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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Memoir in the tradition of Graves and Orwell,
By Virgil "Virgil" (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (Paperback)
Siegfreid Sassoon's wonderful war memoir is thinly disguised as the story of George Sherston. Based solely on Sassoon's life in the trenches of WWI, it recounts the horror and scale of carnage that occurred. More importantly it shows the emotionally scars that the survivors carried with them as a result of exposure.Sherston (Sassoon) was a rather spoiled and pampered young upper class Englishman. The war changed all that. Confronted with death, destruction and idiotic leadership from the High Command you sense the inner turmoil of Sherston. Relieved when he is not involved with the fighting he is driven by guilt over the loss of the soldiers in his battalion. Consequently when his platoon is on the line he takes great risks in reconaissance of the German positions. The effects of non-stop total war, stupid leadership and the complete contrast between England and the trenches (only a few hundred miles apart) is staggering to Sassoon. Sassoon becomes anti-war and considers becoming an objector, but his obvious connection to his comrades and loyalty to them wins out in the end. He hates the war but won't abandon his comrades in the field. This is a great war memoir written by a poet who survived and was changed for life by his experiences in it.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
While time ticks blank,
By
This review is from: Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (Paperback)
I already knew Siegfried from his poetry. Little did I know or suspect what a madman he was on the battlefield. Makes the poetry read a bit differently. He led raid after raid (and voluntarily!), possibly hurling more havoc and grenades on the enemy than any other single soldier. Luckily he was on our side. Toward the end of the war this highly decorated soldier begins to have his doubts about the madness of it all but few practiced it with more gusto. I first read about his heroics in Graves' Goodbye to All That(which is another excellent war memoir,& which also features a strange meeting at Oxford with that other legend you have probably heard of, T.E. Lawrence), both books will give you the war experience from the insiders who lived it. I would make a quick mention of the best war book of them all All Quiet on The Western Front but you read that already I'm certain, as well as that gem by Hemingway A Farewell to Arms. Graves and Sasson belong in that company.....Ghastly dawn with vaporous coasts/ Gleams desolate along the sky, night's misery ended. (from Sassoon poem "Wirers")
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greatest prose artists ever,
By
This review is from: Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (Paperback)
Even if you are not a student of history or the First World War this is an interesting read. Sassoon paints pictures with his words which not only perfectly describe his surroundings but also give the reader a unique glimpse into the mind of a man suffering, yet unable to help those around him.This book is important historically not only because it is a first-hand account of almost the whole of The Great War, but because it is a record of a psuedo-successful personal revolt against the British Military establishment, as well as giving the reader the author's experiences with meeting some very famous people, including winston churchill.
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