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Birdsong Paperback – July 19, 2016

by Sebastian Faulks (Author)

4.1 6,664 ratings

Book 2 of 3: French Trilogy

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"Based on Sebastian Faulks's ... novel, Birdsong tells the story of a soldier haunted by his past. As a young man, Stephen Wraysford was caught up in an all-consuming love affair in Amiens, France. As the First World War unfolds, Stephen finds himself pulled closer and closer back to Amiens, back to the Valley of the Somme"--Amazon.com.

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Popular Highlights in this book

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The function of music is to liberate in the soul those feelings that normally we keep locked up in the heart.
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This is not a war, this is an exploration of how far men can be degraded.
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The difference between living and dying was not one of quality, only of time.
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Samuel French Ltd (July 19, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 110 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0573112053
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0573112058
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.23 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #416,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #388 in British & Irish Dramas & Plays

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4.1 6,664 ratings

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R. M. Peterson

The third or fourth best novel of World War I in my experience

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2015

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Judging by the number of Amazon reviews it has amassed, BIRDSONG is Sebastian Faulks's most popular novel. It is the fourth Faulks novel I have read. I distinctly preferred "Human Traces", and perhaps even "A Week in December", but still I found BIRDSONG quite worthwhile.

Faulks's principal attraction for me is that he, more than most contemporary writers of literary fiction, tells a story without resorting to trendy and confusing narrative devices. Furthermore, he creates some riveting scenes and his characters are appealing, albeit usually a little odd or idiosyncratic.

Though three of the novel's seven parts are set in the late 1970's, and the lengthy first part in 1910, BIRDSONG is a World War I novel. Its central character, Stephen Wraysford, is a lieutenant in the British Army. He survives the mechanical slaughter of the First Day of the Battle of the Somme (July 1, 1916), and then also the Battle of Messines (June 1917). There are graphic scenes of the war of the trenches and the horrors of going over the top and attacking entrenched German machine guns behind barbed wire that, despite the glib assurances of the high command, has not been cut by the preliminary artillery bombardment. Those sorts of scenes, of course, are a staple of World War I fiction; Faulks handles them better than most. More unusual are BIRDSONG's episodes of subterranean war -- the miners and sappers tunneling towards and under the enemy's lines and planting huge explosive devices. The extended scene at the end of the novel where Wraysford and another major character, a miner named Jack Firebrace, are trapped for days in a tunnel that has been collapsed by German explosives is one of the most harrowing scenes I have encountered in my recent reading.

There are plenty of memorable descriptions. Here's one, as night sets at the end of that bloody first day of the Battle of the Somme (when the British incurred 57,000 casualties): "The earth began to move. To their right a man who had lain still since the first attack eased himself upright, then fell again when his damaged leg would not take his weight. Other single men moved, and began to come up like worms from their shellholes, limping, crawling, dragging themselves out. Within minutes the hillside was seething with the movement of the wounded as they attempted to get themselves back to their line. * * * It was like a resurrection in a cemetery twelve miles long."

But, in the end, the birds sing, and life goes on. (If I ever re-read BIRDSONG I will make note of every reference to the singing of birds.) And there are the joys of innocent children and the hope of the birth of babes.

In addition to war, there also is love -- or at least the subtitle of the novel so proclaims. To me, the two (or is it three? or maybe even four?) love affairs of BIRDSONG pale in comparison to the war story.

8 people found this helpful

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aPriL does feral sometimes

The book is shockingly realistic.

Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2014

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I recommend reading 'Birdsong', but it will not suit some readers, particularly since it has what felt to me stapled on sections which will appeal to diametrically opposite genre fans. It consists of seven parts: 1910 France, 1978 England, 1917 France, 1978 England, 1918 France, 1979 England. It follows Stephen Wraysford and Elizabeth Benson - Wraysford in 1910-1918, Benson in 1978.

First, the spice!

