Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes

[steve fuller]

Not bad at all, unless you want an all out, death or glory war book, in which case dont buy it!

The story itself made a nice change and introduced Tunnellers as well as covering 1-7-1916 from the perspective of an Infantry subaltern in the front waves, etc. Good focus on his changing spirit as the war drags on and a nice "family" sub plot running alongside the war stuff that I wont go into and spoil for those who have not read it.

Honestly, some of the sentences I found myself re-reading as I did not grasp them the first time but it did not detract from the story as a whole. Perhaps thats just some thick cells on my part, although I read a lot so did not expect to stumble ...

500 pages and a fiver at Tescos at the moment, so will be a welcomed distraction from the TV and the Internet for a few nights.

[trenchtrotter]

Personally I think it somewhat over rated. However to give Mr Faulkes his due credit I found Charlotte Gray very good and moving.

TT

[shaymen]

Quite enjoyed Birdsong - read it many years ago, but as TT says Charlotte Gray was excellent.

Glyn

[Max Poilu]

Have not read it for years, enjoyed it very much although I know many think it utter drivel...!

There was an excellent R4 adaptation some years back which was even better than the book IMHO.

[paul guthrie]

So bad I could not finish it.

[maryh]

I did get a bit bogged down in the tunnelling bit it seemed to go on a bit - but enjoyed the book overall. Have also read Charlotte Gray,which is also good. Know what you mean about the sentences Steve - sometimes got to the end of a sentence and could not remember what had been going on at the beginning

Mary

[Sue Light]

So bad I could not finish it.

I really don't agree that it was bad - it was fiction, and obviously not to your taste. But 99% of the population of the UK have no real knowledge or interest in the Great War, and would never look twice at anything considered 'worthy' by many of the members here. By writing something simple and engaging, Sebastian Faulkes has been responsible for a great many people at least getting a basic grasp of life during the war. And I'm sure he's had rather more readers than the Official History.

This Forum gets so hung up on the War in academic tomes, and forget popular fiction is just that - popular.

Sue

[paul guthrie]

Sue I bet you are right he introduced lots of folks to Great War and that's good. I would prefer they came there as many did from Lyn McDonlad but will take what I can get. In the US there is very little interest.

[kaisersoffensive]

I really don't agree that it was bad - it was fiction, and obviously not to your taste. But 99% of the population of the UK have no real knowledge or interest in the Great War, and would never look twice at anything considered 'worthy' by many of the members here. By writing something simple and engaging, Sebastian Faulkes has been responsible for a great many people at least getting a basic grasp of life during the war. And I'm sure he's had rather more readers than the Official History.

This Forum gets so hung up on the War in academic tomes, and forget popular fiction is just that - popular.

Sue

Bravo Sue!

I couldn't agree more. I buy up all the very cheap copies which appear at car boot sales and the shelves of charity shops and distribute them amongst (or should that be among.I am sure Sebastian would put me straight on this.Where is my copy of Fowlers?) colleagues.

Something akin to the Giddions.

Maybe a seed of interest will germinate.

[Sue Light]

Sue I bet you are right he introduced lots of folks to Great War and that's good.

And I'm writing from experience, as I WAS that reader. Bought up in a working class home on a diet of Little Women, dancing classes and 'Jackie', at the age of 40 I still believed that the Western Front was something to do with cowboys and indians. I arrived at the Great War as an aside to family history, and as an avid reader of fiction, it was 'Birdsong' that gave me some true inspiration to go further - I remember thinking 'Surely it can't have been as terrible as this?' and was determined to find out. Nowadays, most of my time is devoted to reading, writing and researching the Great War, so it certainly worked for me. And Alie Cameron [aliecoco] is another Forum member who has made the long transition from Birdsong to professional Great War research. It won't happen for everyone, but it certainly does happen.

Sue

[bushfighter]

Thanks for a well-thought out comment Sue.

Sebastian Faulkes didn't just try to describe the physical trauma but the mental effects as well, & the impact of this on people who cared for the leading character.

That's probably why it was & is so popular - ordinary readers can relate to the complete story.

For the "guns & blood only" reader - who can really fault the description of the tunnellers in action?

Harry

[ianjohnson1@blueyonder]

I have birdsong on audio cd's...........great companion on a drive to the Somme. Have read Charlotte Gray and would like the audio cd's as well.

Ian.

[Guest tafski]

well coincidence wife came back from shopping tonight and guess what birdsong in with the shopping so look forward to reading it

tafski

[Roxy]

I enjoyed it - eventually. I can understand those who couldn't put it down soon enough though.

Roxy

[ianjohnson1@blueyonder]

well coincidence wife came back from shopping tonight and guess what birdsong in with the shopping so look forward to reading it

tafski

Taf,

You have a good wife there....mine would have walked straight past it.

Ian.

[Dragon]

And I'm sure he's had rather more readers than the Official History. This Forum gets so hung up on the War in academic tomes, and forget popular fiction is just that - popular.

Yes.

I loved ‘Birdsong’.

There are books with factual accounts of more or less detail about the Great War. They are called history books. There are stories about human life, relationships, personal development and growth and they are called fiction. 'Birdsong' is one of those.

