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kairhone's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Classism, Grief, and Mental illness
cepbreed's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"Indeed grief is not the clear melancholy the young believe it. It is like a siege in a tropical city."
I feel some sense of pride in loving this book. I feel so mature for really enjoying a classic I had not heard of before (I'd say more obscure classic, but what classics can even be called obscure?). At the same time, I realize how stupid that sounds.
Rebecca West writes so beautifully I was struck right in the heart on each page. I wasn't told to annotate my copy, but I couldn't help but do that of my own volition. In such a short novel she manages to make me cycle between loving characters, disliking them, pitying them, to finally resigning myself to the fact that they are all so palpably human. Jenny's gaze just feels so intimate, I feel almost special like she's chosen to confide in me this terrible family drama. She has such stark biases that shape what she thinks of the world, but through all of this, I've come to love her, just as she came to love Margaret. Despite being one of the main characters, to me, Chris fell into the background. I adore that the women of The Return of the Soldier are the stars. Just as women historically took on the heavy lifting on the homefront while men fought wars.
We were given an assignment to imagine parts of this novel as a movie and to me, the entire vibe is encapsulated very well by Atonement directed by Joe Wright. Can you imagine Margaret punting toward Chris' with that dream-like filter and color grading of the fountain scene? So gorgeous. I also feel like James McAvoy would've played a wonderful Chris. Keira Knightly could easily be Jenny and I'm conflicted as to who to play Kitty between Phoebe Dynevor or Sophie Turner. Margaret is the only character I don't have the slightest idea of who could encapsulate her energy. I think this is a product of how she is characterized throughout the entire book. Jenny's perspective makes her seem like such an animal in the beginning, only to switch and view her through this rose-colored lens during her reunion with Chris.
Song:
Rebecca West writes so beautifully I was struck right in the heart on each page. I wasn't told to annotate my copy, but I couldn't help but do that of my own volition. In such a short novel she manages to make me cycle between loving characters, disliking them, pitying them, to finally resigning myself to the fact that they are all so palpably human. Jenny's gaze just feels so intimate, I feel almost special like she's chosen to confide in me this terrible family drama. She has such stark biases that shape what she thinks of the world, but through all of this, I've come to love her, just as she came to love Margaret. Despite being one of the main characters, to me, Chris fell into the background. I adore that the women of The Return of the Soldier are the stars. Just as women historically took on the heavy lifting on the homefront while men fought wars.
We were given an assignment to imagine parts of this novel as a movie and to me, the entire vibe is encapsulated very well by Atonement directed by Joe Wright. Can you imagine Margaret punting toward Chris' with that dream-like filter and color grading of the fountain scene? So gorgeous. I also feel like James McAvoy would've played a wonderful Chris. Keira Knightly could easily be Jenny and I'm conflicted as to who to play Kitty between Phoebe Dynevor or Sophie Turner. Margaret is the only character I don't have the slightest idea of who could encapsulate her energy. I think this is a product of how she is characterized throughout the entire book. Jenny's perspective makes her seem like such an animal in the beginning, only to switch and view her through this rose-colored lens during her reunion with Chris.
Song:
- Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Rey
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Infidelity, Child death, Classism, and Grief
Moderate: War
emtees's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I can’t say I really enjoyed this book, but it was a great character study.
This is a short novel that revolves around Chris Baldry, a soldier who returns from WWI with “shell shock,” and the three women in his life. Chris’s condition takes the form of amnesia; he has no memory of the last fifteen years of his life, including his successful career, the son who he lost, or his marriage to the beautiful, socially appropriate but distant Kitty. Instead, he remembers being a young man, in love with an innkeeper’s daughter named Margaret. This woman has long since married herself and settled into poverty and drudgery, but Chris’s condition draws her back into his life and that off of his home.
The book is narrated by Chris’s cousin Jenny, an unmarried woman who still lives in the family home with Chris and Kitty. It was Jenny’s POV that originally made me struggle with the book. At the start, Jenny is a deeply irritating character. She seems to have no interests or passions outside of her relationship with her cousin and his wife; she speaks of Kitty as if the two of them are jointly Chris’s wife, and their sole goal in the world is his happiness. Her entire life centers on a maintaining the beauty and class of the home, not even for her own enjoyment, but purely because she believes that this is what Chris wants. She speaks dismissively of women who are capable of desiring things outside caring for a man. She is also extremely disdainful of people poorer than she is; in her initial encounters with Margaret, she is viscerally disgusted by Margaret’s shabby clothes and work-worn hands.
