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Birdsong

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Birdsong Cover

ISBN13: 9780679776819
ISBN10: 0679776818
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Published to international critical and popular acclaim, this intensely romantic yet stunningly realistic novel spans three generations and the unimaginable gulf between the First World War and the present. As the young Englishman Stephen Wraysford passes through a tempestuous love affair with Isabelle Azaire in France and enters the dark, surreal world beneath the trenches of No Man's Land, Sebastian Faulks creates a world of fiction that is as tragic as A Farewell to Arms [Ernest Hemmingway] and as sensuous as The English Patient [Michael Ondaatje]. Crafted from the ruins of war and the indestructibility of love, Birdsong is a novel that will be read and marveled at for years to come.

Review:

"Superb storytelling and craftsmanship....[A] tribute to the durability of the human soul." People

Review:

"Birdsong moved me more profoundly than anything I've read in years....A deeply compassionate, utterly thrilling work by a master of the form." Frank Conroy

Review:

"The accounts of combat are among the finest I have ever read...so powerful as to be almost unbearable...a tribute to the author's remarkable skill and tact and dazzling virtuosity." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"Magnificent — gorgeously written, deeply moving, rich in detail." The Times (London)

Review:

"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, The Daily Mail (London)

Review:

"Birdsong seems to me superb. His prose is spare and precise." Michael Gorra, The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"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

Review:

"One of the finest novels of the last 40 years." Brian Masters, Mail on Sunday

Review:

"Ambitious, outrageous, poignant, sleep-disturbing, Birdsong is not a prefect novel — just a great one." Simon Schama, New Yorker
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About the Author

Sebastian Faulks was a journalist for fourteen years before taking up writing books full time in 1991. Faulks lives with his family in London.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
cariola119, November 29, 2009 (view all comments by cariola119)
Faulks's vivid prose captures better than any other novel I've read the experience of being a soldier in the trenches in World War I. Stephen Wraysford, recovering from a passionate romance that didn't work out as planned, finds himself, like so many other young men, struggling to survive in the tunnels, trenches, and fields of France. The descriptions of battles, bodies, and wounds are horrific; I couldn't help but think what a sanitized view of warfare we are given today. In the midst of it all, Stephen is torn between wanting to withdraw into himself--why make friends with a man who might be blown to bits beside you the next day?--and to retain a measure of humanity. There's a second story line, set in the late 1970s, as Stephen's granddaughter uncovers a series of family secrets; but it's the reality of war that makes this novel memorable.
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Lucy Little, August 31, 2008 (view all comments by Lucy Little)
For many, the tragic love story is the compelling part of this story. I personally was intrigued by the war scenes. The story takes place in Europe during World War I, formally known as the Great War. The soldiers suffered through horrid conditions with lasting effects even on those who survived. I recommend this book for those who like a romantic novel and those who like living history.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780679776819
Author:
Faulks, Sebastian
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Historical
Subject:
Historical - General
Subject:
Historical fiction
Subject:
World War, 1914-1918
Subject:
World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction.
Subject:
War stories
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
1997
Edition Number:
1
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage International
Publication Date:
19970631
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
496
Dimensions:
8 x 5.18 x 1.09 in .875 lb
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Related Subjects


Featured Titles » Literature
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

Birdsong Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$6.50 In Stock
Product details 496 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780679776819 Reviews:
"Review" by , "Superb storytelling and craftsmanship....[A] tribute to the durability of the human soul."
"Review" by , "Birdsong moved me more profoundly than anything I've read in years....A deeply compassionate, utterly thrilling work by a master of the form."
"Review" by , "The accounts of combat are among the finest I have ever read...so powerful as to be almost unbearable...a tribute to the author's remarkable skill and tact and dazzling virtuosity."
"Review" by , "Magnificent — gorgeously written, deeply moving, rich in detail."
"Review" by , "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."
"Review" by , "Birdsong seems to me superb. His prose is spare and precise."
"Review" by , "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."
"Review" by , "One of the finest novels of the last 40 years."
"Review" by , "Ambitious, outrageous, poignant, sleep-disturbing, Birdsong is not a prefect novel — just a great one."
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