Reviews - Undertones of War

29 reviews for:

Undertones of War

Edmund Blunden

3.31 AVERAGE

brokebookadict's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Undertones of War was a tough read—beautiful in places, but undeniably dense. It’s not the kind of memoir that pulls you in easily or offers narrative comfort. Instead, it demands full attention, both emotionally and intellectually. I often found myself re-reading passages, trying to stay afloat in the lyrical prose. It was challenging, and at times exhausting.

What intrigued me most was the way Blunden tells his story. It’s part memoir, part poetic reflection, with very little chronological clarity or conventional storytelling. I’m not sure I’ve read anything quite like it—a biography told almost like a landscape painting, where mood and memory matter more than plot or pace. The result is deeply atmospheric, but also somewhat alienating.

That distance may be intentional. Blunden doesn't aim for visceral horror like some of his contemporaries. Instead, he filters his trauma through restraint and understatement. There’s no direct outrage or emotional climax—instead, the horror of war emerges through quiet detail and natural imagery. For me, that subtlety was admirable but also made it hard to connect with the text on a more emotional level.

Still, Undertones of War shifted something in my perspective. It gave me a sense of the long psychological aftermath of war, and how words can fail—or deliberately fall short—when trying to capture what was lived. That indirectness, though difficult, has its own kind of power.

In the end, I gave it 3 stars. Not because I didn’t respect it—I did—but because I didn’t enjoy it in a traditional sense. It felt more like a book to be studied than savoured. I’m glad I read it, but I wouldn’t rush to read it again. That said, for readers interested in First World War literature or poetic memoir, it offers a unique and haunting perspective.

jessamineh's review against another edition

3.0

Frontline warfare isn't a subject I enjoy reading about, nor one that I have any desire to read more about, but Blunden's poetic voice does lend the book beauty despite circumstance.
Blunden asks, 'Do I loiter too long among little things?' and the minutiae of the soldier's life is considerably explored. Though this can be tedious for the reader, I feel it serves a purpose in that it demonstrates the soldiers' reality- trudging across French land; periods of rest and peace; and of course explosive bouts of violence and death. In this Blunden's narrative is compelling and the skill of the poet author is clear.
I didn't enjoy the book and was pleased to put it down, however I do appreciate that it is a particularly good example of its genre.