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john_pascoe's review
2.0
This novel follows the perspectives of multiple people in the English countryside during the First World War. There is a hierarchy of societal classes and the highest class is much more fortunate than the other classes and constantly harangues and ridicules the lower classes.
I went into this novel, expecting it to be about the love between Alice and Jack and how it was hard to maintain a long-distance relationship during a war (based on what the blurb said). But I was surprised to find that Jack and Alice are twin siblings and the tragic events towards the end of the novel came as a shock. Once the war begins, the societal classes are put aside and everyone is an equal. The book is a remarkable tribute to the efforts and atmospheres of the war, but does take a while to get into it as the author coerces the reader to form deep opinions regarding the characters to set up the revelations in the denouement. The dramatic pageturner environment begins towards the end of the novel. The parts before it are just austere experiences in the war. The transition between characters’ perspectives is entirely seamless and the book is a good read over all, but is hard to get into.
I went into this novel, expecting it to be about the love between Alice and Jack and how it was hard to maintain a long-distance relationship during a war (based on what the blurb said). But I was surprised to find that Jack and Alice are twin siblings and the tragic events towards the end of the novel came as a shock. Once the war begins, the societal classes are put aside and everyone is an equal. The book is a remarkable tribute to the efforts and atmospheres of the war, but does take a while to get into it as the author coerces the reader to form deep opinions regarding the characters to set up the revelations in the denouement. The dramatic pageturner environment begins towards the end of the novel. The parts before it are just austere experiences in the war. The transition between characters’ perspectives is entirely seamless and the book is a good read over all, but is hard to get into.
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