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Birdsong A Novel of Love and War Sebastian Faulks 9780679776819 Books

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Birdsong A Novel of Love and War Sebastian Faulks 9780679776819 Books

GREAT BOOK! This books should not be forgotten. It is divided into sections.
Some sections continue the personal life and love story of Stephen Wraysford. Other
sections are a continued story of WW1 and Stephen's roles in various battles. Surprisingly,
I, a woman enjoyed the war years better than the love story. There is little originality in love,
but the war was unbelievable. The horror of war is well presented. I can usually mentally
clean up the gore and intensity of most things I read. It makes it more acceptable and easier
for me to read. Not this time. The writing was so descriptive and vivid that I had to experience
all of the reality . I actually think that Faulks' writes better war than love. Men will like the action
sections. The war sections are the greater part of this book. This wonderful literature needs to continue
to live in the book world.


Tags : Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War [Sebastian Faulks] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 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,Sebastian Faulks,Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War,Vintage,0679776818,Literary,Reading Group Guide,FICTION Literary,FICTION Romance Historical 20th Century,FICTION Sagas,FICTION War & Military,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,FictionHistorical - General,France,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical - General,Historical fiction,Love stories,Man-woman relationships,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),War,War stories,World War, 1914-1918,World War, 1914-1918 - France,World War, 1914-1918;Fiction,World War, 1914-1918;Fiction.,historical;war;romance;literary fiction;historical fiction books;historical fiction novels;love;historical romance;alternate history;military;romance books;romance novels;military fiction;war books;military books;historical fiction;fiction;novels;fiction books;historical novels;literature;books fiction;realistic fiction books;books historical fiction;historical romance books;wwii;espionage;england;french revolution;saga;spy;ww2;german;world war i;world war ii;classic;drama;mystery,Fiction Historical,war; historical fiction; romance; historical; 20th century; wwii; english literature; literary; historical fiction books; literary fiction; ww2; spy; espionage; military; fiction; fiction books; military books; literature; military fiction; historical fiction novels; world war ii; historical romance; historical romance books; romance novels; romance books; england; french revolution; saga; classic; historical books; german; love; world war i; russian revolution; drama; mystery; art; german literature; amsterdam; french; fascism; vienna

Birdsong A Novel of Love and War Sebastian Faulks 9780679776819 Books Reviews

This beautifully conceived fiction is grounded in fact it is the deep, explicit telling of the multitude of horrors of the battlefields (specifically, the Battle of the Somme) of the First World War, starting in 1916. The opening hundred pages, showing life as it was lived pre-war in 1910 (in France, by an Englishman), is no preparation for the start of the war, which is as it should be. There is no way to be ready for the wide range of death and destruction, of blood and severed limbs, of tunneling and guns, or of the males-only company that is the core of "Birdsong." There is a fine flow of the timing of mind-shaking horrors with some brief relief of pastoral description, short times away from the front, badinage between the men, and the main character's flitting memories of full-colored, blooming love and romance. The tone for the short-ish passages set sixty years after the war is—appropriately—more direct, to the point, in chiseled prose. It is, however, the unalloyed depiction, in detailed, vivid exposition, devastating range of the hideous experiences endured by each soldier that prevails, and makes one ask how can any of these men who survived actually take up the quotidian life ever again?
I recommend reading 'Birdsong', but it will not suit some readers, particularly since it has what felt to me stapled on sections which will appeal to diametrically opposite genre fans. It consists of seven parts 1910 France, 1978 England, 1917 France, 1978 England, 1918 France, 1979 England. It follows Stephen Wraysford and Elizabeth Benson - Wraysford in 1910-1918, Benson in 1978.

First, the spice!

It opens with a hot and heavy soft porn section, which might cause some sensitive Romance readers to be offended because the author dares to reveal the idea physical sex between adults involves genitals (graphically described); and some literary readers (like me) to feel the dialogue is terrible stuff, being unrealistic, exaggerated for dramatic effect, and too quickly intimate and candidly revealing for a developing love affair in an era of drawing room manners. It was a bit like, "Hi, I'm Isabelle Azaire. My husband is a boring lover and he is an old man of 40 that looks 50 with an aging body, but he is turning mean because he has decided our sex life is my fault and I'm bored with my life because I'm only 27 and although I love his children from a previous marriage it's not enough. Want a cup of tea?" "Hello, I'm Stephen Wraysford and I'm an 20-year-old impoverished ex-con with no education, skills, family or money. Want to run away with me? I know you are the one from the first second of meeting you. I'll love you forever." "How thrilling! You are the hottest thing in bed I've ever had! Let's go!" Although the writing about how Stephen and Isabelle relate to each other is pure soap opera stupid, the rest of '1910' is beautifully written. The Azaire family and their best friends are vividly drawn. Wraysford's innocence and passion are established, as well as the fact he is an honorable, normal youth whose indiscretions are based on his poverty and parentless upbringing.

I found the first third of the novel tedious, a two-star grade at best. But most of the rest of of the book is five star, no reservations at all.

Stephen was certainly in lust with Isabelle, he may even have been in love, fantasy driven as it was. (Men are much more basic when young - want eat now, want sleep now, want fast car now, want sex now... - ; ) If you satisfy their basic needs they will fall in actual love. For awhile.) It's a fortunate thing because this incident in his life sustains him through what may arguably be the worst modern war of the Western world, even understanding that every war is full of unspeakable horrors.

