Birdsong

I was drawn to Sebastian Faulks' novel when I heard that it was being turned into a play, directed by Trevor Nunn (the man behind Les Miserables and Cats) and starring Ben Barnes. The fact that it was also about the First World War also attracted me to it, and so I picked up a copy a few months back and have finally found the time to read and finish all 500-odd pages.

Birdsong is the story of Stephen Wraysford, an English orphan. In the first part of the novel he is working for a textile company and visiting rural France to observe a local cloth-making firm. He stays with the manager, Azaire, and his family. Whilst there he embarks on a love affair with Azaire's wife Isabelle. They run away together, but Isabelle leaves when she discovers that she's pregnant. The main bulk of the novel then deals with the First World War; the experiences of Jack Firebrace, a member of a mining regiment, designed to dig under No Man's Land, to ensure that there is no chance of the trenches being attacked from underground and those of Stephen, now a captain of a regiment. This section is interspersed with moments from 1970s England, where Stephen's grand-daughter Elizabeth is trying to understand more about her past.

I had quite a few problems about this book. Firstly, I found it incredibly hard to sympathese with Stephen-which is a pretty large fault considering Faulks concentrates on his experiences quite a lot. I'm not sure why, but I just didn't warm to him as a character; he seemed to change his traits all too quickly as well. Same with Isabelle, although I at first felt sorry for her due to her obviously unhappy marriage, but again my sympathy wained as her story progressed. I also didn't really enjoy the interruptions of Elizabeth in the 1970s, as I felt it broke up the story a little, and merely served in order to perhaps give the reader a warm feeling, due to a plot point involving a child. I also found it hard to believe that someone in the 1970s would not be aware of the First World War, or the idea of the Battle of the Somme and the unknown soldier.

However, I rated this 4 stars on Goodreads. This may seem strange, considering I strongly disliked the main protaganists. But Faulks' writing, his use of language is stunning. Whilst it is true that World War One is not exactly new material, Faulks prose made it impossible to tear yourself away from the brutal and heartrenching descriptions of life in the trenches. His descriptions of the camraderie between the men, and the individual experiences of war; from the nervous Weir, the young Tipper, the efficient Gray and the ordered Price were brilliant. Faulks' description of the atmosphere prior to the men going 'over the top' during the Battle of Somme made me feel slightly ill, and his prose seemed to be as tense as the emotions of the men themselves. Another favourite moment comes near the end of the novel, with the involvement of some German troops in early November 1918.

I would really recommend this novel. I feel it is worthy reading, just for the powerful imagery that Faulks employs.