Review: The Wars
Avis de journaliste - Kirkus ReviewsThe madness of war, WW I variety and Equus-style--in an evocative but heavy-handedly contrived patchwork of lyrical-deadpan narrative and first-person ""transcripts."" From the detached viewpoint of an unnamed researcher, Canadian Findley reconstructs the horror-legend of young, handsome, animal-loving Robert Ross--a Toronto lieutenant who goes to war already guilty (he blames himself for the recent death of his hydrocephalic sister), with much more guilt and death in store: on the ship to Europe, he has to shoot, clumsily, a sick horse (just as his neurotic mother ordered him to kill his dead sister's rabbits); in England, he sits endlessly by the bedside of a dying comrade; at Ypres, he survives being swallowed up in chlorine-drenched mud only to witness the unbelievable slaughter. Recovering back in Britain, he has a brief encounter (sex=violence) with a titled floozy who's in love with a British war hero--a hero doubly debased because Robert saw him being buggered back home in an Alberta whorehouse and because he ends up armless and a failed suicide. Though there are scenes of uncluttered power--a platoon survives gassing by covering their faces in cloth doused with their own urine--Findley is far too transparent as he accumulates and interconnects Robert's inner and outer horrors, not to mention the symbolic appearances of birds, rabbits, hedgehogs, and other innocent creatures. And this would-be mythmaking verges on parody when Robert, on the front again, is gang-raped by fellow officers in a bathhouse and then goes into his legendary freak-out: shooting and liberating horses, killing superior officers. Hero? Madman? A suspiciously familiar question, especially in equine company--and only one of the see-through pretensions that keep Findley's obvious talents from coming together in this uncertain blend of case history, war story, and allegory.
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - Jerome - GoodreadsI started this book off, immediately despising it. I couldn't tolerate its slow pace or minute descriptions (which I thought the book would solely be composed of). And then I kept reading. By the end ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - Michael - GoodreadsMoving account of one Canadian man's experience with World War 1. The novel is barely 200 pages, so what we have here is no sweeping coverage of the war, nor an in-depth immersion in the horrors. But ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - Debbie - GoodreadsWhen I saw The Wars was the April choice for the War & Literature Readalong, I wondered how I had never heard of this early novel by one of Canada's literary leaders. Since I've read it, I wonder all ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - Fran - GoodreadsI picked up this book serendipitously on the library's Remembrance Day display, having read it over 20 years ago. So glad to re-enter this powerful and unique world. Also the horrific world of war and ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - JonSnow - GoodreadsTimothy Findley's "The Wars" was a novel which chronicles the events surrounding Robert Ross. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that it was a very moving book. There were a number of times I had ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - GoodreadsThis was a well-written book, with much symbolism and carefully structured theories of literacy. However, I did not enjoy the last fifteen pages of the book, in hopes it would end differently. This is ...
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - Janna Avon - GoodreadsThere are two really great things going on in Timothy Findley's The Wars. Firstly, is the narrative technique. The book is written from the perspective of a historian trying to make sense of a moment ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - Sam Marchello - GoodreadsI haven't read this book since grade nine, and I liked it a lot more then than I do now. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mind-space for this book (I was reading it for my job), but I was pretty bored ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Wars
Avis d'utilisateur - Carole Prior - GoodreadsI loved this bittersweet story...hated the war! But the protagonist is so memorable..so defined and so entrenched that you feel as if you are standing next to him during his journey of the soul and ... Consulter l'avis complet
