| Product: |
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks |
| Date: |
12/06/04 (2388 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Realistic and very well-written, Detailed characters and event descriptions, True to the spirit of war literature
Disadvantages: Unclear focus and meandering plot makes it frustrating to read, Doesn't cover all the necessary issues, A little overlong in places
The legacy of the First World War continues to inspire literature and the arts after eighty years, with its powerful messages of unnecessary slaughter, ineffective leaders and the relevance of women in society among other things. Sebastian Faulks’ interest in the conflict and its effects is clear from his bibliography and 1993’s ‘Birdsong’ has been awarded various accolades for its impact and relevance even to modern society, even coming in at lucky thirteenth place in the BBC’s Big Read, surely the most important literary prize as it’s on the telly.
Birdsong’s presentation of what is remembered infamously as a futile battle in the trenches of France is very compelling and his description of its effects upon the individual, while hardly original, makes for a very enjoyable read that is much more up to date than some similar titles.
PLOT
Stephen Wraysford fell in love in France in 1910 but was unable to pursue the relationship. When war breaks out and he is eventually sent to France, Stephen dwells increasingly on the woman he loves while learning to survive and lead soldiers in the appalling trench conditions.
In the seventies, Stephen’s granddaughter undertakes a task to discover what kind of man her grandfather was from his cryptic war memoirs, and how his experiences in and out of the trenches affected and changed him.
STYLE
There are two noticeable aspects of Faulks’ novel. First is the incredible and believable presentation of life on the front line, making effective use of graphic descriptions of violence and exploration of the main character’s feelings of isolation and despair. The other noticeable thing is the slightly disjointed, cross-generational style of the book: the novel begins in Amiens, 1910 and after this the story alternates between Stephen’s life during wartime and the actions of his granddaughter in the 1970s. While this does serve to better illustrate the detrimental effects of war and commemoration it does break up the narrative a little too much and ultimately makes the book less interesting in places. Personally I was reading almost exclusively for the war description and found the rest, while moving and well-written, largely unimpressive.
“Stephen saw his head open up bright red under the machine gun fire.”
Faulks shies away from nothing in Birdsong, presenting the war in a way that is easy to relate to but at the same time very shocking. Only a soldier, or a school pupil with a History CD-ROM of the Kennedy Zapruder film, will be able to fully envisage some of the events Faulks’ protagonist describes.
VERDICT
Birdsong is a good book, but I feel it is a little overrated. As a modern view on the First World War it will likely be the leading book of the genre for some time, however Erich Remarque’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ published in 1929 has the benefit of real-life experiences behind its author; it is also widely regarded as a better book due to its focus specifically on what made the war so devastating. Remarque examined the personal tragedy of the war from his own experiences, although Birdsong’s dramatic romance angle sets it far apart from Remarque and the real-life memoirs of other officers and soldiers, including Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon.
The historical angle aside, the characters in Birdsong are all very well executed. Stephen’s feelings of desperation and isolation are painful but effective, while the attitudes and personalities of those around him can be judged very quickly. This makes it more readable than some ‘genuine’ war accounts that often describe people who the author did not fully know in private.
Birdsong is a much-loved book that appeals to a great many people, but I found it confusing to pin down in terms of a specific genre. Examining it as an aid to my study of First World War literature I was primarily interested in the ‘France, 1916’ chapters and didn’t find the rest of the book up to the same standard. I would recommend Faulks’ Birdsong as a modern view of the loyal sacrifices made for an ultimately dubious cause, however I would also say that there’s nothing inherently groundbreaking about this book. It is simply a more accessible and well-written addition to the chronicles of what Remarque called “a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.”
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