It opens with a hot and heavy soft porn section, which might cause some sensitive Romance readers to be offended because the author dares to reveal the idea physical sex between adults involves genitals (graphically described); and some literary readers (like me) to feel the dialogue is terrible stuff, being unrealistic, exaggerated for dramatic effect, and too quickly intimate and candidly revealing for a developing love affair in an era of drawing room manners. It was a bit like, "Hi, I'm Isabelle Azaire. My husband is a boring lover and he is an old man of 40 that looks 50 with an aging body, but he is turning mean because he has decided our sex life is my fault and I'm bored with my life because I'm only 27 and although I love his children from a previous marriage it's not enough. Want a cup of tea?" "Hello, I'm Stephen Wraysford and I'm an 20-year-old impoverished ex-con with no education, skills, family or money. Want to run away with me? I know you are the one from the first second of meeting you. I'll love you forever." "How thrilling! You are the hottest thing in bed I've ever had! Let's go!" Although the writing about how Stephen and Isabelle relate to each other is pure soap opera stupid, the rest of '1910' is beautifully written. The Azaire family and their best friends are vividly drawn. Wraysford's innocence and passion are established, as well as the fact he is an honorable, normal youth whose indiscretions are based on his poverty and parentless upbringing.

I found the first third of the novel tedious, a two-star grade at best. But most of the rest of of the book is five star, no reservations at all.

Stephen was certainly in lust with Isabelle, he may even have been in love, fantasy driven as it was. (Men are much more basic when young - want eat now, want sleep now, want fast car now, want sex now... - ; ) If you satisfy their basic needs they will fall in actual love. For awhile.) It's a fortunate thing because this incident in his life sustains him through what may arguably be the worst modern war of the Western world, even understanding that every war is full of unspeakable horrors.

Still with me? Sorry if that seemed harsh. I'm old, you know. Some of us turn sour after a lifetime of disappointments in human nature.

War can add depth to a participant's understanding, or it can freeze everything in amber, like stopping time, so a war veteran might be a permanent 18-year old emotionally even when they are 50 years old. It can wipe out almost all emotion within a person, leaving behind only depression, misplaced rage and bad memories which overlay their lives forever. It can cause a permanent emotional numbing, a complete inability to enjoy or anticipate good things in the future. As psychology is well understood by the average Western citizen today, I know I don't need to really describe these responses to you. However, the why war survivors have these problems we usually tiptoe around, not wanting to explore whatever horrors caused a person's PTSD. This is not a lack of empathy or curiosity, this is self-preservation. Once war is fully experienced, whether in actual fact or only vicariously, it reduces the level of joy one can feel. Never again will the lightness of being that most children are born with will still be felt.

If you wish to experience as vivid and realistic of a war as if you were there, in the trenches of WWI in this case, Sebastian Faulks could not make it happen any more real than he did in this novel unless he hooked up a virtual reality chip directly into your brain. Parts 1917/1918 are the most fantastic war writing I've ever read. It's incredibly awful and incredibly beautiful. The suffering, starving, lice and filth, the miles of walking and lack of sleep on poor quality food and very little water, the heat, the noise, the shocking deaths of friends inches from you, the blood and body parts - and it has no end, but continues for years and years. The pay is lousy and any second you could die, yet despite the continuous fear and stress, your brain must somehow be alert enough to do your job, when mostly all you want is to become dead without the pain. However, there is glory in knowing your fellow soldiers, their willing sacrifices for you, and the inexplicable bravery which is pulled out of you, as well as the amazing strengths you find you have in wanting to live when you had wanted to die a second before.

It's all alive and real in the reading, as if you were Wraysford. He was not a fictional character while I read this. I was in his head, feeling his life.

Whew! I will not be forgetting this book.

Nineteen seventy-eight introduces us to a relative of the people we've been reading about in 1910, Elizabeth Benson. She is a modern woman of London and she has a mild desire for marriage because she would like to have kids. But she wavers at losing her independence. She has a great job and can support herself, which is possible because society no longer forces women to stay home. Her boyfriend is married with children and works in another country.

A series of circumstances leads her to research WWI and her grandfather's service in France. She is almost completely unaware of the nature of war, but especially WWI is unknown to her. Her research becomes more determined as she realizes what an amazing thing it is what ordinary young men and boys went through, and never talked about if they survived, and what the war cost them in shortened lives and broken relationships, mostly unrecognized, unrewarded and forgotten.

