REVIEW: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

I started reading this book because my English class was given it to read over the holidays before we start year 12. I have just finishing reading it and I thought I'd write a little review on my honest opinion of it :)

I wasn't really sure how I felt when I started reading, it's a lot like the book Heroes by Robert Cormier (I read that as part of the curriculum for GCSE English Literature). The theme of war is very similar however Birdsong is a lot more detailed. Most of the description for Heroes is in the past tense and Cormier uses Francis' facial disfigurement to illustrate the effects of the war whereas since Faulks writes about the characters in the present, we develop more empathy for them. He also explores the psychological effect of war on the soldiers which adds a more personal tone to the novel. I found these sections particularly engaging because it makes the reader think about certain situations and how far people can be pushed. I found this really fascinating as Faulks involves this interest as a part of Stephen's character.

At first, I found it really difficult to keep reading as the chapters are so long and it often switches from time periods which means I did forget what had happened in that particular section. My friends actually thought this too as they are doing the same English course as me. They've asked me questions about the book since I've already finished and they haven't and I couldn't even answer most of them because I literally couldn't remember what happened. The book is 503 pages which is a lot to read especially about WW1 which is why I advise reading short sections but regularly to keep yourself up to date which the plot.

Speaking of the plot, I thought it was really good actually, I was super surprised about how much I enjoyed it. Its a lot like a soap with affairs and drama and death and I really liked. Since it does flick between time periods, all the characters and stories do integrate together towards the end of the book, you just have to have the determination to keep on because it is a good read. However, I did thing that after a while, the story did become a bit predictable; this might be just for me because I do watch a lot of TV and things so I do pick up on 'plot twists' a lot quicker than most people do. I did do a bit of research as well on the novel and the author while I was reading it which might be why I knew the way the story was going to go.

I liked the way that Faulks described the main characters like Isabelle and Stephen and other members of the Azaire family. However when describing the soldiers descriptions especially, I did get really confused because so many other characters are mentioned so you sort of loose track of who's who and of their story. Apart from that, I thought that all the characters were well developed and interesting to say the least; you sort of understand the views of every character which becomes conflicting when they are opposing each other. My favourite character in the entire novel was probably Jeanne Fourmentier (Isabelle's sister) because she seems like a good person. Her relationship with Isabelle is talked about briefly at the start but it is later developed, especially when Stephen goes on leave.

The main theme is of war which can get pretty boring I'm not going to lie, there is a lot of detail about trench life in the novel. Obviously, the author did a lot and I mean, a LOT, of research into it when writing which I appreciate (there's nothing worse than reading a book or watching a film knowing little or no effort went into the background of characters and settings so good job). I didn't really understand a lot of the description regarding particular words about the trench and weaponry I guess but the visual effect of injured soldiers and wounds were very vivid in my mind at least. I would have loved to watch the BBC adaptation of the book but unfortunately I couldn't.

You can get the book from here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birdsong-Sebastian-Faulks