fredosbrother's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
michael_levy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
highlander2006's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
steelcitygator's review against another edition
4.0
I don't really have a ton in overview to say so right into the positives and negatives. The positives start with the masterful weaving of so many narratives and characters. I've seen my share of authors try to do something like this but most do not have the talent to pull it off but Len Deighton does it with a masterstroke. The characters are mostly interesting and of good variety, Len's decision to frame it within one day was a really good decision. And then, in compliment with the multiple narratives, the ending is done really well and ties everything together in a satisfying and filling way.
You can really tell the research went into it too. From the less known parts of air defense structure to intimate details of flyers. Also, as someone who reads many first person war accounts, the description both mentally and in actions is so spot on.
Now for the negatives, the beginning is a bit slow. So many narratives makes the reader really take a bit extra to fit into it. The payoff is worth it but I really didn't think I would enjoy it this much for the first quarter or so.
You can really tell the research went into it too. From the less known parts of air defense structure to intimate details of flyers. Also, as someone who reads many first person war accounts, the description both mentally and in actions is so spot on.
Now for the negatives, the beginning is a bit slow. So many narratives makes the reader really take a bit extra to fit into it. The payoff is worth it but I really didn't think I would enjoy it this much for the first quarter or so.
chris_tyson's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.75
If you find the start a little challenging, you must persevere. This is the haunting, unflinching story of one bomber raid. You’ll meet a vast and diverse range of characters which will be hard to get to know at first. But persevere.
The detail Deighton goes into is fascinating. The pace is incredible. This is the war of the machines.
The detail Deighton goes into is fascinating. The pace is incredible. This is the war of the machines.
isd's review
4.0
Apparently I read Bomber the first time seven years ago, I had forgotten just about everything, which was a good thing considering a re-read.
Still, Bomber's a very interesting, captivating story told from many points of view: soldiers, civilians, axis and allies, active participants and those who're on the sidelines. Personally I enjoyed the human side maybe even more than the tech detail parts, which were also wonderful.
Once again I'm not going to go into any sort of a deep (or shallow for that matter) analysis, there are people who are into that. I'm just going to declare that Bomber is great, but definitely not a happy read. Which is more than reasonable, considering what goes on in a book about the carpet bombings of German cities and whatnot.
Still, Bomber's a very interesting, captivating story told from many points of view: soldiers, civilians, axis and allies, active participants and those who're on the sidelines. Personally I enjoyed the human side maybe even more than the tech detail parts, which were also wonderful.
Once again I'm not going to go into any sort of a deep (or shallow for that matter) analysis, there are people who are into that. I'm just going to declare that Bomber is great, but definitely not a happy read. Which is more than reasonable, considering what goes on in a book about the carpet bombings of German cities and whatnot.
ericwelch's review against another edition
5.0
The title of this book implies it's the story of a single British bomber crew flying over Germany during 1943. It's much more. Deighton, known for his in-depth research, has given us a very realistic portrayal of both sides, the families of the bomber crews, the German citizens and defenders. Soldiers on both sides are frustrated by awkward interpersonal relationships and comrades with differing motivations. Deighton follows the crews of several bombers, sent on night-time raid against the Ruhr. Lacking night-vision goggles the crews had to release their bombs guided by flares dropped by scout planes. On this raid, the scout plane is shot down and its flares released short of the intended target, on the innocuous little town of Altgarten — of no military significance.
British strategy was to drop bombs in the center of cities, usually targeting more civilians than military installations and to mix in lots of incendiaries and horrible phosphorous bombs to increase the damage. The soldiers of both sides are beleaguered by insidious forces in command. On the German side, Himmel, one of the best night-fighter pilots has stolen some medical documents that expose SS medical researchers using concentration camp as human guinea pigs in freezing experiments, so the Abwehr and Sicherheitsdienst want him arrested. In Britain, Lambert has the temerity to want to be with his wife rather than play cricket for the squadron team in an important match. He's also something of a rebel and because of that is being labeled LMF (Lacking Moral Fiber), i.e., a coward.
In the meantime, the farmers and citizens bemoan the loss of excellent farmland to huge airfields, land they know will never be returned. Neither are the citizens without flaws, as they funnel stolen and looted goods into their own pockets.
I particularly enjoyed one exchange. August Bach, a German pilot, is returning to his base with his friend, Max, when they are held up by a convoy directed by Vichy police.
"A Frenchman," said Max angrily. "They are a logical race. They should make good traffic police."
"Huh," said Max. "Logical. They put a knife between your ribs and spend an hour explaining the rational necessity of doing it."
"That sounds like a lot of Germans I know."
"No, a German puts a knife into your ribs and weeps a sea of regretful tears."