If this book consisted of the 1917-1918 sections alone, I would be jumping up and down, thrusting this novel into the hands of all my friends pleading with them to read this next, please. But it had the pasted up and unconvincing section of Isabelle's and Stephen's affair, which frankly, had me almost abandoning the book. Benson's sections were better, but I felt unnecessary to the story. In my opinion, I think this was a Great War Novel originally, but somewhere somehow a decision was made to increase its commercial value by adding a doomed love affair. Since the added-in affair and the genealogical search by a granddaughter seemed more of a naked play for literary readers who have been reading similar award-winning books with these same elements, instead of a heart-wrenching war story, I felt as if I were reading a clone, of lesser dimensions, of previous literary books built up with the same issues.

The title Birdsong is very cool and very likely full of meaning. Actual birdsong is a delight to hear, sometimes achingly so. It can induce the same feelings that hearing a distant train can. I had fun when I finished the novel, while drying my tears after the last page, trying to figure out why this awful romance gorgeous war novel had been given this title. Feel free to offer suggestions.

"Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear."

48 people found this helpful

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D. J. Leedham

Justifiably well celebrated depiction of WW1 Horror.

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2013

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Really, nothing to add to the existing very positive reviews. I read this as an antidote to Ford Maddox Ford's hysterical, overwrought and incoherent effort to try to come to grips with the truly incomprehensible horror of that war. Faulks has the benefit of distance and the sad perspective of all the horrors since. He begins with a light romantic idyl of a more innocent time. Our chief protagonist then finds himself as an officer up from the ranks gradually being sucked into the unimaginable horror of the first Battle of the Somme. Very well written. The emphasis on the (medieval) mining and undermining necessitated by trench warfare is brilliantly portrayed and provides Faulks with the device for the burial and eventual (partial?) rebirth of his protagonist. The final section, long after the war, is also a neat way of capturing the sensibility of a different time. I did look up the war memorial at Amiens on wiki... Having read the boo just the sight of that hugely ugly memorial brought tears to my, generally, unsentimental eyes...

This book and another, "Behind The Lines" (Pat Barker's "Regeneration Trilogy" are the two best I've read of WW1. And I'm old enough to have known a few who served in that war. They never spoe about their experience. Read Birdsong and you will understand why.

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Cyclist

expected a connection to book one

Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2022

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It wasn’t a bad story, but at some point I thought it was going to connect to book one and it never did.

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Top reviews from other countries

scott sarty

Beautiful story

Reviewed in Canada on June 5, 2022

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Such a wonderful book! The themes are universal: love, heartache, and hope, along with the horrors of WWI.

cartoisb

Excellent WWI novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2024

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Birdsong is full of meaning about life and death and has a number of powerful scenes and passages. While I felt there were some flaws and weaknesses in the plot, none was significant enough to make this anything less than an excellent novel.

Cliente de Kindle

A work of art!

Reviewed in Spain on January 3, 2023

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Beautifully written; asking all those questions that nobody seems to answer....ever!

Som

Pick it up and read !

Reviewed in India on September 1, 2022

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Alright ! Let me begin with sharing on how I came to know about this marvelous book. I had heard about Nightingale on several bookTube channels claiming it was a great read if one wanted to pick a great World War book. Then right here on Amazon, I started reading reviews and found someone criticizing the book and sharing that if one wanted to experience the accounts of World War, then one should pick up Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. That's it. That intrigued me and solely based on this recommendation, I ended up buying Birdsong (which was just one left in stock, and I considered myself lucky to have grabbed it).

And there was this other nice thing that happened. That was the only item that I bought and the seller didn't even charge me any delivery charge (this has never happened before).

The book's edges were a bit yellowish but the book was not used (it was brand new) and had this nice fragrance that satiated me to another level. Flipping over the pages and feeling all excited to go on a World War journey, brought me immense joy.

Coming to the story (about which I wouldn't write much because that would spoil your reading experience) - a heartwarming, heart-wrenching and deeply emotional tale that is so lucid and poetic, that is so straight-forward with the world's harsh realities, with the ups and downs, with the questions and answers, with the heart-aches and dilemmas, the book is a true treasure.

The ending is the part that I loved the most.

All in all, if you wish to pick up a story which doesn't appear to be a story at all, which is more like a true life encounter, I urge you give this book a try and I bet you wouldn't be disappointed.

Brian Osborne

Everything you hoped for in a book

Reviewed in Germany on June 23, 2021

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I liked the pace, the understanding by the author of the time it was taking place. The battle scenes were just enough for you to get the true flavour of them and the actions that took place. Intermingled with the love, family sagas, a book to remember.

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