"Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks, is as good a book as I've ever read. It's imagery is most stunning and so real, I found myself thinking that I had seen the unmade movie some weeks after having finished the book.
It begins with an offbeat love story - no mush - that is captivating even for one who doesn't read romance novels.

When the war scenes begin, ..." YES A GREAT READ-PLB

Brilliant from start to finish. Very gripping and exciting emotionally from start to finish. Well worth the read. ( )

An outstanding, memorable book. ( )

I absolutely loved this book that I thought I would hate! I'm not one to read anything having to do with wars (too violent for my tastes, I suppose), but this was chosen as a pick for my book club, so I really didn't have much choice. And I'm so glad it was! It was a book I never would have picked, and so would have missed out on what turned out to be a fantastic read.

As much as I thought I knew about WWII, I certainly learned an immense amount. Both my grandfather and grandmother served in WWII, and though that was a different war, Birdsong gave me so much insight into what those soldiers went through. The shift in perspective was a bit confusing at the outset, but came to make sense and give the reader some relief to the oppression that Wraysford the other men must try to survive. This is a story that is haunting, tragic, redeeming, but in the end, one that I believe will stay with me for many years to come. I highly recommend this book. ( )

This was a book I was looking forward to reading as I had seen/heard so much hype, but am sorry to say it did not live up to expectations. I found the writing simplistic and cluncky. The best part was probably the story in the trenches. A friend who read it (and to be honest is quite ignorant to war themes) was blown away, but I guess each to their own! ( )

A book of multiple personalities. The depiction of trench warfare and the exploration of the characters involved tore at my emotions, so much so that I was in floods of tears at the conclusion.

However, the initial love story just didn't ring true for me, nor did it add appreciably to my understanding of the lead character. Secondly I found the 1970's section a forced add-on.

Saying all that; taking the book as a whole, its a thumping good read that tugs at the heartstrings. It gives you a firm slap to remind you of the suffering of a whole generation of 'doomed youth'. ( )

This is a wide ranging novel, whose overall theme would seem to be that there is no end to what men can endure. Throughout the novel, pain and fear are the dominant feelings; mud and blood are the prominent visuals. Although this is typically considered a great novel, I am not convinced that I enjoyed reading this novel, because I, personally, prefer a different style of writing.

Stephen Wraysford is a young man visiting Amiens, France in 1910 at the start of the novel. Soon, he becomes enthralled by the wife of his host, a young woman trapped in a loveless, passionless marriage, and the first part of the novel is concerned with their passionate journey together. The relationship develops so swiftly as to be almost unbelievable and none of the characters comes across as particularly likeable, despite the sad back stories the lovers are given by Faulkes.
Soon the action moves to the trenches in France where Jack Firebrace, a miner, is listening intently to discover whether his men are in imminent danger from an attack underground. Stephen is later discovered as a cold officer, prepared to see a man executed for exhaustion. This is presumably intended to show us how war has hardened him, but the sudden switch between characters and cares makes the novel feel disjointed.

Throughout the rest of the novel, the action moves between the lives of several characters, at different points in their lives, all of whom are connected to Stephen and Isabelle's legacy. The main action takes place in the trenches as Stephen participates in the battle of the Somme, which is strongly evoked through the sparse but telling use of detail. The way men die is told in a straightforward, almost understated manner that emphasises the hideousness of the massacre. The reactions of other men are equally telling: they become, at last, almost indifferent to fear, death and dying.

If you are interested in the First World War then this novel will allow you to experience its horror and reflect on our own generation's near-indifference to history and sacrifice. The descriptions of sex and violence are graphic in places and this could never be classified as a 'light read'; it may move you to tears. It deals with the psychology of the characters far more than plot, so will be more suitable for those who enjoy reading D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. ( )

Faulks's vivid prose captures better than any other novel I've read the experience of being a soldier in the trenches in World War I. Stephen Wraysford, recovering from a passionate romance that didn't work out as planned, finds himself, like so many other young men, struggling to survive in the tunnels, trenches, and fields of France. The descriptions of battles, bodies, and wounds are horrific; I couldn't help but think what a sanitized view of warfare we are given today. In the midst of it all, Stephen is torn between wanting to withdraw into himself--why make friends with a man who might be blown to bits beside you the next day?--and to retain a measure of humanity. There's a second story line, set in the late 1970s, as Stephen's granddaughter uncovers a series of family secrets; but it's the reality of war that makes this novel memorable. ( )

The parts of this book describing life in the trenches are fantastic, but I didn't enjoy the other parts as much. In particular, I found Elizabeth a very irritating character: I find it hard to believe that anyone could get to the age of 30 without ever having heard of either war memorials or the Spanish flu. ( )

This is a brilliantly written novel for many reasons. What I feel is Faulks greatest achievement in the book is providing a stark contrast between life in the trenches and the ordinary life that was happening just miles away. The first section of the book describes everyday life in a french village and the contrast with the hell that village becomes during the war brings to life the impact this war must have had. ( )

