The Birthday Boys (1991)

Beryl Bainbridge captures the iciness, the darkness, the danger, the heroism, and the horror of the Scott expedition to the South Pole through the voices of the five men who reached the Pole and died just short of a supply depot on their return to base camp. Because I read, and was fascinated by, The Coldest March by Susan Solomon, I was familiar with the story and the cast of characters; I'm not sure whether this enhanced the novel for me or lessened the impact of Bainbridge's amazing writing because I knew what happened.

Unlike some of her other novels, in which much is allusive, here Bainbridge tells the story straightforwardly. Each man narrates a part of it, chronologically, from boarding the Terra Nova in June 1910 to the final days in March 1912, and each tells it in his own distinctive voice. Part of what makes this fascinating is that the reader gets different perspectives on each of the characters, not only of the men who died but also of wives and mothers left behind and of other participants in the expedition. In addition to telling a compelling tale of a compelling series of events, Bainbridge conveys both the discipline and the challenges of British naval tradition at the dawn of the 20th century, the lure of exploration and of science, and above all the beauty and danger of the Antarctic landscape. This is one of her best novels (of the ones I've read so far).

Takes on the voice of each of the party of 5 who reached the pole, with the narrative going from the preparations to depart the UK through to the disastrous return across the ice. The book is well researched, but set well aside from biography by the author bringing the characters to life -- human, with all the attendant moods, contradictions, and anxieties. The result is 5 separate convincing voices who keep you turning the pages. Managing this in a book just 180 pages show what a skillful writer Beryl Bainbridge is. ( )

In this book Scott's expedition to the south pole is recounted in five chapters, each narrated by one of the people who was chosen to be in the last part of the expedition to reach the pole. History has showed Scott in different lights since his expedition took place, first he was taken to be a hero and later on criticized for his lack of foresight and leadership. This work shows Scott as a complex character, loved by many of his men, but also criticized by others for making costly mistakes which could have been avoided. It is a brief novel but it full of interesting facts, the characters are very well developed (all of them have very distinct voices), the landscapes are beautifully described and the sense of daring and adventure is strong through the whole book. It is a novel which shows the great literary skills of the author, a real pleasure to read. ( )

This is a novel that recounts Captain Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole in 1912. It is told in an interesting fashion: Each of the 5 sections is written by a different member of the expedition, covering different time spans from June 1910 to March 1912. Because it's a novel, and because this is really something I'm woefully uneducated about, it's hard to know what's true and what's not, but I found the book and the narrative style fascinating. It was interesting to see how each of the narrators reacted to the other members of the team, and how incidents seemed to each of them. This was another inadvertent but timely tentacle to my WWI odyssey. From the book flap: "It was an inept rehearsal for the carnage of the first world war, the ultimate challenge for the arrogant generals who shared Scott's skewed notion of courage that led men qualmlessly into harm's way." Recommended. ( )

This is my favourite Beryl Bainbridge book, a very good read. I was struck by the British stiff upperlip and the maintenance of good manners even in the face of dying, that so characterized these British explorers. Like Ms Bainbridge's other books , this book is an imaginative approach to historical fiction or biography, if you will. It is first and foremost a novel. ( )