Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes

[Nigel Marshall]

Hi,

I'm quite pleased that opinion is divided on this book because I read it a few years ago after it was recommended to me by people who had seen wonderful reviews of it in the press and so I went out and bought it. I couldn't get into it but I persevered with it and struggled on to the end, yet still I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. A very forgettable book for me. I still have it so maybe I might dig it out and wile away my commute with it to see if i have better results this time.

I'm afraid that on the first reading I would have been put off the whole subject of the Great War if this is all I had to go on.

Errm.... no I won't read it again, I've just put myself off it again!

Cheers,

Nigel

[spike10764]

I didn't mind Birdsong- it was an Ok read.

The only Pat Barker book I've read so far is the Ghost Road and I found that hard going.....

[gary_pearcy]

I thought it was a gripping tale, although the sex scene was rather irrelevant!

[paul guthrie]

I was stuck on an airplane with only one of the Barker trilogy to read, it was a very long flight, what a terrible book.

[spike10764]

I thought it was a gripping tale, although the sex scene was rather irrelevant!

There was a fair bit of gripping going on in the book, it just didn't grip me

May have been the style of the author.......

[angelasmith66]

Hi

I read this last year for the first time after reading about it in previous forum posts. I couldn't put it down and I've read it again on a number of occasions. Would recommend it to anyone who likes fiction set around WW1.

[aliecoco]

I was stuck on an airplane with only one of the Barker trilogy to read, it was a very long flight, what a terrible book.

I thought the discussion was about Birdsong?!

Alie.

[Myrtle]

Birdsong seems to be a book that affects people in different ways depending on when they read it. I came across Birdsong after reading a number of first hand accounts from WW1 and therefore I continually found myself thinking "That's not correct" or "That's not convincing", however I have friends who have thoroughly enjoyed the book and almost make me feel guilty that I question its validity.

Myrtle

[paul guthrie]

I thought the discussion was about Birdsong?!

Alie.

See # 27 about Barker.

[truthergw]

I continually found myself thinking "That's not correct" or "That's not convincing", however I have friends who have thoroughly enjoyed the book and almost make me feel guilty that I question its validity.

Myrtle

One of the perils about being knowledgeable on a subject. If the book does not make you accept its own logic, then to some extent, the author has failed. I loved "The daVinci Code" so I read an earlier novel by Dan Brown which has to do with computers. I never got past the second chapter.

[Dragon]

I mentioned Pat Parker. (Sorry.) This was because in some people's minds, she and Sebastian Faulks and anyone else who's written a piece of fiction connected with the Great War (excepting those who were there, of course) are symbiotically joined in a morass of appalling authors of books which are far beneath the attention of anyone who might describe himself or herself as a serious student of the Great War. It goes beyond simply not liking their books.

I was saving myself the trouble of making a comment defending 'Regeneration' later on in the thread.

Gwyn

[Martin Bennitt]

One of the perils about being knowledgeable on a subject. If the book does not make you accept its own logic, then to some extent, the author has failed. I loved "The daVinci Code" so I read an earlier novel by Dan Brown which has to do with computers. I never got past the second chapter.

I though the Da Vinci code was total tosh (I think I was put off by the first page or two when what's his name contrived to go from the Ritz to the Louvre via the Opera -- the two are in totally opposite directions), but that's going off topic.

I enjoyed Birdsong but am I exceptional as a bloke who did?* The comments on this thread seem to be fairly sharply gender-divided and of so, why?

cheers Martin B

I'm also an exceptional bloke but that goes without saying

[Dragon]

I've quickly counted up at least eight other exceptional blokes, Martin. They're mainly lurking on the first page of the thread.

Gwyn

[Greyhound]

I though the Da Vinci code was total tosh (I think I was put off by the first page or two when what's his name contrived to go from the Ritz to the Louvre via the Opera -- the two are in totally opposite directions)

You and me both! If he couldn't get to Paris to research his setting, couldn't the lazy ****** at least buy a map?

Back on topic, I read Birdsong a few years back, but can't remember anything about it now.

[dah]

I'm with Alie and Sue.

This book was the catalyst for my abiding interest in WW1, the reason I keep reading about it, and visiting the battlefields as often as I can.

It opened my eyes to the human and psychological dimension of the war - and gives a different insight to a front-line soldier's experience than is conveyed even in the first-hand accounts such as are found in Lynn MacDonald's books. Perhaps it is similar to ‘All Quiet....’ in that it charts the change to a person’s mental state as the war and the ever-present experience of death and prospect of dying erases emotions and attachments to the ‘real world’.

I wouldn’t particularly expect it to appeal to the majority of Forum members in any significant way. It probably wouldn’t tell you anything you don’t already know (and the first half of the book is, indeed, very hard work)

But as popular fiction for the ‘uninitiated’, as I was when I first read it, it can give a deeper appreciation of the soldier's war…..and give greater significance to the war memorials that are so much part of the landscape that they are, for most people, virtually invisible.

Birdsong started me off, for which I will always be grateful.

