Customer Reviews

Wars

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

There is little I can say about this book except READ IT. Having read about eleven of Findley's works, I would rate this in the top three, behind Headhunter and Not Wanted on the Voyage, perhaps. This is an excellent novel written by, in my opinion, the most talented writer alive today. Findley's abstract style may take a little while to grow on some readers, but once it does, it will make them bona fide Findley addicts like yours truly.

I first read this book years ago when I bought it just for something to read at an airport somewhere. I have never forgotten it. Recently I reread it and was once again moved by its beauty and power. This story of a young Canadian soldier's experiences during World War I is one of the most haunting statements on the insanity of war ever written

One of the best what? One of the best Canadian novels, one of the best war novels . . . take your pick.

Joeseph Jonston must only like stories where there are only good people doing nice things, and where children are sheltered from the scary fact that sometimes the world is a bad place. I think this is the problem when you have a work of art as powerful and brilliant as The Wars --- it gets assigned in high schools, and people who wouldn't know a good book from a hole in the ground are made to read it.

The Wars examines the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual wages of World War One (I think the plural in the title references the fact that there are so many other "little" wars simultaneously going on within the main character, within his family, within society, etc).

Findley explores his themes with powerful, poetic, and concise prose. The Wars is a short book, and Findley's fluid style means it can be read quickly. However, not a single word is wasted. The prose is rich with fresh imagery, but those images are never just decoration, or descriptive showmanshp --- they all have their purpose and their place. This is one of the calling cards of a great writer.

Some would say the age warning is appropriate. Some of the events of the plot and some of the images are indeed explicitly violent or sexual. They are never gratuitous, and are used to drive home the horror of World War One, but the more squeemish or puritanical readers may find them off-putting.

I had to read The Wars for my English class, and initially I had a hard time starting the book. After reading it I appreciate the quality of the story that Findley weaves. This is not your average story of the horrors of war; it is the tale of one young man fighting the world war along with his own personal battles. In the end it is up to the reader to decide if one mans actions are of a hero's status, or merely the attempts of an insane man trying to make sense of someplace where insanity is the norm.

The Wars is a novel filled with some very powerful moments of awe inspiring writing. Mr. Findley is at the top of his game with this text.
The story, which flips from the late seventies, to 1915 Canada, to the battlefields of WW I is really a simple tale about people who see so much bad in the world, and yet who also try to do some good, and as with most actions in our lives, it has both good and bad consequences. Mr. Findley does not overly develop any of his characters, a motif of his, and this forces the reader to do a lot of thinking on their own. Some readers (based on some posted reviews) hate to think. But, if you don't allow this novel to digest then you will miss the point.
One of the book's main points is that History is not just faded photos and dates, but rather real lives, and feelings, that in the moment were not history at all. The fact that some day some person will look back at our existence with the cold calculating eyes of a historian is chilling to the reader. The reason is simple, just like the characters in the text who cannot explain their motives or feelings, we too will be judged by those who can only look at our actions, and not know why or the thoughts behind them. A sobering contemplation.
The Wars takes a long hard look at the oft forgotten first world war and makes it real and immediate to the reader. We then gain a greater appreciation of the past, and of our own existence, because we see how all life is "good and ill mixed together".
An excellent choice for book clubs.

This novel is about the experiences of a Canadian man in World War 1. The flow of the story is occasionally interrupted by the activities of a researcher investigating the life of Robert Ross (a Second Lieutenant in the Canadian Army) in some kind of archive or interviewing people who met Ross during his lifetime. It is never made clear what is happening; why is the researcher/interviewer doing his investigations? Why is he writing this account (i.e. the novel)? There is no real conclusion to the novel or resolution of the researcher plot. Findley has Ross die shortly after World War 1 and the researcher plot abruptly ends.

The sections of the novel that are actually about fighting in the trenches are reasonably good. I think Findley properly emphasizes how dirty, mud-filled and wretched the trenches of World War 1 were. Occasionally, there are flashbacks to the protagonist's family in Canada, which were poorly executed. Findley should have focused on the actual war and avoided these diversions.

In Canada, this novel won the Governor General's Award in 1977 but I don't see why it is so spectacular. There is a sense that the protagonist is something of a controversial figure (he deserts the army and shoots some Canadian soldiers) but Ross' history and legacy is simply left too ambiguous.

In rating this novel, I wanted to give it 2.5 stars, but alas, Amazon does not allow that. The novel simply strikes me as mediocre; there is nothing exceptional to it.

One of the finest "anti-war" novels of our time. Beautifully written, richly drawn characters, and a deeply moving story. Incredibly powerful and unforgettable.