But as the book goes on, it becomes clear that Jenny’s simpering, judgmental POV serves a purpose, and that, while the main action may center around the “love triangle” of sorts between Chris, his wife, and the woman he loves, it is really Jenny who is the complex and nuanced character. I still didn’t like her and I found reading her inner thoughts sad and uncomfortable, but the layers of self-deception, pride and ridiculous fantasy that make up her conviction that she has a satisfying and meaningful life were fascinating. As her loyalties shift and the question of whether or not Chris will regain his memories, returning to his acceptable but less happy life as a husband and soldier, increasingly falls into her hands to decide, Jenny shifts from just the narrator to the main character of the story. It’s pretty brilliant but I wouldn’t call it enjoyable.
This is a short novel that revolves around Chris Baldry, a soldier who returns from WWI with “shell shock,” and the three women in his life. Chris’s condition takes the form of amnesia; he has no memory of the last fifteen years of his life, including his successful career, the son who he lost, or his marriage to the beautiful, socially appropriate but distant Kitty. Instead, he remembers being a young man, in love with an innkeeper’s daughter named Margaret. This woman has long since married herself and settled into poverty and drudgery, but Chris’s condition draws her back into his life and that off of his home.
The book is narrated by Chris’s cousin Jenny, an unmarried woman who still lives in the family home with Chris and Kitty. It was Jenny’s POV that originally made me struggle with the book. At the start, Jenny is a deeply irritating character. She seems to have no interests or passions outside of her relationship with her cousin and his wife; she speaks of Kitty as if the two of them are jointly Chris’s wife, and their sole goal in the world is his happiness. Her entire life centers on a maintaining the beauty and class of the home, not even for her own enjoyment, but purely because she believes that this is what Chris wants. She speaks dismissively of women who are capable of desiring things outside caring for a man. She is also extremely disdainful of people poorer than she is; in her initial encounters with Margaret, she is viscerally disgusted by Margaret’s shabby clothes and work-worn hands.
But as the book goes on, it becomes clear that Jenny’s simpering, judgmental POV serves a purpose, and that, while the main action may center around the “love triangle” of sorts between Chris, his wife, and the woman he loves, it is really Jenny who is the complex and nuanced character. I still didn’t like her and I found reading her inner thoughts sad and uncomfortable, but the layers of self-deception, pride and ridiculous fantasy that make up her conviction that she has a satisfying and meaningful life were fascinating. As her loyalties shift and the question of whether or not Chris will regain his memories, returning to his acceptable but less happy life as a husband and soldier, increasingly falls into her hands to decide, Jenny shifts from just the narrator to the main character of the story. It’s pretty brilliant but I wouldn’t call it enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: War, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Infidelity
The main plot centers on a man with a fictional form of PTSD. As part of his condition, he is emotionally unfaithful to his wife. Classism is a main theme and there are cruel statements made about a character who is poor. The main character also displays internalized misogyny.librarymouse's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Jenny, Chris, and Margaret, in their pastoral moments are lovely friends and show beautiful love beyond age and class. Initally, Jenny's internal monologue shows the same variety of prejudice as Kitty expresses, but the situation they're in and the revelation of who Margaret is as a person breaks down Jenny's preconceived notions of Margaret and the people of her same social class.
I'm heart broken about the outcome of Chris's letters to Margaret. If only, in a better world. This book is lovingly and sweetly heartbreaking, and I'm glad to have read it. I look forward to reading it again and underlining half of the book with little hearts. Also, I agree with another reviewer:
Kitty, count your mf days. What the FUCK?
I'm heart broken about the outcome of Chris's letters to Margaret. If only, in a better world. This book is lovingly and sweetly heartbreaking, and I'm glad to have read it. I look forward to reading it again and underlining half of the book with little hearts. Also, I agree with another reviewer:
Kitty, count your mf days. What the FUCK?
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Mental illness, and Classism
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