A review by common1
The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion by Ford Madox Ford

5.0

Here is the novel that begins with the famous sentence: "This is the saddest story I have ever heard." Set in pre-WWI, the novel was originally title "The Saddest Story" but the publisher demanded a change and Ford, sarcastically, suggested "The Good Soldier," which they accepted. The Modern Library ranked "The Good Soldier" 30th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century and it is a fine novel, though it is of an earlier day and time. The sad story is told by the character John Dowell, an unreliable narrator who does not tell his story of deceptions and infidelities chronologically. Nothing is what it seems as John spins his story of the deaths of three characters and the madness of a fourth. Perhaps not for everyone but a fine piece of writing.