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paola_mobileread's review against another edition
4.0
What a beautiful book! You really need the complete memoirs to go hand in hand with young Sherston and follow him blossom from a hapless and intellectually indolent youngster to a man grappling with the contradictions of war.
As you would expect from Sassoon the poet, the writing is beautiful, and accompanies you along the progression from the tranquil picture perfect Suffolk village of Butley, where young Sherston is imprinted by fox hunting loving groom, the main male role model as a youngster; to the horrors of war devastated France.
The first volume,[b:Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man|334776|Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man|Siegfried Sassoon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347482517s/334776.jpg|1885119] is absolutely crucial to "get" Sherston and his background, and as a byproduct get a precious insight in the qualities that make English country life quintessentially English. With the second volume, [b:Memoirs of an Infantry Officer|250839|Memoirs of an Infantry Officer|Siegfried Sassoon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348059289s/250839.jpg|1534277] you are catapulted into the war scene, and get in touch with the horrors of the war: not the gory scenes we are now getting used to - Sassoon chisels the ugliness of war in the futility of it, the constant discomfort, drudgery and frustration that bears you down day by day a little more, the battles with no clear plan, the weariness of the mud and the rain and the absence of intellectual stimulation or company, and in the end the rebellion to it all. The final volume, [b:Sherston's Progress|1542063|Sherston's Progress|Siegfried Sassoon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347679932s/1542063.jpg|1534280] marks the full maturity of Sherston the man, from hospital to the war zone again.
Many things struck me which were possibly not intended to have this effect: the engrained class system (Sherston aid is a servant, officers were supposed to come from the higher classes, and so on), the stereoitypical English reserve, the relationship with alcohol, as well as the lack of any female figure of any relevance with the exception of the Aunt in whose house Sherston grew.
A beautiful book, a compelling read.
As you would expect from Sassoon the poet, the writing is beautiful, and accompanies you along the progression from the tranquil picture perfect Suffolk village of Butley, where young Sherston is imprinted by fox hunting loving groom, the main male role model as a youngster; to the horrors of war devastated France.
The first volume,[b:Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man|334776|Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man|Siegfried Sassoon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347482517s/334776.jpg|1885119] is absolutely crucial to "get" Sherston and his background, and as a byproduct get a precious insight in the qualities that make English country life quintessentially English. With the second volume, [b:Memoirs of an Infantry Officer|250839|Memoirs of an Infantry Officer|Siegfried Sassoon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348059289s/250839.jpg|1534277] you are catapulted into the war scene, and get in touch with the horrors of the war: not the gory scenes we are now getting used to - Sassoon chisels the ugliness of war in the futility of it, the constant discomfort, drudgery and frustration that bears you down day by day a little more, the battles with no clear plan, the weariness of the mud and the rain and the absence of intellectual stimulation or company, and in the end the rebellion to it all. The final volume, [b:Sherston's Progress|1542063|Sherston's Progress|Siegfried Sassoon|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347679932s/1542063.jpg|1534280] marks the full maturity of Sherston the man, from hospital to the war zone again.
Many things struck me which were possibly not intended to have this effect: the engrained class system (Sherston aid is a servant, officers were supposed to come from the higher classes, and so on), the stereoitypical English reserve, the relationship with alcohol, as well as the lack of any female figure of any relevance with the exception of the Aunt in whose house Sherston grew.
A beautiful book, a compelling read.
gitli57's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
4.0
This is an omnibus edition containing all three volumes of Siegfried Sassoon's fictionalized memoirs, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Memoirs of an Infant Officer and Sherston's Progress. They are the account of a young man of privileged birth growing up in the English countryside and then being sucked into the inferno that was the Western Front during World War 1.
The Memoirs is not a self-glorifying account full of heroics and daring deeds. It also is not war porn, dwelling on extremely detailed accounts of as many horrors as possible. Sassoon came of age as a highly privileged member of Brit society just as the war was beginning. He entered the military untrained, but as a member of the "officer class". The memoirs are an honest sharing of his experiences and how they transformed him. They offer great insight into why all those who lived through it spoke of "before the War" and "after the War".
If "stiff upper lip for God, King and Country" is your thing, stick to Kipling. Also look elsewhere if you are after lovingly detailed descriptions of battle tactics and weapons systems.
Sassoon's class snobbery can occasionally be grating and like most Brit writers of the time, he is casually racist. While he can be a bit of a drama queen, there is refreshingly little self-serving angst. There are many writers who would have turned these experiences into a trauma narrative. Sassoon doesn't and I suspect he would have found it self-pitying and distasteful to do so.
The Memoirs is not a self-glorifying account full of heroics and daring deeds. It also is not war porn, dwelling on extremely detailed accounts of as many horrors as possible. Sassoon came of age as a highly privileged member of Brit society just as the war was beginning. He entered the military untrained, but as a member of the "officer class". The memoirs are an honest sharing of his experiences and how they transformed him. They offer great insight into why all those who lived through it spoke of "before the War" and "after the War".
If "stiff upper lip for God, King and Country" is your thing, stick to Kipling. Also look elsewhere if you are after lovingly detailed descriptions of battle tactics and weapons systems.
Sassoon's class snobbery can occasionally be grating and like most Brit writers of the time, he is casually racist. While he can be a bit of a drama queen, there is refreshingly little self-serving angst. There are many writers who would have turned these experiences into a trauma narrative. Sassoon doesn't and I suspect he would have found it self-pitying and distasteful to do so.
mrs_merdle's review against another edition
2.0
I finally finally plowed my way through this book. I have a feeling a lot of people consider this a classic, and I am all about classics, but MAN! I thought it was one of the more boring books I've ever read. I think the main problems for me were these: 1) Siegfried Sassoon seems to have had no interest in women at all (yes, I know he was gay, but he seems to have had no contact with anything female except his aunt, his aunt's servant, and maybe a horse or dog here and there). 2)The first two-thirds of the book were mainly about fox hunting. Really almost every page was about fox hunting. In GREAT DETAIL. 3) What wasn't about fox hunting was about cricket or (in the later sections of the book)golf. Unfortunately I think I was so exhausted and beaten down by the aforementioned first two-thirds of the book, that I wasn't able to fully appreciate the last section, which was about the Great War and his part in it, including his eventual anti-war stance and some time in a hospital with a psychologist because of it. Maybe I should have just read that part. Oh well.
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