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muggsyspaniel's review
5.0
This is a short novel about soldiers and the march towards a short but brutal desert battle in WWII.
Kersh is in his tough war mode in this one, there's little in the way of plot and the soldiers back stories are of little interest, what we have are short humorous descriptions of his cast of characters and brief meditations on their various preoccupations leading up to what appears to be a virtual suicide attack.
I always think of Kersh as being the most English of writers because of his inability to take himself too seriously despite being a very serious novelist. There is a certain tongue in cheek attitude that I think serves him well. He treats life like one great black comedy, and after all isn't that just what it is?
Kersh is in his tough war mode in this one, there's little in the way of plot and the soldiers back stories are of little interest, what we have are short humorous descriptions of his cast of characters and brief meditations on their various preoccupations leading up to what appears to be a virtual suicide attack.
I always think of Kersh as being the most English of writers because of his inability to take himself too seriously despite being a very serious novelist. There is a certain tongue in cheek attitude that I think serves him well. He treats life like one great black comedy, and after all isn't that just what it is?
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