A review by katemc
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Such a beautiful novella. West’s writing is GORGEOUS. I was highlighting so many sentences and paragraphs in the e-book. It’s definitely on the more flowery side but the words she uses feel so precise. She renders her settings and scenes so beautifully.
There are also so many subtle, powerful moments, especially in how Chris’ amnesiac self is juxtaposed with his “real” self/life. The final paragraph… “he wore a dreadful, decent smile… when we had lifted the yoke of our embraces from his shoulders he would go back to that flooded trench in Flanders, under that sky more full of flying death than clouds, to that No-Man’s-Land where bullets fall like rain on the rotting faces of the dead. … ‘He’s cured!’ She whispered slowly. ‘He’s cured!’”
This really makes me want to read more West!
There are also so many subtle, powerful moments, especially in how Chris’ amnesiac self is juxtaposed with his “real” self/life. The final paragraph… “he wore a dreadful, decent smile… when we had lifted the yoke of our embraces from his shoulders he would go back to that flooded trench in Flanders, under that sky more full of flying death than clouds, to that No-Man’s-Land where bullets fall like rain on the rotting faces of the dead. … ‘He’s cured!’ She whispered slowly. ‘He’s cured!’”
This really makes me want to read more West!