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Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War |  | Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $0.01
as of 11/23/2009 17:37 MST details
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Seller: green_earth_books
Rating:  199 reviews
Sales Rank: 31402
Media: Paperback
Pages: 496
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 1.7
ISBN: 0679776818
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780679776819
ASIN: 0679776818
Publication Date: June 2, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Readers who are entranced by the sweeping Anglo sagas of Masterpiece Theatre will devour Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks's historical drama. A bestseller in England, there's even a little high-toned erotica thrown into the mix to convince the doubtful. The book's hero, a 20-year-old Englishman named Stephen Wraysford, finds his true love on a trip to Amiens in 1910. Unfortunately, she's already married, the wife of a wealthy textile baron. Wrayford convinces her to leave a life of passionless comfort to be at his side, but things do not turn out according to plan. Wraysford is haunted by this doomed affair and carries it with him into the trenches of World War I. Birdsong derives most of its power from its descriptions of mud and blood, and Wraysford's attempt to retain a scrap of humanity while surrounded by it. There is a simultaneous description of his present-day granddaughter's quest to read his diaries, which is designed to give some sense of perspective; this device is only somewhat successful. Nevertheless, Birdsong is an unflinching war story that is bookended by romances and a rewarding read.
Product Description
Published to international critical and popular acclaim, this intensely romantic yet stunningly realistic novel spans three generations and the unimaginable gulf between the First World War and the present. As the young Englishman Stephen Wraysford passes through a tempestuous love affair with Isabelle Azaire in France and enters the dark, surreal world beneath the trenches of No Man's Land, Sebastian Faulks creates a world of fiction that is as tragic as A Farewell to Arms and as sensuous as The English Patient. Crafted from the ruins of war and the indestructibility of love, Birdsong is a novel that will be read and marveled at for years to come.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 199
War is Hell November 7, 2009
Ramona Lunt (Boston)
A quite riveting fictional account confirming true historical accounts that WWI was the worst of all possible wars with its description of trench warfare. The use of gas is alluded to but not described. The love story emphasizes the fictional nature of the book.
Paperback condition October 23, 2009
Joseph A. Zullo
This book was in very good condition when I received it. It was quickly shipped, too. I would buy from seller again.
 BIRDSONG October 20, 2009
KIWI 16841 (LEVIN NEW ZEALAND)
An absorbing novel for those who either know about or wish to appreciate the atrocious conditions under which the rank and file soldiers of the First World War fought. Not for the squemish, or those claustophobic. Sebastian Faulks conveys the physical and psychological struggles of trench and tunnel warfare graphically, possibly too graphically for some.
Powerful September 4, 2009
Robert Wales (Perth West australia)
Its a bonus to pick up a book that initially seems to offer nothing particularly new or novel (pun), but ends up being one of those stories that lingers memorably long after you put it down. One of those books that you make a point of recommending to friends.
I couldn't imagine that someone who hadn't "been there", could write with such insight on an experience as intensely personal as face to face warfare, but maybe it's an advantage for an observant, experienced author to grasp from his research nuances that others might experience, but dont have the objectivity, expression or awareness to capture. Maybe they are too close to call it ? Whatever. I have read most of the classics that came out of the two World Wars, Birdsong captured the moment and explored the mental impact as good as anything I have read.
Powerful was the word I kept thinking of to describe it best. A powerful account of the tension, the suffering and the bizarre way the mind adapts to cope and survive in a surreal Hell. The impact of the closing page was wrenching, symbolically touching on the unspoken thoughts,deeds and suffering of so many.
I kept thinking how would I perform in their shoes. Whew, I must read it again !.
 What's all the hype about? August 13, 2009
Gary Simpson (Geelong, Australia)
As a lover of historical fiction, particularly with a war-based background and with several "The greatest book I've ever read" and "Have re-read several times" comments from Amazon's learned reviewers, I couldn't wait to read this book. However, reviews are nothing but opinion and I ended up being disappointed........
Why? Well, I guess I just found Faulk's writing to be quite labourious and his characters bland and uninspiring to me as the reader.
The initial part set before the war was a bit cliched and predictable - "young handsome Englishman wins over repressed older French woman, but relationship is ultimately doomed" - very Mills and Boon type of stuff. Then we cut to the war with the mud and blood, senseless loss of lives, poor leadership, etc etc etc. Seen it all before I'm afraid - "tell me something new" I kept thinking as I ploughed on. The "contemporary" parts with the grand-daughter didn't really grab me either.
All in all, an average read.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 199
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