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oldenglishrose's review against another edition
4.0
There are no two ways about it, Parade's End is a truly spectacular book. It isn't always easy to read, enjoyable, interesting or even intelligible, but none of these things diminish quite how great an achievement this quartet of novels by Ford Maddox Ford is.
Parade's End is the story of the rapic change in attitudes covering the pre-War period, the First World War and its aftermath from the perspective of the British upper and upper middle classes. It does this not only through the plot, but through the writing itself, and this is what I found so unusual and so brilliant.
The books are written in a style somewhere in between stream of consciousness and regular narrative. There is no time when the reader is not inside someone's head, although the book is always in third person. Characters lose their train of thought and start contemplating something else; they reminisce on events that their thoughts remind them of; they digress for pages and pages before coming back to their initial starting point. It can be tedious, it can be baffling and it can seem pointless, but it is never anything less than a perfect mimesis of how people think expanded into words. Sometimes I find that effects like this can make me feel distant from the book, but I was surprised at how much I cared for some of the characters and how deeply I loathed others.
I started Parade's End back when the new BBC adaptation of it was shown on television last year. Someone at work asked me if I were going to watch it then, when I said I would wait and read the book first, replied with 'Ooh, it's a bit hard though'. Never able to resist a challenge, I went out a bought myself a copy only to discover that she was absolutely right: Parade's End is indeed 'a bit hard' to say the least. I'm also not sure how on earth they made a television drama out of this, because it's a book which focuses on interiority and thoughtfulness rather than action, but I'm looking forward to finding out. It will never be a favourite book of mine, but it was definitely worth the time and effort.
Parade's End is the story of the rapic change in attitudes covering the pre-War period, the First World War and its aftermath from the perspective of the British upper and upper middle classes. It does this not only through the plot, but through the writing itself, and this is what I found so unusual and so brilliant.
The books are written in a style somewhere in between stream of consciousness and regular narrative. There is no time when the reader is not inside someone's head, although the book is always in third person. Characters lose their train of thought and start contemplating something else; they reminisce on events that their thoughts remind them of; they digress for pages and pages before coming back to their initial starting point. It can be tedious, it can be baffling and it can seem pointless, but it is never anything less than a perfect mimesis of how people think expanded into words. Sometimes I find that effects like this can make me feel distant from the book, but I was surprised at how much I cared for some of the characters and how deeply I loathed others.
I started Parade's End back when the new BBC adaptation of it was shown on television last year. Someone at work asked me if I were going to watch it then, when I said I would wait and read the book first, replied with 'Ooh, it's a bit hard though'. Never able to resist a challenge, I went out a bought myself a copy only to discover that she was absolutely right: Parade's End is indeed 'a bit hard' to say the least. I'm also not sure how on earth they made a television drama out of this, because it's a book which focuses on interiority and thoughtfulness rather than action, but I'm looking forward to finding out. It will never be a favourite book of mine, but it was definitely worth the time and effort.
katiebrodt's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
kcdennett's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
aga89's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
alexisreading23's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
FMF considered The Good Soldier to be his masterpiece, although readers have long put forth the argument that Parades End should hold that title. Having read the former first, I can see how its short length and tighter (and tidier) plot help it make the impact that it does. However, while Parades End is certainly a quiet and unhurried tome of a book, its minute character studies created characters of a colour and vivacity that The Good Soldier can hardly hold a candle to. It’s astoundingly British in its portrait of reticence and repression, honour, duty, feeling.
The length of the novel as a combined quartet is intimidating to say the least, and the length did mean my attention abated at certain points, particularly in the introductory quarter and the third. I found the second quarter much more lively, and the description of warfare very engaging.
Coming to the final quarter of the novel, I felt slightly weary at the prospect of another few hundred pages when it seemed like fifty should suffice. I ate my words because these final few hundred tied together the entire novel for me.
The respective deep dives into the thoughts and feelings of the intriguing Christopher and the malicious Sylvia which dominated the earlier parts of the novel (which I enjoyed immensely), were replaced by lesser characters. I found these passages so wonderfully fascinating and expressive of an age and way of being. Mark and Christopher’s devotion to each other despite their final impasse felt like a sort of healing, a lifting of the curse of the Groby tree!
Reading the final few chapters, I had the sense that the novel was trying to put across a kind of profundity that it didn’t have a name for, that could only be felt and expressed in these minute encounters, Mark Jr and his resemblance to his father, the reappearance of Sylvia and her moments of compassion, Maria Leonie’s steadfast and peculiar ways, of course Mark and Christopher, the barely tolerated younger brother, the rescued sea birds…
The novel did not verbalise its profundity in such explicit terms, but I felt it all the same. Christopher Tierjens is surely one of the most intriguing and tangible protagonists I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
The length of the novel as a combined quartet is intimidating to say the least, and the length did mean my attention abated at certain points, particularly in the introductory quarter and the third. I found the second quarter much more lively, and the description of warfare very engaging.
Coming to the final quarter of the novel, I felt slightly weary at the prospect of another few hundred pages when it seemed like fifty should suffice. I ate my words because these final few hundred tied together the entire novel for me.
The respective deep dives into the thoughts and feelings of the intriguing Christopher and the malicious Sylvia which dominated the earlier parts of the novel (which I enjoyed immensely), were replaced by lesser characters. I found these passages so wonderfully fascinating and expressive of an age and way of being. Mark and Christopher’s devotion to each other despite their final impasse felt like a sort of healing, a lifting of the curse of the Groby tree!
Reading the final few chapters, I had the sense that the novel was trying to put across a kind of profundity that it didn’t have a name for, that could only be felt and expressed in these minute encounters, Mark Jr and his resemblance to his father, the reappearance of Sylvia and her moments of compassion, Maria Leonie’s steadfast and peculiar ways, of course Mark and Christopher, the barely tolerated younger brother, the rescued sea birds…
The novel did not verbalise its profundity in such explicit terms, but I felt it all the same. Christopher Tierjens is surely one of the most intriguing and tangible protagonists I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
crystalmbookshelf83's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
wshier's review against another edition
3.0
The best short description I could give is: the English War and Peace. Societal change in the context of the Great War and super long.