Parade's End .. so long!

[highlandcoo]

Has anyone else decided to read this following the TV adaptation (which was excellent) ?

I've enjoyed it, but at the same time I found it quite a heavy read, so I've taken a break after section one, I'm reading a crime book then planning to pick it up again. I've never done this before but was finding it a bit daunting .. didn't want to give up though.

Does anyone know - did the TV version only consist of the first section of the book? What I've read so far seems to more or less cover what I saw on TV, from memory.

I have read Parade's End a few times now (before watching the adaptation).

I would recommend not leaving it too long between reading each separate novel of the four because stylistically it becomes more comprehensible the more you read of FMF's writing: the modernistic text is quite tricky and sometimes hard to get into and doesn't give itself up too easily. But it is well worth persisting: it's pretty much my favourite book ever these days.

The TV adaptation mostly covered the first three books, and some elements of the last book were used for the ending sequences but sadly didn't really evoke the real sadnesses and conclusions of "The Last Post". Also you will be finding that Sylvia is a much more unsympathetic personality than in the adaptation.

It does take some getting into but is very much worth the effort, I found. But it's not the sort of book you can pick up for ten minutes every so often - like Colyngbourne I found the more I read the more I loved it. When you get into the idiom it is just amazing in terms of nuance and depth.