Birdsong 
Product Description: - 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.
Customer Ratings: - The best book I have ever read!. I have bought this book so many times, as each time I recommend it and lend it to a friend I never seem to get it back.
It was recommended to me by my English Literature teacher as I was leaving school about eight years ago, not to study just as a great read, and she was right.
Each time I read the book I find I can t put it down - still. - Boring. I have tried to read this on 2 seperate occasions the 1st time a few years ago and again more recently, on each occasion I found myself bored, going back to the book was a chore. I m told if you get to the end it s all worth while, but it just feels like too much hardwork, I d rather read something that s good all the way through. Quite frankly I have better things to do with my time.
- Unbelievable and Unputdownable. This is without doubt the greatest book I have ever read. I have read other works about the first world war such as Journey s End, but the harrowing description which Faulks uses in Birdsong is so gripping that it involves you emotionally and mentally. When I fininshed the book I could not stop thinking about the characters involved. It was actually as though I knew them and Faulks made a connection between them and me in a way that other authors don t succeed. It is almost like being in a cinema - Faulks description is almost visual, you can feel the pain that the characters endure and you can see the surrounding wasteland of No Man s Land. Basically I would recommend everyone to read this novel. However, the beginning is quite sexy so it is probably not suitable for readers younger than maybe 14 or 15. I am not normally a solid reader but I spent three days non stop reading this book because it was simply physically impossible to put down. For anyone interested in history, looking for romance, or just searching for a fantastic novel, this is the book to read!
- Everyone should read this book!. I was forced to read this book for English A-Level and I moaned endlessly to my teacher that it was a boy s book and that it would be so boring . She told me to at least try it.
So I did and I loved it! Read it in a weekend. It tells you about the war without being mind numbingly boring. And there s a bit of romance thrown in too!
I think this is a book everyone should at least try. And don t let the cover or size of it put you off - this really won t matter once you are a few pages in! - Why?. Why would anybody want to read fiction about WW1? There are numerous excellent books written by those who were present. There are the poems of Sassoon and Owen. I cannot understand people who read such tripe written out of the imagination of somebody who s never experienced the real horrors. However, there are folk who find Enid Blyton and fairy tales good so everybody to their own.
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Birdsong (ID: 0099387913)
