Reviews

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

donnaadouglas's review against another edition

2.0

When I started reading Birdsong, I had high expectations - I thought it may be one of those clasically poignant novels which leaves me wanting to read it again. I was disappointed. I saw nothing special within it - it didn't stand out as a great war novel for me. I found it average - nothing distinguished it from other novels of the same genre, and in parts I found it boring. It was by no means badly written, but it most certainly wasn't brilliantly written.

QUOTATIONS I LIKED:
Jack looked up at the rim of the world that was appearing through the grey light: the burned and blasted trees, the once-green fields now uniformly brown where all the earth had been turned by shells. He was reconciled to leaving it."

"'Think of the words on that memorial, Wraysford. Think of those stinking towns and villages whose names will be turned into some bogus glory by fat-arsed historians who have sat in London. We were there.'"

ninaj289's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.25

mikewa14's review against another edition

5.0

Awesome, very moving, claustrophobic at times - only slight negative is the parallel story of Elizabeth, which doesn't add anything and is more of a distraction really

full review here

http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/birdsong-sebastian-faulks.html

ambipure's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

annemariep68's review against another edition

3.0

This book took me a long time to finish but it was recommended by two dear people to me, one of whom is no longer with us, so I persisted.

I'm glad I did. While the big romance that starts the story goes on a bit, and you are somewhat jolted into the 70's with the Elizabeth character, the chapters that take place in the trenches, tunnels and battlefields of WWI France are shocking, touching, horrifying...I would be interested to know if anyone who had been there or really knows what conditions would have been like has commented on the accuracy of his depictions- but it feels as if you were there.

The ending brings it full circle and you glimpse the price the men who survived the war might have paid.

annabelws23's review against another edition

2.0

As an AS literature student for my course I have found myself reading many books on the first world war, thus in a way I feel as though the horrors explored in ww1 literature, for me, have become desensitised. This being said I found the ending most poignant- although not so much as Remarke's All Quiet On The Western Front. However I must say that a majority of the book felt like gap fillers with little relevanve to the plot. If birdsong was shorter, with less of a wait for the plot to have a semblance of interesting narrative I should have enjoyed it more.

emckeon1002's review against another edition

5.0

Pretty amazing book that I plucked off a shelf at a used book store. The trench warfare life depicted is intense, as are the erotic moments.

emmalthompson85's review against another edition

3.0

The sections of this book which dealt with the war were, while dark, lovely to read. I personally feel that the book was let down by the begining section, a drawn out account of the main characters love affair with a married woman. This wasn't helped by the fact that I found many of the characters flat and unbelievable. We are given large chunks of back story but I never felt the characters. In fact, the only character through this book that I felt connected to was Jack Firebrace. Worth reading for the war sections, but I found the romance dry and, in light of the fact that they brought almost nothing to the narrative, the sections from the point of view of the protagonists granddaughter could have been skipped entirely.

the_sara_post's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

_hollypocket's review against another edition

5.0

A tense and deeply affecting story of the atrocities of WW1, with an important message about the senseless nature of war. This book will stay with you long after you finish reading.