The sections of this book which dealt with the war were, while dark, lovely to read. I personally feel that the book was let down by the begining section, a drawn out account of the main characters love affair with a married woman. This wasn't helped by the fact that I found many of the characters flat and unbelievable. We are given large chunks of back story but I never felt the characters. In fact, the only character through this book that I felt connected to was Jack Firebrace. Worth reading for the war sections, but I found the romance dry and, in light of the fact that they brought almost nothing to the narrative, the sections from the point of view of the protagonists granddaughter could have been skipped entirely. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the descriptions of life at The Front were wonderful. ( )

A stunning, thoughtful and dramatic book. The books opens with a love affair, but moves to the appaling battlefields of France and the sheer desperation of the men in the trenches. I never knew, until I read this book, about the tunnelling that went on beneath the battlefields of France. A truling moving, involving and ultimately, satisfying book, highly recommended. ( )

By far the best book by this author and one of my all time favourite books ( )

The power of this book lies in its dispassionate description of passions. Despite its apparently optimistic ending, this is a novel of loss. The main protagonist is no hero; Wraysford is amoral and agnomic. His journey from adultery to late proxy fatherhood by way of years on the Western Front is interesting but not engaging except when he is cuckolding his landlord or amidst the bleak horrors of combat. The intensity of the early erotic scenes and the banality of the pervasive terror of the trenches are conveyed with masterly clarity at odds with the apparent redundancy of the 1970s framing story. ( )

Knowing this was a book about WWI I was surprised to find the first hundred pages or so to be about an intense pre-war love affair. This frames the story and gives the central character context, however once it moves on to the war it becomes a much stronger book I think. It evokes the relentless grind of living and dying in the mud and the ultimate pointlessness of it all. The sections set in 1978 seemed a bit unnecessary to me, presumably just there to make the point that this war is being forgotten by the newer generations. Still, a tremendously well written and emotional book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. ( )

I read this sitting by a lake in summer time. As I read the bit where the soldiers are preparing for the Battle of the Somme, I think my heart broke and I sat and sobbed. A fisherman on the other side of the lake came to see if I was okay because he thought I was about to throw myself in! How amazing it is that a novel can make you feel as if you were actually present at a historical event. Possibly one of the best historical novels ever written. ( )

With respect to the people who adore this book, I found myself bored almost to tears. I admire Mr. Faulks for the huge amount of research he obviously conducted, but many of the facts are clumsily and even tritely conveyed; there are moments where the writing really is beautiful, but much of that is overshadowed by other moments where it seemed to me to be stilted and hollow. If this was done intentionally to invoke the mindset of a soldier in the trenches, I personally don't think it was successful. That might be due to my own aesthetic preference: I'd rather be "shown" things than "told" them, and I felt as though I was constantly being told what the characters were feeling when it might have been more effective if their psyches were conveyed through their actions, between the lines of their dialogue, instead. The presentation as it is made the characters seem flat to me. ( )

It's slow to get going, and I wasn't a huge fan of the contemporary sections of the novel (they felt rather tacked on and a little too consciously framing, if that makes sense), but it's beautifully written. The passages which deal most directly with the horrors of the Great War are certainly the most powerful in the book, Faulks' lucid prose calm and clear over the horrified surge of feeling that carries the narrative along. This is not a nice book--the subject matter is often horrifying, and the main characters frequently unlikeable--but it's an immensely readable one. ( )

A highly emotional (for me), harrowing and real account of trenchmen in WW1 - the memories of this book have stayed with me for many years - and of those to come. Everyone needs to read this book and to understand a snippet of the human loss and tragedy of previous years. ( )

An excellent story. A couple of weak points when the story jumps from the main thread of WWI to some secondary characters in 1978 but overall a great read. The book diminishes in excitement after part one but still keeps you hanging on to find out the outcome. Worth the read, takes little time from start to finish. ( )

Orphaned as a child and haunted by abandonment and lack of human connection, Englishman Stephen Wraysford faces a painful coming of age between the ages of 20 and 27. After his ill-fated love affair with a married Frenchwoman, he faces the horrors of WWI trench warfare. In his attempt to survive the effects of brutality and loss, he discovers his own will to live, and finds his place in the society of humankind. It is hard to understand how this was not a huge award-winner when it was published in 1993. It is a beautifully written tale, well researched and brought to astonishing life, as it weaves together the suffering of WWI with a moving romance and its optimistic outcome a generation later. Highly recommended. ( )

Certainly the best first world bar based novel I have read, for me this far excels Pat Barker's Regeneration or All Quiet on the Western Front. The emotional power of the writing, especially during the long underground sequence near the end, is enormous. A stunning read. ( )

In this enjoyable novel about the great war the events are set in motion when Stephen Wrayburn falls in love with a married woman on a business/learning trip to France. Later on, the war took Stephen to the horrors of the western front.

In the other strand of the story, in the late 1970s Elizabeth Benson gets interested in looking into history and the life of her grandfather and begins to understand how little she knows of the great war. ( )

Bokbasens bokomtale:
En ung engelskmann, nedbrutt etter en ulykkelig kjærlighetshistorie med en gift fransk kvinne, verver seg til krigstjeneste. Første verdenskrig raser, og snart befinner han seg bak de tyske linjer, der døden og dramatikken herjer. Romanen er den andre i en løst forbundet trilogi som også består av The Girl at the Lion d'Or og Charlotte Grey. © DnBB AS