Name: Anya Tindale's review of Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Item: Birdsong
Rating: 5
Author: Anya Tindale

Sebastian Faulks

Twenty-one years after it was first published this is a special anniversary edition of the bestselling and much-loved classic published for the centenary of the First World War. With a new introduction from the author. Reissued with a stunning new cover to mark the centenary of the First World War. A novel of overwhelming emotional power, "Birdsong" is a story of love, death, sex and survival. Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman, arrives in Amiens in northern France in 1910 to stay with the Azaire family, and falls in love with unhappily married Isabelle. But, with the world on the brink of war, the relationship falters, and Stephen volunteers to fight on the Western Front. His love for Isabelle forever engraved on his heart, he experiences the unprecedented horrors of that conflict -- from which neither he nor any reader of this book can emerge unchanged."

Birdsong

James Hewet

In 1910, Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman, journeys to France, becomes embroiled in a series of traumatic events, including a clandestine love affair, and finds himself trapped amid the horrors of the First World War. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

heart-achingly painful and beautiful. I have little to say on this novel yet, an awful lot to feel.

Anya Tindale

Utterly brilliant, heart wrenching and beautiful at the same time 

Hayley Allen

Prashanth Srivatsa

One of the best books I've had the pleasure to read. A romance shattered by war, the brutality of which sends shivers down your spine long after the incident has occurred. Faulks has, with shocking imagery, captured the claustrophobia within the trenches, the anguish and longing of the soldiers, and the heartfelt letters they write to their loved ones prior to the Battle of Somme . Faith, fear, courage and a desperate meditation of the self deep down the mining holes make this a masterpiece.

Set before and during the great war, Birdsong captures the drama of that era on both a national and a personal scale. It is the story of Stephen, a young Englishman, who arrives in Amiens in 1910. His life goes through a series of traumatic experiences, from the clandestine love affair that tears apart the family with whom he lives, to the unprecedented experiences of the war itself.

Birdsong - Book 2 - French Trilogy

Sian Wadey

This book is like nothing I've ever come across. Birdsong had been recommended to me countless times by book club members and then I saw a trailer for the TV adaptation on the BBC. 
I've never read a book about war before. But then, this book isn't really about war, it's about Stephen Wraysford's life. It encompasses everything from his love affair with Isabelle, to his time during the first world war and his rise within the ranks. 
There are several things I love about this book. For a start I love Faulks' descriptions of just about everything. He makes the trenches and tunnels a place no one would like to go to and the love scenes with Isabelle something a certain Mr Grey would be proud of. It has been an absolute joy and journey to read. 
The characters that Faulks creates are exceptional, especially Wraysford's comrades and colleagues. The way that their relationships are portrayed is heartfelt, incredible and is the reason why I spent the second half of this book in tears or close to. My personal favourite was Weir. Knowing that these characters could die at any moment in this tragic war makes the book unpredictable and surprising. 
I also enjoy the fact that you don't always follow Wraysford's story. Some time we spend with tunneler, Jack Firebrace, as well as some time with Wraysford's granddaughter Elizabeth in the 1970's and Weir as he returns home. 
I don't know much about the first world war, but I was surprised about the use of the tunnels. I wasn't aware of the part they played in the war and I found it interesting. It wasn't just your usual trenches and shelling, although they way in which Faulks describes those parts make it sound horrific.
Another reviewer wrote that it's almost like Faulks is writing from memory and personal experience and I second that. It feels like this character is real and you're following his life story. It's an exceptional book and I recommend it to everyone. You won't come across anything else like this.

Amber Laha

Didn't care for the writing. Didn't care for the way he described sex, which came off more as describing a rape. I felt he jumps from one thing to the next too quickly. The way he jumped from the beginning of the affair and then the next moment it was like 3-4 months into it, and then the next and he was in the trenches of war. I felt if Faulks had spent more effort in developing it, I would have been able to understand the affair[I have issues with affairs and authors trying to make it seem okay]. I could understand a little but not enough to not be frustrated. I barely got to know the main character before we were thrust into the affair itself and then we were jumped into the meat of the story. I felt he rushed through the beginning which was the base for the rest of the book. I didn't care for the main character, for whom you are suppose to care for. Just wasn't interesting at all.

Meniah

Definitely one of my favorites along with East of Eden, Memoirs of a Geisha, Pride and Prejudice, to name a few. I was moved by this. Please please read this!

John Philpin

100% absolutely powerfully brilliant piece of literature

Amy Buckle

For a long time I have wanted to read this book and its reputation definitely precedes it. I have to admit, it took me a long time to get through its 500 pages, but only because the sheer gravity of what Faulks was communicating was immensely powerful. The novel is mainly from the perspective of Stephen Wraysford, an Englishman, who spends the years leading up to the first world war in France staying with the Azaire family, where he falls in love with a woman called Isabelle. The first half of the book is set in 1910, while the latter six parts swap between dates of the first world war and sixty years on in 1978-79. During the narration of the war we see Stephen now a lieutenant in the British army... read the full review here: https://www.amybucklesbookshelf.co.uk...

Wonko the Sane

Sarah Campbell

Maria

Rachel Wagstaff

While staying as the guest of a factory owner in pre-First World War France, Stephen Wraysford embarks on a passionate affair with Isabelle, the wife of his host. The affair changes them both for ever. A few years later Stephen finds himself back in the same part of France, but this time as a soldier in the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest encounter in British military history. As his men die around him, Stephen turns to his enduring love for Isabelle for the strength to continue and to save something for future generations. For the first time, this beautiful and terrible story about love, courage and the endurance of the human spirit is brought to the stage in a version by Rachel Wagstaff, directed by famed director Trevor Nunn.

Jason Lo

Alan

A special anniversary edition of the bestselling and much-loved classic published for the centenary of the First World War. A novel of overwhelming emotional power, Birdsong is a story of love, death, sex and survival. Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman, arrives in Amiens in northern France in 1910 to stay with the Azaire family, and falls in love with unhappily married Isabelle. But, with the world on the brink of war, the relationship falters, and Stephen volunteers to fight on the Western Front. His love for Isabelle forever engraved on his heart, he experiences the unprecedented horrors of that conflict -- from which neither he nor any reader of this book can emerge unchanged.

James Hewet &
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

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