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irreverentreader 's review for:
The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion
by Ford Madox Ford
It's truly a disappointment when the summary on the back of the book is of more interest and excitement than the book itself. The Good Soldier promised an insightful look into human flaws and an intriguing plot of betrayal and friendship, and in the end, it delivered very little.
The unreliable narrator is not my favorite, but when it is done well (ie Gone Girl), I can still enjoy a novel. However, that paired with a stream of conscious narration, a non-linear plot that has much in the way of backtracking and repetition, and characters that range from unlikeable to despicable...well, that is a guaranteed recipe for me to not like a book. Personally, I thought the method of storytelling was the most detrimental, for I thought the twisted relationships and plot could have been interesting if we saw any dialogue or scenes at all, or if the audience was guided more naturally though it.
I also thought that the second half of the book was much less interesting than the first. By the time you get there, much of it is just the narrator elaborating about things you've already been told, and the whole plot of Nancy was just strange and jarring to me. The rest of the characters felt at least somewhat flushed out, but the narrator's love for her, Nancy's love/hate for Edward, and her interactions with Leonora all felt very thrown together, like a fever dream. Half of the time, it felt liek it didn't even make sense, and I had to look at the Sparknotes to piece it together.
Perhaps that is what the author wanted, since the narrator is so unreliable, perhaps even mentally unwell, but in the end, it just wasn't for me.
The unreliable narrator is not my favorite, but when it is done well (ie Gone Girl), I can still enjoy a novel. However, that paired with a stream of conscious narration, a non-linear plot that has much in the way of backtracking and repetition, and characters that range from unlikeable to despicable...well, that is a guaranteed recipe for me to not like a book. Personally, I thought the method of storytelling was the most detrimental, for I thought the twisted relationships and plot could have been interesting if we saw any dialogue or scenes at all, or if the audience was guided more naturally though it.
I also thought that the second half of the book was much less interesting than the first. By the time you get there, much of it is just the narrator elaborating about things you've already been told, and the whole plot of Nancy was just strange and jarring to me. The rest of the characters felt at least somewhat flushed out, but the narrator's love for her, Nancy's love/hate for Edward, and her interactions with Leonora all felt very thrown together, like a fever dream. Half of the time, it felt liek it didn't even make sense, and I had to look at the Sparknotes to piece it together.
Perhaps that is what the author wanted, since the narrator is so unreliable, perhaps even mentally unwell, but in the end, it just wasn't for me.