Faulks has taken a set of characters and examined the way that life, including episodes in the Great War, have affected those people. In real life, no-one develops in a preordained, unchangeable pattern: we are all affected by our experiences and that applies equally to fiction.

It isn’t a Great War novel, but has some episodes that are set in the Great War. My personal preference is for Pat Barker’s 'Regeneration' trilogy, because I find them more intellectually satisfying, and the characters’ growth more accurately reflects the turbulence of life, but I was gripped by ‘Birdsong’ too. Most good fiction based in the Great War is not actually much about the Great War.

Were Faulks to embark on detailed descriptions of actions in the Great War to set the background to his characters’ progress through the events thrown at them by life, the majority of the readership would be bored stiff within pages. Insisting that a clearly fictional piece is rigidly based on minute attention to military detail is effectively to reduce interest in the Great War to the equivalent of train spotting. I am sorry if that offends anyone, but it is how it seems to people who do not share the interest. I suggest that Sebastian Faulks was not writing with military obsessives as his target readership. However, because the novel is enthralling fiction, it’s likely to generate an interest in the Great War where none existed beforehand, as Sue says.

It isn’t a memoir; it isn’t an historical account by an eye-witness; it isn’t solely dependant on the War for its interest. It would be absurd to expect a novel to take the place of an historical text analysing the complexities of the War. ‘Birdsong’ is informed in a modest way by the historical events, but it is driven by the need to engage a non-specialist reader and to illuminate the human response to a variety of events which include some aspects of the Great War: indeed real-life protagonists would have seen only a very small part of the whole picture.

Had Sebastian Faulks decided to write a detailed novel solely based on and within an episode in the Great War, I imagine that he would have been criticised for being imitative or even plagiaristic. (It would also have been largely unreadable.) Therefore, it appears that the only satisfactory outcome is that no-one writes novels which are based in part on the War. I suspect that is what some people see as the ideal. What an insular, excluding attitude.

I could also comment on his skills as a writer: his ability to tell a story, to use language effectively, to make interesting use of imagery, to address themes, to create convincing characters, to maintain a creative vision, to change readers’ thinking. These are the essentials when analysing whether or not a piece of fiction is a good novel. Fixing on minor inaccuracies which only bother Great War experts or enthusiasts is to withdraw into a circle of expertise from which most people are deliberately excluded.

Recently I met a much older woman whom I knew in the past. She’s the most acutely incisive analyst of English literature whom I’ve ever known and she was wildly enthusiastic about ‘Birdsong’, especially the tunnelling episodes. It can, it seems, touch readers at both ends of the age range. Not many novels can do that.

Gwyn

[Terry_Reeves]

Dear oh dear, and here's me thinking Bill Oddie had something to do with it.

TR

[Guest tafski]

Taf,

You have a good wife there....mine would have walked straight past it.

Ian.

Ian

no doubt there will will be catch somewhere along the way

come to think of it she has mentioned shoes

tafski

[eric e]

I'm only a quarter of the way through the book, and could easily have put it down and left it anytime during part 1. Enjoying part 2 much more but over 100 pages to presumably set the scene for the next 400 was almost too long for me.

Eric.

[Guest tafski]

Dear oh dear, and here's me thinking Bill Oddie had something to do with it.

TR

[aliecoco]

And I'm writing from experience, as I WAS that reader. Bought up in a working class home on a diet of Little Women, dancing classes and 'Jackie', at the age of 40 I still believed that the Western Front was something to do with cowboys and indians. I arrived at the Great War as an aside to family history, and as an avid reader of fiction, it was 'Birdsong' that gave me some true inspiration to go further - I remember thinking 'Surely it can't have been as terrible as this?' and was determined to find out. Nowadays, most of my time is devoted to reading, writing and researching the Great War, so it certainly worked for me. And Alie Cameron [aliecoco] is another Forum member who has made the long transition from Birdsong to professional Great War research. It won't happen for everyone, but it certainly does happen.

Sue

Sue,

I couldn't of put either of your posts down any better! We have had this conversation before, I agree completely.. and no I don't mind you saying, at all!

Alie.

[susanhemmings]

Well spoken Sue.

I also agree with Gwyn. Birdsong, for me, opened my eyes to the tunnellers. I, too, "enjoyed" the Regeneration books and Pat Barker's subsequent novels.

It took me a while to "get into" Birdsong, but once I had got over the first 60 or so pages, I found it a compelling read.

Also have read Human Traces. Now, there, I did lose the plot. Found it very hard going and was looking forward to more fictional characters in factual circumstances. All in all, a good read, but don't put it down during the characters' "lectures".....

Susan

[CarylW]

Birdsong sparked a Great War interest for me too and look where I have ended up!

This has obviously happened to countless others. The novel made me want to research and read more on the subject - can't be bad

Caryl

[Alison Arnold]

and could easily have put it down and left it anytime during part 1.

I did put it down during part 1. I just couldn't get into. Suppose I could try it again and see if it grabs me this time.

Ali

[stevew]

I read before I had a real passion for the Great War, I enjoyed it all the way through, and I would recommend it to anyone. Charlotte Gray although I enjoyed was a bit too long for me