"August smiled. "And after the Englishman has wielded the knife? He says, 'Knife? What knife?' "
Sometimes the horror of war is brought home more vividly by almost dispassionately describing the raw facts. For example, a crew member’s chute fails to open after bailing out from his Lancaster. Falling from 16,000 feet at 120 miles per hour (his body's terminal velocity) he hits the ground in 90 seconds and makes an indentation 12 inches deep.
Neither side is favored in this work. Deighton read several hundred books in preparation and interviewed many survivors and the epilogue tells us where they are today. He focuses on the shared humanity and suffering, selflessness and heroism endemic to war. This book rivals Slaughterhouse Five and Hiroshima as a statement of the horror and stupidity of war.
British strategy was to drop bombs in the center of cities, usually targeting more civilians than military installations and to mix in lots of incendiaries and horrible phosphorous bombs to increase the damage. The soldiers of both sides are beleaguered by insidious forces in command. On the German side, Himmel, one of the best night-fighter pilots has stolen some medical documents that expose SS medical researchers using concentration camp as human guinea pigs in freezing experiments, so the Abwehr and Sicherheitsdienst want him arrested. In Britain, Lambert has the temerity to want to be with his wife rather than play cricket for the squadron team in an important match. He's also something of a rebel and because of that is being labeled LMF (Lacking Moral Fiber), i.e., a coward.
In the meantime, the farmers and citizens bemoan the loss of excellent farmland to huge airfields, land they know will never be returned. Neither are the citizens without flaws, as they funnel stolen and looted goods into their own pockets.
I particularly enjoyed one exchange. August Bach, a German pilot, is returning to his base with his friend, Max, when they are held up by a convoy directed by Vichy police.
"A Frenchman," said Max angrily. "They are a logical race. They should make good traffic police."
"Huh," said Max. "Logical. They put a knife between your ribs and spend an hour explaining the rational necessity of doing it."
"That sounds like a lot of Germans I know."
"No, a German puts a knife into your ribs and weeps a sea of regretful tears."
"August smiled. "And after the Englishman has wielded the knife? He says, 'Knife? What knife?' "
Sometimes the horror of war is brought home more vividly by almost dispassionately describing the raw facts. For example, a crew member’s chute fails to open after bailing out from his Lancaster. Falling from 16,000 feet at 120 miles per hour (his body's terminal velocity) he hits the ground in 90 seconds and makes an indentation 12 inches deep.
Neither side is favored in this work. Deighton read several hundred books in preparation and interviewed many survivors and the epilogue tells us where they are today. He focuses on the shared humanity and suffering, selflessness and heroism endemic to war. This book rivals Slaughterhouse Five and Hiroshima as a statement of the horror and stupidity of war.
shippinforecast's review against another edition
4.0
A very well-researched novel telling the story of 24 hours in the lives of pilots (and others) from both the British and German airforce in 1943. Thought-provoking and intense.
smcleish's review against another edition
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in February 2004.
I have always found this the hardest of Deighton's novels to get into, partly because it is so unrelentingly serious, but mainly because its beginning is poor. The first chapter in particular has some really terrible, clunking dialogue, and the mechanics of introducing his large cast of characters are not well handled. Even further into the novel, the prose is ponderous and Bomber is very slow moving for a thriller.
The idea of Bomber is to describe a twenty-four hours in the air war towards the end of the Second World War, without demonising the Germans or idolising the British. The airmen on both sides, in particular, are presented as normal people under a lot of stress. (Some of the ancillary characters are a bit more stereotyped, like the German secret policeman who tries to prove that one of the fliers is sabotaging the war effort, but even he has a less formalised counterpart among the British officers.)
Part of the reason for the ponderousness of Bomber is the literary weight of what Deighton is trying to do - conveying the brutality of war, the waste of a generation of young men, while making his portrayal evenhanded with the reader caring for people on both sides. The unpleasantness of twentieth century warfare and its wastefulness is a common theme from [b:All Quiet on the Western Front|355697|All Quiet on the Western Front|Erich Maria Remarque|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441227765s/355697.jpg|2662852] to [b:Mash|82472|MASH A Novel About Three Army Doctors (M*A*S*H, #1)|Richard Hooker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388325310s/82472.jpg|457099], but it is far harder to think of other examples of war novels which do not just concentrate on one side. In many cases, the ability this gives to have a small number of central characters makes the writing more effective than it is here - the main characters in All Quiet on the Western Front form a single platoon of German soldiers, and M.A.S.H. never looks far beyond just two doctors. By contrast, there are dozens of characters in Bomber of approximately equal importance, which causes serious difficulties - they tend to be introduced with dull and lengthy biographical sketches, holding up the plot, and it is hard for the reader to remember who is who. (This second is a problem even in [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413215930s/656.jpg|4912783], the most famous "cast of thousands" novel.) I certainly had the impression that Deighton's ambition here overreached his technique. Nevertheless, there are things to admire about the novel. Bomber is meticulously researched, with close attention to detail. (In current TV terminology, Bomber would definitely belong to the genre of docudrama.)
