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Birdsong - tell me about it (but don't tell me what happens!)

30 replies

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 26/05/2013 21:57

Been on my shelf for a while, started reading it today. Only about 30 pages in, but enjoying it so far. It's not how I expected it to be, but no doubt the storyline will change.

Is it as good as all the reviews? Did you enjoy it (if enjoy is the right word).

But please don't tell me what happens!

Off to bed early to read some more, will see what anyone thinks tomorrow.

TIA

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Original poster
MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 30/05/2013 09:03

Just finished it, enjoyed it but found some of the war description rather harrowing. Don't like being underground so the mining scenes were hard to read.

Will probably read it again sometime, thank you to everyone for your comments.

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CinnabarRed · 29/05/2013 17:22

Yes, I'm pretty sure it must have been Charlotte Grey, based on your description. I can't swear the end is as I described it, but my description is certainly how I recall the end to be. I don't want to read it again to check.

GoodbyePorkPie · 29/05/2013 16:51

Cinnabar that wasn't Charlotte Grey, was it? I can't remember what happened with Charlotte herself at the end but the two little boys were betrayed (hidden in a farmhouse and the soldiers came and threatened to rape the women unless they gave up their whereabouts). But I'm not sure that it ended with the boys walking into the chambers, but they were on the train and it was later intimated that they were dead.

CinnabarRed · 29/05/2013 16:44

Yes, Billy Prior.

And no, not Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas. But good guess. These children went straight from the transport train to the chambers Sad.

ProphetOfDoom · 29/05/2013 16:41

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ProphetOfDoom · 29/05/2013 16:39

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ProphetOfDoom · 29/05/2013 16:38

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CinnabarRed · 29/05/2013 16:37

And, while you're at it, can you help me with this one?

Set during WWII, there were interweaving stories about two little orphaned Jewish boys hidden in France but ultimately betrayed and sent to the death camps, and British service men and women. The last chapter contrasted the lead female character walking into the dark of a church for a wedding and the poor little boys walking into the dark of the gas chamber, without even a parent for comfort.

Another one that I read too young to properly process and which I can't think of without crying.

CinnabarRed · 29/05/2013 16:29

Yes! Thank you. Read them as a teenager, sobbed throughout, then vowed never to even pick them up again as too distressing.

GoodbyePorkPie · 29/05/2013 15:45

Yes that sounds like the Pat Barker trilogy. I only read Regeneration, I remember it being good but I wasn't compelled to read any more.

Lilymaid · 29/05/2013 15:33

CinnabarRed
Are you thinking of Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy: Regeneration/ The Eye in the Door/The Ghost Road?

sassytheFIRST · 29/05/2013 15:26

The war stuff is great - he imagines the unimaginable in a v powerful way. And it is (rightly) devastating.

The rest is okaaay. But the little old guy in the home whod been there for years...Hmm
.

CinnabarRed · 29/05/2013 15:22

I'm trying to remember the author of a set of books whose titles I also can't remember - set in WW1, a psychiatrist helping soldiers traumatised by their experiences in the trenches, including Siegfried Sassoon (I think). Any suggestions?

ElectricSoftParade · 29/05/2013 15:08

I loved this book. Just loved it.

And, I was lucky enough to win tickets for the stage production after The Lovely Sebastian was on here for a webchat Smile.

I remember reading it when I was commuting to London, it seemed as though every other person was reading it too.

JackieTheFart · 29/05/2013 15:03

Sorry! Grin

I'm sure once you get to the end of Birdsong you'll know if the style is for you. I actually read all the way to the end of On Green Dolphin Street, I normally give up if I don't like it.

I was so bored!

Original poster
MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 28/05/2013 10:36

Thank you all for your replies - quite a mixed bunch! Just shows how we're all different with different tastes.

I've got to the part with Elizabeth in the 1970s, still enjoying it, but I don't think it's going to get onto my top 10 favourites of all time.

Jackie I've also got On Green Dolphin Street on my shelf, I don't feel tempted to read it now!

OP posts:
Plus3 · 27/05/2013 22:01

Grey - sorry!

Plus3 · 27/05/2013 22:01

Really enjoyed it, but loathed Charlotte Gray

2tired2bewitty · 27/05/2013 21:54

As others have said, the descriptions of war are very powerful. He can't write female characters at all though!

JackieTheFart · 27/05/2013 21:49

I found it one of the most boring books I've ever read, so much so that I can barely remember any of it. I have read another of his (On Green Dolphin Street) which was equally as tedious.

Shame as I normally really enjoy war stories.

lurcherlover · 27/05/2013 17:22

I teach it for A level Lit. Personally I find the sex a bit cringey (or maybe that's just because I read it with teenagers Grin) but once the war kicks in it gets a lot better.

GoodbyePorkPie · 27/05/2013 17:19

Incredible book. All of ifancyashandy's adjectives are bang on the money. I've also read it a few times.

If you like it you might enjoy Charlotte Grey and the other one in the trilogy, The Girl at the Lion d'Or.

ifancyashandy · 27/05/2013 12:30

Wonderful book. Evocative, emotional, difficult and wonderfully written. Read it about 4 times.

ExcuseTypos · 27/05/2013 12:28

One of my fav books.

The descriptions of fighting in the trenches is amazing, uplifting and very Sad.

looselegs · 27/05/2013 12:24

have to agree with maillot I'm afraid-was very disappointed.Sorry !