A Long Long Way

[charliebrady]

Having recently lent a friend my copy of Birdsong, (tragically, I will never now have his comments on it), and having read the posts, some adverse, of this book on the Forum, prompts me to start a new thread and ask for opinions of A Long Long Way, by Sebastian Barry, his story of Willie Dunne's journey through the war.

I thoroughly agree with those who pointed out that Birdsong is a novel set in the Great War, not a story about that war, and A Long Long Way is such. However, the background is set amidst the English/Irish fraught relationship of the time, including the Easter 1916 uprising when, according to the author, the 'Dubs' were called on to face their fellow Irishmen on the streets of Dublin: as such, I find it shows a different light on the life of the ordinary Irish infantryman in the British army.

Some understanding of the times gives this book a particularly moving appeal to me, and I cannot recall the ending without a feeling of great sadness. Would members care to comment?

[Andrew Hesketh]

There's a thread here: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...sebastian+barry

[charliebrady]

There's a thread here: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...sebastian+barry

Thanks Andrew, for the link - most remiss of me not to research the forum.

I had just been reading the posts re: Birdsong this morning, and glanced at the bookshelf beside me, thinking that 'yes, Sebastian Foulkes had written a good book, but there is a better one concerning the ordinary soldier in the Great War'.

Regards,

John