Product Description

Set before and during the great war, "Birdsong" captures the drama of that era on both a national and a personal scale. It is the story of Stephen, a young Englishman, who arrives in Amiens in 1910. His life goes through a series of traumatic experiences, from the clandestine love affair that tears apart the family with whom he lives, to the unprecedented experiences of the war itself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #352 in Books
• Published on: 1994-07-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Readers who are entranced by sweeping historical sagas will devour Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks' drama set during the first world war. There's even a little high-toned erotica thrown into the mix to convince the doubtful. The book's hero, a 20-year-old Englishman named Stephen Wraysford, finds his true love on a trip to Amiens in 1910. Unfortunately, she's already married, the wife of a wealthy textile baron. Wrayford convinces her to leave a life of passionless comfort to be at his side, but things do not turn out according to plan. Wraysford is haunted by this doomed affair and carries it with him into the trenches of the war. Birdsong derives most of its power from its descriptions of mud and blood, and Wraysford's attempt to retain a scrap of humanity while surrounded by it. There is a simultaneous description of his present-day granddaughter's quest to read his diaries, which is designed to give some sense of perspective; this device is only somewhat successful. Nevertheless, Birdsong is a rewarding read, an unflinching war story and a touching romance.

Review
"Ambitious, outrageous, poignant, sleep-disturbing, Birdsong is not a prefect novel--just a great one."--Simon Schama, "New Yorker"
"An amazing book--among the most stirringly erotic I have read for years...I have read it and re-read it and can think of no other novel for many, many years that has so moved me or stimulated in me so much reflection on the human spirit."--Quentin Crewe, "Daily Mail"
"This book is so powerful that as I finished it I turned to the front to start again."--Andrew James, "Sunday Express"
"One of the finest novels of the last 40 years."--Brian Masters, "Mail on Sunday"
"This is literature at its very best: a book with the power to reveal the unimagined, so that one's life is set in a changed context. I urge you to read it."--Nigel Watts, "Time Out"

From the Publisher
Powerful and moving bestselling fiction from one of today's greatest living writers.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely stunning.....
Without doubt, Birdsong is by far and away the best book that I have read all year and is up against some some stiff competition. I was recommended it by a close friend of mine whose taste in books is seldom wrong, and she was right once again. The book is simply stunning. The harrowing narrative about trench life is starkly drawn, and leaves little to the imagination. Faulks portrays the soldiers' lives as hellish because, well, they were. It takes books like this to bring it all home to you about what those millions of people did for us all those years ago and is a living testimony to why the world wars should never be forgotten.

Now I am no historian, and I know that this book has been criticised by some people for its accuracy. Well who cares? If you do, go and read a textbook! The fact of the matter is that this book is not about where and when it happened, but what it was like to live in the worst possible conditions imaginable in a hopeless and unreal existence. Moreover, it shows a true definition of determination and survival. It points out how completely abysmal war really was, and so does it really matter if the occasional date might be incorrect or if the author used the wrong spelling of a French town? I think not.

The book is a breathtaking read from start to finish. You feel the intensity of the love scenes between Stephen and Isabelle and you begin to appreciate really what love could be like. You feel claustrophobic when you read about Jack and the tunnelers, and you feel the anguish when you see various characters watching their comrades being torn apart by sniper fire.

The book is quite amazing and I strongly suggest that you read it. A work of literary brilliance.

Over-whelming
Undoubtedly the most over-whelming book I have ever picked up. I found the book hard to read at first and wondered what the hype was about. This was perhaps due to its almost perverse detail and apparently random plot. However, as the novel progressed I found myself growing both increasingly affectionate and simultaneously angry at the main character of Stephen. I found it harder and harder to put down as more elements of the plot fitted into place. As I finished the book I felt exhausted, as if I had been there too. It is the most convincing and engulfing story that I have read. A book with the ability to draw you in and force you to observe the hopelessness and tragedy of the war, and one man's inexplicable urge for survival. Faulks has the astounding ability to describe minute observations and express the nature of men. A book so unlike to any other I have read that I am left not knowing what to pick up next.

Deeply moving from the first page
I read this book over a year ago in preparation for an A level English Literature exam - it came very highly recommended from everyone who had read it, and they were right. This book opens with a beautifully poignant love story, which some have called trite, but which I found breathtaking. The erotic scenes are passionate but not crude, and the emotion aroused in the reader by the attraction between the pair is incredible. The painfully sad ending to this section (if you're a hopeless romantic, like me) leads perfectly into the next section, where we see Stephen in the war. I have never read literature that touched my heart as much as the descriptions of war in this book. The account of the battle of the Somme was heartrending and terrifying, as was the story of the tunnelers, and Robert Weir's trip home was extremely poignant and painful to read. However, for me it was the ending that really made the book the masterpiece that it is - it truly did take my breath away (it's the hopeless romantic thing again) and I cried for a good few minutes before turning back to the start of the book and beginning again. I love this book. It's literature, not a historical account, so if there are a few mistakes in accuracy, who cares? Suspend reality and throw yourself into this book - become a romantic and feel as the characters feel. I promise you that you will not be disappointed.