Birdsong is a multigenerational novel pivoted around the brutal nastiness of World War I and around the MC, Englishman and Francophile Stephen Wraysford. Stephen was an orphan who had an emotionally deprived childhood and grows up to suffer the physical and emotional trauma of trench warfare.

To me the overarching theme was one of sordidness, even depravity, whereby the tenets of an enlightened civilisation break down and people act barbarously and without much of a moral compass. This applies of course to the horrors of the war, but also in the years before and decades after the war in the ways in which people treat each other.

Human kindness breaks through from time to time to assuage the consequences of immoral actions. And now and then the MC and other characters express a yearning for the blessedness of something greater and purer. And yet it seems that every generation is doomed to a futile attempt to reach beyond themselves. Despite glimmers of humanity, the novel’s depressing scrutiny of human foibles and self-centredness ground me down. And although I felt as though I was supposed to relate deeply to the inner struggles of the characters, somehow I could make little connection with any of them. Nor did I derive much by way of joy or hope in light of the impoverishment of the human spirit portrayed.

CW: Extramarital sex.

This is one of the greatest literary representations of war I’ve ever read, but what pushed it into greatness for me was the fact Faulks manages to combine the truly harrowing ordeals of the trenches with moments of otherworldly bliss.

The beginning of this book really threw me for a loop.  It was straight up romance and I actually went back to the Goodreads synopsis to make sure I was reading the right book.  Part 2 starts the war portion of this book which is the focus throughout the rest of the story and is so incredibly well done.  I couldn't believe how in-depth and strong the descriptions of life during war were.  I could have done without the granddaughter's point of view and the ending seemed superfluous but the middle section make this book more than worth a read.