livres_de_bloss's review against another edition

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4.0

I’m not sure it’s possible to read this in one sitting even though it’s quite short. Some of the imagery and verse is haunting and deeply saddening.
I think people should read more books like this; it really does paint a picture that history and romanticized novels don’t seem to fully grasp.

hearteyes's review

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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mollylou_'s review against another edition

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3.0

Many of the poems in this book felt incredibly true, sad and chilling. Some of my favourites were; release, war girls, the man he killed, suicide in the trenches, the broken soldier, the target, and perhaps.

Especially from the poems where the poets died in battle, it made you understand the extent of the deaths and how the soldiers who died fighting were real. In the poem ‘Trenches, St Eloi’, you could feel how desperate war made people and how it changed the lives of everyone.

“There is nothing to do but keep on”.

mollylou19's review against another edition

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3.0

Many of the poems in this book felt incredibly true, sad and chilling. Some of my favourites were; release, war girls, the man he killed, suicide in the trenches, the broken soldier, the target, and perhaps.

Especially from the poems where the poets died in battle, it made you understand the extent of the deaths and how the soldiers who died fighting were real. In the poem ‘Trenches, St Eloi’, you could feel how desperate war made people and how it changed the lives of everyone.

“There is nothing to do but keep on”.

kierscrivener's review

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4.0

"Do not survive the bitterness that war begets: the century of carnage since your slaughter made cynics out of very nearly all"-Siegfried Sassoon

I found this book beautiful and tragic. I especially was drawn to Owen and Sassoon's poems and the reflection on how the war affected the minds of those involved. The illistrations really added to many of the poems especially the Next War.

Quotes:
"And not the peaceful delivered at such dreadful cost. Mishandled just as surely as the war, it did no more than offer up a bottle that your sons would have to finish."-Siegfried Sassoon

"And yet the love you bore for one another shine like sunlight on a scratch of steal. And love like that is never wasted, not even on the doomed." -Siegfried Sassoon

"My friend, you would not tell with such high zest, to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie, dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori."-Wilfred Owen

"What more fitting memorial for the fallen than that their children should fall for the same cause."-Osbert Sitwell, The Next War

"And it's been proved that soldiers don't go mad unless they lose control of ugly thoughts."-Siegfried Sassoon, The Repression of The War Experience

kenningjp's review

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4.0

Beautifully illustrated.

catwithabook's review

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4.0

3.5

kakrucke's review

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4.0

This is not a book to read if you want an overview of WWI, as it illustrates a very particular slice of experience, namely poetry and some songs by British soldiers. However, its particularity goes hand in hand with great depth. It is quite moving.

callum_mclaughlin's review

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4.0

The strong visuals add a really interesting and unique perspective to these classic war poems. There's a good mix of artists and styles included, some of which I preferred to others, but all of which I enjoyed.

alarra's review

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3.0

A book of poems and songs - both well known and less familiar - from and about World War I, interpreted by a group of cartoonists. The ones that really struck me, where I felt the pictures really added to the words, were slightly different takes on the horrors of war; not graphic illustrations, but simple drawings of events and people around it in a way that made the words land all the harder.

The standouts for me:
All the Hills and Vales Along by Charles Sorley, adapted by Kevin Huizenga
The General by Siegfried Sassoon, story written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by Phil Winslade
The Dancers by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, adapted by Lilli Carre
The Next War by Osbert Sitwell, adapted by Simon Gane
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