Reviews

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

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ettuladyblue's review against another edition

3.0

Ah, the prose was spectacular and made up for the latter third of the plot which lost my interest. Wonderful moments and devastating ones throughout.

neuroqueer_af's review against another edition

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2.0

Have you ever heard an old person talk about their past? Imagine if someone took a string of those anecdotes and made them into a book. Unless the elder in question was objectively interesting, those stories are probably better off as a part of an informal, oral tradition than shoved into a tome and yoked to heavy-handed symbolism, because that's basically what Birdsong is.

baker75's review against another edition

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5.0

It's about twenty years since I last read this but Birdsong has lost none of its power.
What resonated with me this time was Stephen Wrayford's struggle to hold onto a coherent sense of the world in the face of such annihilating horror. Alongside Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, this is one of the finest novels set in the First World War.

shadylane_00's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

logophile_life's review

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emotional slow-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

3.5

klopnis's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

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

4.5

This is one of the greatest literary representations of war I’ve ever read, but what pushed it into greatness for me was the fact Faulks manages to combine the truly harrowing ordeals of the trenches with moments of otherworldly bliss.

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