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A review by eddie
No More Parades by Ford Madox Ford
3.0
Disappointed; but perhaps that’s just me. One hundred years of literary activity have created an expectation of what a WWI novel should be: although written in the shadow of that war by an ex-combatant this does not conform to those expectations.
The first book of the series seemed to set up a corrupt and decadent civilisation on the brink of disaster: Book two (this one) to me should therefore cover that disaster. However, Ford just repeats the drawing-room melodrama of Book one but now against the backdrop of the thundering guns on the Western front. The result seems ultimately to trivialise the war - or maybe this effect was part of Ford’s objective?
I’m annoyed with Tietjens, annoyed with Sylvia - cannot be annoyed with Valentine as she does not appear in this book. However, I know from my experience of The Good Soldier Ford requires huge amounts of patience and super-aware reading, so no doubt my responses will develop throughout books three and four.
He writes astonishingly, and with such control. He carefully, indirectly, builds up a devastating picture of British incompetence and chaos, but not one which is foregrounded.
The first book of the series seemed to set up a corrupt and decadent civilisation on the brink of disaster: Book two (this one) to me should therefore cover that disaster. However, Ford just repeats the drawing-room melodrama of Book one but now against the backdrop of the thundering guns on the Western front. The result seems ultimately to trivialise the war - or maybe this effect was part of Ford’s objective?
I’m annoyed with Tietjens, annoyed with Sylvia - cannot be annoyed with Valentine as she does not appear in this book. However, I know from my experience of The Good Soldier Ford requires huge amounts of patience and super-aware reading, so no doubt my responses will develop throughout books three and four.
He writes astonishingly, and with such control. He carefully, indirectly, builds up a devastating picture of British incompetence and chaos, but not one which is foregrounded.