Reviews

The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

3camels's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

flowerbinsh's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

Read this for my Modernism class.

While I skimmed this novel for the sake of time, the pieces I picked up, I did genuinely love. I think I will come back to this to read on my own time one day.

The imagery within these pages were quite beautiful, especially to read on bright, spring mornings.

karinlib's review against another edition

4.0

This is really a novella. What a great story this is. I won't say much about the plot, except that Chris is a soldier during WWI. His wife and sister find out that he has been transported to a hospital in England from Flanders field.

kaennomai's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

3.0

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

DISCLAIMER -  I read this text as a set text for university meaning I did not pick this up for myself. It does not necessarily fit my usual reading selection so my review may be rather biased. 

This book was so odd? It felt like nothing really happened. Wouldn’t recommend.

katsweirdbookshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Classism, Grief, and Mental illness

cami19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

pizzamyheart's review against another edition

3.0

At times it was 2 stars, other times it was 4 stars. rounding it to 3.

First, I see the historical significance of this book. War is brutal, unforgiving and cruel. World War I was especially harsh. So was society. The men went off to fight a terrible war, while the women fought their own battles back home.

The Return of the Soldier focuses on 3 women. They are the wife, cousin, and ex-lover of a soldier. The cousin and wife live together while the soldier is away. Suddenly a woman shows up claiming she received a telegraph from the soldier. He's wounded and is suffering from memory loss, but remembers this ex-love. The rest of the story follows the women as they interact with each other and the soldier (his name is Chris). Overall I found the story to be heartbreaking. It is a difficult topic, and a sad reminder of what really happened. The writing was more of a challenge. It would fluctuate between third person description and first person dialogue. Some parts were eloquently written, but other times it was hard to follow.

I do think this is an important read. Yes, there may be better books now, but it is good for it's age. I did expect a little more on the ending.

madandmoonly's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0