David

[loganshort]

After what seemed to be a long drawn out love story while he sets the plot, the novel certainly picks up pace and interest so it is worth while trying again to get through it! It is a great evocation of a normal young man trying to get through a nightmarish upheaval of life and a real insight into a part of the War (tunneling) which is usualy a footnote to the "real battle". Old sweats may pick holes in it but as a dramatised novel you can forgive it for giving a taste of reality which dry factual books cannot portray. Looking forward to a film version as long as it's not made in USA ! What do you think of "A Very Long Engagement" with the georgous Audrey Tautou? Birdsong could potentially be as good.

[Myrtle]

It opened my eyes to the human and psychological dimension of the war - and gives a different insight to a front-line soldier's experience than is conveyed even in the first-hand accounts such as are found in Lynn MacDonald's books.

Although I have read some of Lyn Macdonald's books, I was not thinking of her first hand accounts when I last posted on this thread. When I read Birdsong I found it rather vague, but then that is why some authors write fiction rather than fact. I suppose that authors who are uncomfortable with writing fiction, in case the contents reveal the writer's lack of facts, usually resort to fantasy.

Myrtle

[Norrette]

Just finished this - and I thought it was a great book. I think most of the beginning was to attempt to build the character of Steven before his experiences eroded it away. And I thought the tunnel scenes were very exciting. This was only my second read of WWI fiction (the other was The Wars by Timothy Findley) and I wonder if most of this genre tells of the horror of trench-life in such an unrelenting way?

As I was reading it I was puzzled by how the war kept going, how men returned to the trenches time and time again to face this nightmare - there must have been some compensations surely - camaraderie perhaps or a sense of belonging or something else?

Norrette

[withcall]

IMHO something of a curate's egg of a book. Like an earlier contributor, I couldn't quite get the relevance of the sex scenes, particularly the strange dalliance with the young girl on the picnic trip to the Ancre. That said, I found parts of the book very compelling. The scene set in the the little canals and gardens area of Amiens was so, so accurate, and I was very touched by the sequence of letters to one of the soldiers from his wife. She first writes that their son is ill, and then each successive letter spells out his decline and eventual death from, I think, diptheria. It is certainly a disadvantage to be a WW1 'anorak' when reading books set in the war, as factual errors can be very distracting.

The only real criteria for judging a novel has to be, in the end, whether or not it works as a piece of fiction - structure, pace, plotting and characters. I would say Birdsong scores about 7 out of 10.

[Gunner Bailey]

I've read it twice and as a piece of fiction that brings in historic facts, I don't think it does a bad job. I like the way the shelling of Amiens is covered, as are the references to the Ancre valley. A good story, well presented. Not a classic but good modern fiction.

Gunner Bailey

[AthollHighlander]

I recall Birdsong being debated before on the forum and I had just finished it. I have many factual books on the Great War but no way would I consider myself an expert on any aspect. It directed me to read factually on specific areas and I was totally gripped from start to finish.. It may depend on your own expectations so it's unsurprising opinion is divided.

I purchased Human Traces last year but have yet to go beyond the opening chapters. My mindset to persevere wasn't there and perhaps my expectations of the author have now changed. I will pick up the book again though and one day will return to Birdsong once again.

[Arras100]

Can I add my two cents worth to the discussion?

In my opinion, the main problem with this book was character development. I really didn't like Steven all that much and I thought he was a rather dry, dull protagonist to lead us through the story. I did rather like Jack, however, and wished there had been more of his story instead of Stephen's. The attempt at getting us gripped on a love story at the beginning of the book was a lame attempt to grab our attention of readers, and I found I didn't really care that Isabelle was back in the picture later on during the war. I found her to be an empty character that the reader feels nothing for by that point in the book.

I, too, wanted to read this book because I had heard all the buzz surrounding it, so I got myself a copy and eagerly began to read. I must say, like so many others, I was disappointed with much of the book. It was slow going for the first part of the book that I thought it was never going to get to the "good bits", but when the so-called "good bits" did come , they weren't as juicy as I hoped they were going to be.

Having said this, I do like some of the underground scenes with Jack and the rest of the men, having visited Vimy Ridge myself and only imagining what that must have been like. The battle scenes were decent, but I always found myself wanting more.

In the end, I feel this book lacked in character development and it felt like a superficial read for someone who has had a long interest in the war.

Thanks for letting me rant.

[Graham-McAdam]

"Like an earlier contributor, I couldn't quite get the relevance of the sex scenes, particularly the strange dalliance with the young girl on the picnic trip to the Ancre. "

You like "Before & after" photos from the war don't you? This is the same - the blissful picnic by the river which will soon be flowing with blood.

I was one of the people who had never heard of Thiepval (do I lose my membership) until reading Birdsong. It knocked me out and led me to the Western Front (couldn't be bothered with the final sections in the tunnel, though!!)

PS Who is this Sassoon bloke above? Looks strangely familiar - back from the dead, is he? What is he trying to hide?

[marina]

I thought it was a gripping tale, although the sex scene was rather irrelevant!

It wasn't as bad as his scene in 'Charlotte Gray' which won a certain award:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/223065.stm

[hudsonswhistle]

Well said Gunner Baily,lighten up people, its a Great book.