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apechild 's review for:
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
by Spike Milligan
This isn't the longest book I've ever read and yet it did get to be a bit of drag at times. I had to keep putting it to one side and read other things. It's not that I disapprove of humour or the light hearted manner he's writing about war time. There certainly must have been something very surreal about the country declaring war at the start of the second world war, and then being conscripted into the army. And it must have seemed unreal, certainly until they actually left the UK and went into war. But sometimes the humour takes over to the point it almost feels like a string of one-liners rather than that he's trying to tell you anything. OK, maybe I'm slightly exaggerating, but I did struggle with this. Perhaps it's because I've never been a soldier, and as this is mostly about random larks and things they got up to during the the training period in the UK, there isn't much to connect with. It starts off with Milligan living at home, getting his conscription papers, training at different places in the UK and the ridiculous aspects, the lack of supplies or preparation in some cases, and this feeling that none of them are really ready for what you assume will be coming in later installments. They get shipped off to Algeria for their first foreign posting (and via a particularly horrid crossing of the Bay of Biscay.... as a sufferer of sea sickness I can empathise with that!), and then that's all folks, the books end. I can't decide yet if I want to stick with this and try and of the following books.
Just to give a little taste, here's a bit from the start of the book which made me laugh...
"'As from eleven o'clock we are at war with Germany." (I loved the WE.) "War?" said Mother. "It must have been something we said," said Father. The people next door panicked, burnt their post office books and took in the washing."
The book generally goes on in this manner. There are also various photos, drawings and so on... this being some kind of actual autobiography.
Just to give a little taste, here's a bit from the start of the book which made me laugh...
"'As from eleven o'clock we are at war with Germany." (I loved the WE.) "War?" said Mother. "It must have been something we said," said Father. The people next door panicked, burnt their post office books and took in the washing."
The book generally goes on in this manner. There are also various photos, drawings and so on... this being some kind of actual autobiography.