Still with me? Sorry if that seemed harsh. I'm old, you know. Some of us turn sour after a lifetime of disappointments in human nature.

War can add depth to a participant's understanding, or it can freeze everything in amber, like stopping time, so a war veteran might be a permanent 18-year old emotionally even when they are 50 years old. It can wipe out almost all emotion within a person, leaving behind only depression, misplaced rage and bad memories which overlay their lives forever. It can cause a permanent emotional numbing, a complete inability to enjoy or anticipate good things in the future. As psychology is well understood by the average Western citizen today, I know I don't need to really describe these responses to you. However, the why war survivors have these problems we usually tiptoe around, not wanting to explore whatever horrors caused a person's PTSD. This is not a lack of empathy or curiosity, this is self-preservation. Once war is fully experienced, whether in actual fact or only vicariously, it reduces the level of joy one can feel. Never again will the lightness of being that most children are born with will still be felt.

If you wish to experience as vivid and realistic of a war as if you were there, in the trenches of WWI in this case, Sebastian Faulks could not make it happen any more real than he did in this novel unless he hooked up a virtual reality chip directly into your brain. Parts 1917/1918 are the most fantastic war writing I've ever read. It's incredibly awful and incredibly beautiful. The suffering, starving, lice and filth, the miles of walking and lack of sleep on poor quality food and very little water, the heat, the noise, the shocking deaths of friends inches from you, the blood and body parts - and it has no end, but continues for years and years. The pay is lousy and any second you could die, yet despite the continuous fear and stress, your brain must somehow be alert enough to do your job, when mostly all you want is to become dead without the pain. However, there is glory in knowing your fellow soldiers, their willing sacrifices for you, and the inexplicable bravery which is pulled out of you, as well as the amazing strengths you find you have in wanting to live when you had wanted to die a second before.

It's all alive and real in the reading, as if you were Wraysford. He was not a fictional character while I read this. I was in his head, feeling his life.

Whew! I will not be forgetting this book.

Nineteen seventy-eight introduces us to a relative of the people we've been reading about in 1910, Elizabeth Benson. She is a modern woman of London and she has a mild desire for marriage because she would like to have kids. But she wavers at losing her independence. She has a great job and can support herself, which is possible because society no longer forces women to stay home. Her boyfriend is married with children and works in another country.

A series of circumstances leads her to research WWI and her grandfather's service in France. She is almost completely unaware of the nature of war, but especially WWI is unknown to her. Her research becomes more determined as she realizes what an amazing thing it is what ordinary young men and boys went through, and never talked about if they survived, and what the war cost them in shortened lives and broken relationships, mostly unrecognized, unrewarded and forgotten.

If this book consisted of the 1917-1918 sections alone, I would be jumping up and down, thrusting this novel into the hands of all my friends pleading with them to read this next, please. But it had the pasted up and unconvincing section of Isabelle's and Stephen's affair, which frankly, had me almost abandoning the book. Benson's sections were better, but I felt unnecessary to the story. In my opinion, I think this was a Great War Novel originally, but somewhere somehow a decision was made to increase its commercial value by adding a doomed love affair. Since the added-in affair and the genealogical search by a granddaughter seemed more of a naked play for literary readers who have been reading similar award-winning books with these same elements, instead of a heart-wrenching war story, I felt as if I were reading a clone, of lesser dimensions, of previous literary books built up with the same issues.

The title Birdsong is very cool and very likely full of meaning. Actual birdsong is a delight to hear, sometimes achingly so. It can induce the same feelings that hearing a distant train can. I had fun when I finished the novel, while drying my tears after the last page, trying to figure out why this awful romance gorgeous war novel had been given this title. Feel free to offer suggestions.

"Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear."
I was swept up in this book from the moment I started it. I didn’t know that much about it but a trusted source recommended it. I jumped in with both feet and got lost in it. It’s sensual and romantic, then heartbreakingly depressing as the story moves from a love affair in a French town to the battlefields of World War I. The writing pulls you along and you struggle with the hero every step of the way.

Stephen Wraysford is the hero but he’s a bit of an anti-hero. He’s young and passionate. He’s weird and quiet. He loses his passion throughout the war but works hard to do his job, and job that would be difficult for most people to fathom performing unless they were there themselves. The author writes with such emotion and leads you to believe that he really was there on the battlefields and in the trenches. The dramatic tension is amped up by anyone who knows World War I history. The reader who knows which battles are coming up will be struck with a particular horror, knowing the ending before the characters do.

I had a problem with the end of the book that keeps me from giving it five stars. And I really wanted to give it five stars. Not the ending itself; I’m satisfied with how the plot tied itself up. But the last couple of paragraphs. The point-of-view changed to a character that I don’t feel deserved it.

For me, this was a summer read for lazy afternoons in the hot sun, but it’s definitely worth reading anytime. Love, war, and history, it will appeal to many.
GREAT BOOK! This books should not be forgotten. It is divided into sections.
Some sections continue the personal life and love story of Stephen Wraysford. Other
sections are a continued story of WW1 and Stephen's roles in various battles. Surprisingly,
I, a woman enjoyed the war years better than the love story. There is little originality in love,
but the war was unbelievable. The horror of war is well presented. I can usually mentally
clean up the gore and intensity of most things I read. It makes it more acceptable and easier
for me to read. Not this time. The writing was so descriptive and vivid that I had to experience
all of the reality . I actually think that Faulks' writes better war than love. Men will like the action
sections. The war sections are the greater part of this book. This wonderful literature needs to continue
to live in the book world.