It's an incredibly moving novel, especially the bits about the plastic surgery. I was in tears. One of the best novels I've read I recent years. It moved me far more than Birdsong did.
If you do and are then interested in the plastic surgery aspect I would recommend Toby's Room by Pat Barker as it covers the same hospital but with more detail about the work they did there.
I found this recently and, whilst some of the pictures are very upsetting, it really helped me to understand what kind of facial reconstruction happened. Not all of them had a good outcome. Link to archive photos of WW1 plastic surgery/reconstruction
I found it incredibly dull. 'Wet' was the adjective that described it for me. I never got into it or grew to care about the characters, it remained a chore all the way through. The plot was slow and grinding. I was glad when it was finished.
The two friends of mine who are avid readers like me didn't enjoy it at all either.
No wasnt impressed by it either, wouldnt bother persevering if I were you, but feeling that with a lot of reading material recently so might be just me, really want to read something gripping but this certainly wasnt it.
I've finished. They were wet. That's a good description. There was no oomph in any of them. Even when at war. I will be leaving it in my holiday villa. It's not worth taking home.
It starts off pleasant then turns harrowing. I can't bear poor writing but this is very very good. I kept pausing to re read something beautifully or powerfully described. The WW1 details are all correct and authentic. I found the characters convincing, not reacting the expected way and as varied and difficult as real people would be in awful times. They all end up with the right partner but their troubles are far far from over as the years of war have damaged them all. I read it in 2 days, cried many times, won't forget it.
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