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terri24601 's review for:
Birdsong
by Sebastian Faulks
Birdsong is broken into seven sections and is primarily focused on the harrowing World War I stories of Stephen Wraysford, an English solider. After an opening section about Stephen's ill-fated love affair with Isabelle Azaire before the war, the story alternates between Stephen's war stories and shorter sections about his granddaughter Elizabeth .
Honestly, I almost didn't finish the book at all after it became quite unnecessarily lurid for a bit in that first section. But, I pressed on to the war section and found that it did a fantastic job exploring the details of the physical and mental horrors of war (as all "good" war novels do). I can't say I ever really enjoy a war novel, but I thought these parts of the book were good. It opened up a new understanding to me of trench warfare and the systems of deeper tunnels that were also involved. I particularly liked the ending of the next to last section of the book as it was a beautiful, bittersweet resolution to the war story. (I bet that played well in the Masterpiece miniseries made of this book.) I did not, however, particularly care for the sections about Elizabeth, especially the ending of the book. I think there was a way to tell that story without another graphic scene, but I see the literary point nonetheless.
Honestly, I almost didn't finish the book at all after it became quite unnecessarily lurid for a bit in that first section. But, I pressed on to the war section and found that it did a fantastic job exploring the details of the physical and mental horrors of war (as all "good" war novels do). I can't say I ever really enjoy a war novel, but I thought these parts of the book were good. It opened up a new understanding to me of trench warfare and the systems of deeper tunnels that were also involved. I particularly liked the ending of the next to last section of the book as it was a beautiful, bittersweet resolution to the war story. (I bet that played well in the Masterpiece miniseries made of this book.) I did not, however, particularly care for the sections about Elizabeth, especially the ending of the book. I think there was a way to tell that story without another graphic scene, but I see the literary point nonetheless.