renebarth

Set primarily in the present day, and based around four male generations of the same family, this novel is at its best when it goes back to the horror of being in the trenches of WW1 where it is somewhat reminiscent of Birdsong. However it is one of those books where the author has had a good idea and then tried to be far too clever and weave just too many sub-plots into one story. The result is that, possibly because the plotlines are far too busy,the characters in the present day are simply too one dimensional, unsympathetic and essentially unbelievable. He tries to weave around these characters diverse matters such as the nature of death, near death experiences,religion,fear, bravery, bigotry, espionage,terrorism, office politics, lost manuscripts, marriage, repressed sexuality.....I could go on. It is a mess. I kept reading it because the WW1 scenes are actually pretty good, but these sections are too fleeting and although they managed to drag the overall review kicking and screaming up to 2 stars....this is not a novel I could recommend to anyone.

2022-10-21 05:41