Customer Reviews

The Shrapnel Academy

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was a delightful examination of attitudes to war over history and misunderstandings among cultures - within the typical English country house motif. In this case the country house is a military academy. The characters are the usual ill-assorted group.

The book also examines the issue of the exploitation by Western developed countries of refugees from underdeveloped countries as domestic staff. While I was reading it I went to a reception where, naturally, all the wait staff was minority and immigrant. Weldon's insights caused me to re-examine that experience and implied relationships.

The book is also an exemplar of the world-power-in-decline writing that is typically English. Given our frittering away of world political leadership and credibility and the constant slide of the dollar against the Euro, perhaps we should read these books for clues to the future or a bad example.

Let me tell you what I liked about the book:

Okay, now that that's done...
I couldn't finish this book, so I'll avoid a precis of the plot. The writing is tedious. The author thinks that it's okay to directly address the readers, but her asides are at best condescending, and at worst puerile. In some cases, as with Martin Amis, it's kind of fun to be directly addressed by the author.

The characters were all cardboard cutouts, at best.

If there were a zero star rating, I'd use that.