Thankfully, Bomber livens up a bit once the planes are airborne, about halfway through the five hundred pages. (The bombers being British, the raid is a night-time one; the Americans who carried out daylight raids are not even mentioned by Deighton.) For me, this was really too little too late.
Bomber is massively ambitious, which has led to many aspects of it better done by other authors. The touchstones novels about Second World War bombing are both American: [b:Catch-22|168668|Catch-22|Joseph Heller|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463157317s/168668.jpg|814330] about the stresses and strains of being a pilot, and [b:Slaughterhouse-Five|4981|Slaughterhouse-Five|Kurt Vonnegut Jr.|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440319389s/4981.jpg|1683562] about the effects of saturation bombing (as experienced by P.O.W.s in Dresden). Both these novels are much more effective at conveying the horrors of war and the ways in which people cope with them; both are darkly humorous. Black humour is usually something of a Deighton trademark, but here it seems to have been squeezed out by the serious nature of his intentions.
To me, this novel is mainly of interest as a piece of historical research. Bomber is far less successful as a work of fiction, and remains the nearest to unreadable of any of Deighton's novels.
I have always found this the hardest of Deighton's novels to get into, partly because it is so unrelentingly serious, but mainly because its beginning is poor. The first chapter in particular has some really terrible, clunking dialogue, and the mechanics of introducing his large cast of characters are not well handled. Even further into the novel, the prose is ponderous and Bomber is very slow moving for a thriller.
The idea of Bomber is to describe a twenty-four hours in the air war towards the end of the Second World War, without demonising the Germans or idolising the British. The airmen on both sides, in particular, are presented as normal people under a lot of stress. (Some of the ancillary characters are a bit more stereotyped, like the German secret policeman who tries to prove that one of the fliers is sabotaging the war effort, but even he has a less formalised counterpart among the British officers.)
Part of the reason for the ponderousness of Bomber is the literary weight of what Deighton is trying to do - conveying the brutality of war, the waste of a generation of young men, while making his portrayal evenhanded with the reader caring for people on both sides. The unpleasantness of twentieth century warfare and its wastefulness is a common theme from [b:All Quiet on the Western Front|355697|All Quiet on the Western Front|Erich Maria Remarque|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441227765s/355697.jpg|2662852] to [b:Mash|82472|MASH A Novel About Three Army Doctors (M*A*S*H, #1)|Richard Hooker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388325310s/82472.jpg|457099], but it is far harder to think of other examples of war novels which do not just concentrate on one side. In many cases, the ability this gives to have a small number of central characters makes the writing more effective than it is here - the main characters in All Quiet on the Western Front form a single platoon of German soldiers, and M.A.S.H. never looks far beyond just two doctors. By contrast, there are dozens of characters in Bomber of approximately equal importance, which causes serious difficulties - they tend to be introduced with dull and lengthy biographical sketches, holding up the plot, and it is hard for the reader to remember who is who. (This second is a problem even in [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413215930s/656.jpg|4912783], the most famous "cast of thousands" novel.) I certainly had the impression that Deighton's ambition here overreached his technique. Nevertheless, there are things to admire about the novel. Bomber is meticulously researched, with close attention to detail. (In current TV terminology, Bomber would definitely belong to the genre of docudrama.)
Thankfully, Bomber livens up a bit once the planes are airborne, about halfway through the five hundred pages. (The bombers being British, the raid is a night-time one; the Americans who carried out daylight raids are not even mentioned by Deighton.) For me, this was really too little too late.
Bomber is massively ambitious, which has led to many aspects of it better done by other authors. The touchstones novels about Second World War bombing are both American: [b:Catch-22|168668|Catch-22|Joseph Heller|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463157317s/168668.jpg|814330] about the stresses and strains of being a pilot, and [b:Slaughterhouse-Five|4981|Slaughterhouse-Five|Kurt Vonnegut Jr.|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440319389s/4981.jpg|1683562] about the effects of saturation bombing (as experienced by P.O.W.s in Dresden). Both these novels are much more effective at conveying the horrors of war and the ways in which people cope with them; both are darkly humorous. Black humour is usually something of a Deighton trademark, but here it seems to have been squeezed out by the serious nature of his intentions.
To me, this novel is mainly of interest as a piece of historical research. Bomber is far less successful as a work of fiction, and remains the nearest to unreadable of any of Deighton's novels.