Book 118: Birdsong and Book Stats.

Title: Birdsong
Author: Sebastian Faulks (1953- )

First Published: 1993

My Edition: Vintage (seen at left)

Pages: 483

Other Works Include: A Trick of the Light (1984), The Girl at the Lion D'or (1989), The Fatal Englishman (1996), Charlotte Gray (1998), Human Traces (2005), A Week in December (2009)

I am always a bit wary of the "modern classics" on my list. I have had mixed reactions to those I have read already (the worst being that Proulx I read back in February 2010).

That being said, there is something about this title that has been calling to me. From what I have learned based on the back cover blurb, and the little research I have done on the internet, this is about the era of World War I. The scenes in the trenches are supposed to be pretty gruesome and gut-wrenching, which intrigues me. Since its debut in 1993, the book has been a bestseller. It is also being adapted by BBC, which should be interesting to watch in the future.

Most of all, I am curious to see what makes this book worthy of being on my list. Besides my draw to the epic war-drama aspect of it, I want to see if the writing is any good and if I'll love it as much as some of the older and tested titles on my list.

Has anyone read this?