Robert Ross is a Canadian officer caught up in the nightmare world of World War I trench warfare; a world of mud and smoke, chlorine gas and rotting corpses. In this world gone mad, he performs a last desperate act to declare his commitment to life in the midst of death.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
'The ferocious truth of a work of art.' The New Yorker 'The Wars is quite simply one of the best novels of the Great War. A magnificent book.' Province Vancouver
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About the Author
Timothy Findley is one of Canada's most popular and respected writers. He is the author of nine novels, most recently Pilgrim, three short story collections, two books of non-fiction and three plays. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and in France, Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres. He lives in Canada.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Did we read the same book?,
By bookishgal25 (ontario, canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Wars (Paperback)
I feel as though, reading through all of the reviews of this novel, that I must not have read the same book as those who gave this book poor ratings. I believe it is honestly one of the best books I have ever read.Yes, the characters are not normal--but they start off that way. It is the war that tears apart their family, turns them into killers, forces them to commit acts of depravity. Yes, Ross is a very complex character--but not to begin with. He begins as a simple, if not naive young adult in Canada and ends a mad, misunderstood soldier in Europe. Yes, Findley changes the narrative every 20 pages or so and yes, it can be confusing. But the book is about finding the humanity in the inhumanity of war by taking a look at a fictional but personal case. Findley's aim is not neatly tying up loose ends and making everything "fit" but unravelling tied ends and showing that nothing "fits." If you enjoy happy endings that give easy answers and generic lessons, read another book. Findley's work is complicated, disturbing, and heavy and I for one enjoyed it. It's a book I still think about years after reading it and would recommend not "burning it to the ground" as some other critics have suggested, but leaving it until one is mature enough to comprehend its brevity.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Wars tells what the media ignores,
By "yourwordsdotca" (Toronto) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Wars (Paperback)
The Wars is a memory of Robert Ross, a nineteen year old Canadian Soldier who fought in the First World War, as reconstructed by the narrator through articles, photographs and interviews of those who knew him during his short life. It is before this life ended that controversy surrounds, when he is purported to have committed such unthinkable atrocities that remain unnamed until the conclusion of the tale. Beginning with the loss of his eldest sister to the disease Spina Bifida, the story moves to his resulting enlistment to the Canadian Army, brief training in the general tactics of war, and shipment overseas to join in the all-consuming chaos of the First World War. Spread across the battle fields of Europe, the life of Robert Ross re-enacted as the pieces are brought together. First person accounts of the utterly humiliating circumstances, impotence, and insanity he encounters as the fires that pursue him throughout his life are interwoven throughout to complete the picture of a man misunderstood for the crimes he committed. It is these first person accounts that lead us through the plot in an attempt not to justify, but to perhaps give the reader some insight as to why Ross' life ended so clearly counter to how it had begun. Timothy Findley set out with a purpose in The Wars, which was to illustrate the insanity of war by manipulating the conventions of how atrocity is understood, and finally tearing these conventions down altogether. To do this, he took the fictitious example of a soldier who had dishonoured himself in battle, and then forces us to understand how and why such a thing could occur. For a more in depth analysis, check out yourwords dot ca. The result is the destruction of our conventional understanding and acceptance of military law, a societal application invented by propagandists and furthered by arms dealers, therefore opening our ability to not only see, but recognize the destruction of the individual through such an overwhelming ordeal that is often minimalized through sensationalistic media-headline appointed terms such as "tragedy" or "catastrophe". It is for this reason that the book should be a part of everyone's education.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Please read this review before buying 'The Wars'.,
This review is from: Wars (Paperback)
I am surprised at the reviews of this novel. I see some people claiming to have literally burned this book and I see a `teacher' who condemns a Governor General's Award winning novel without the courtesy of proper punctuation or even capital letters (on Amazon.ca). And I see people claiming that this novel is the greatest ever produced by a Canadian. The truth is somewhere in between. But make no mistake: it is a classic for good reason.
Anger comes from confusion so it is no surprise to see many angry people reacting to `The Wars'. It is a difficult read. Robert Ross is a difficult character to identify with because Findley holds him at arm's length for almost the entire novel. The only instances I remember where the reader is given direct access to Robert's innermost thoughts are in the opening section, before he enlists in the army. From there we are shown his actions and only the most obvious of thoughts. Much of the novel is presented as hearsay, where the reader sees the toll the war takes on both his family and personal life, and this is perhaps the reason for the negative reviews here: the reader cannot become attached to Robert Ross. Findley does not present empathy as an option. We are forced to examine his actions coolly with little emotion involved save the horror of killing or the pleasure of love. What does this say about Findley's goal with this novel? Why does he not allow us to be close to Robert Ross? Because he is not a hero. He is not a great man. He was the average soldier (or officer, in this case) and his trials were average for the Great War. This is a novel about World War One written sixty years (or so) after the armistice, and we are now approaching its one hundred year anniversary. So why do readers think it should be a rip roaring adventure of bravery and heroism? Wake up people. It is a novel about the legacy the war has left. It is about how we were and are affected by it and that is why it is written from the point of view or a reseacher/historian. It is about darkness and savagery and how these things are in all of us, only to be revealed by the horrors we subject each other to. Look at the things Robert has to deal with within his own army. Are the Germans the `bad guys' in this novel? We only ever see one, and he shows great humanity and sacrifice. Robert's own army wreaks as much destruction and havoc in the lives of their own soldiers as they do to the Germans. It is not a heroic tale of Us versus Them. It is a cautionary tale of Us vs. Ourselves. Do not expect `Saving Private Ryan'. Expect `Apocalypse Now'. Do not expect a page turner. Expect a meditation on humanity's darkest hour, and you will not be disappointed. This is a novel to be read by the intelligent and the brave, not the simple and arrogant. Approach it with the right mindset and you will find a classic.
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