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Mark Helprin

A Soldier of the Great War Paperback – May 1, 1992

by Mark Helprin (Author)

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On his, last long walk, septuagenarian war hero, deserter,and professor Alessandro Giuliani shares his past with an illiterate young factory worker -- spinning a remarkable tale of heart-stopping escapes, of loves unrequited and won, of madmen, dwarfs, and mafiosi. But overshadowing all is hismost miraculous and terrible adventure, the Great War -- a surreal parade of horrors that devastated and defined Alessandro, yet enabled him to experience fully the magic and beauty of the absurd human comedy called life. From Mark Helprin bestselling author of Winter's Tale and Memoir from Antproof Case, comes a magnificent epic adventure in which the hero reckons with love, loss, beauty,honor; and mortality.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Energetic prose, poetic images of great intensity and an antic imagination combine in this gripping moral fable narrated by a septuagenarian irrevocably altered by WW I. This BOMC main selection was on PW 's hardcover bestseller list for eight weeks.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A rousing tale ... riotous energy and sustainedbrilliance ... Helprin lights his own way, in his ownsingular direction." -- --Time

"Extraordinary... a vast, ambitious, spiritually lusty, all-guzzling, all-encompassing novel" -- --The New York Times Book Review

"Intense, memorable ... magnificent ... a massive, soaring novel of ideas and ordeals." -- --Entertainment weekly

Publisher : Avon Books; First Printing edition (May 1, 1992)
Language : English
Paperback : 736 pages
ISBN-10 : 0380715899
ISBN-13 : 978-0380715893
Item Weight : 12.8 ounces
Dimensions : 4.25 x 1.25 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,374,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #23,575 in War Fiction (Books)
- #75,088 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #142,622 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
556 ratings

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3 star		7%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

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The Hibernian Autodidact

Perfection

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2018

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This review will be short and sweet. A Soldier of the Great War is my all-time favorite book, and has been since I first read it in 1994 (with several re-reads since). It is beautiful, compelling, and perfect.

19 people found this helpful

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Susan O. Bachman

Dulce et Utile—Informs and Delights, and Keeps Us Thinking

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2019

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The obvious: The book is long (so is this review!). The length, however, captures a full life and leads us away from mere surface into depth. This book goes beyond a linear war/love plot and lays out intertwined puzzlements of life, including politics, culture, and relationships.

I'm reminded of Princess Bride's Inigo Montoya, captured memorably by actor Mandy Patinkin: "Let me 'splain. No no, it is too long. Let me sum up." Author Helprin both explains and sums up. In his sketches of people across places and time, he skips and sums up, but he also takes the time and pages to explain. In both strategies he welcomes readers into the intimacy of puzzlements. Life, war or no, can be fearful and demanding. Helprin gives us a WW1 orbit, seen through the lenses of Italian and European thought and experience, and he shows and tells vividly how some good people thrive.
.
Like other readers I lost patience with copious details of carabiners and climbing, endless Rome landscapes and cloud colorations. I wasn’t especially drawn either into the mystery of the Giorgio La Tempesta painting in Venice (new to me)—but the painting and the informative museum guard in Venice provided a nifty plot device, the first big clue for Alessandro to trace the still-living Ariana. I’m tolerate of Helprin’s precise big-word vocabulary, and while exaggerated improbabilities can wear thin, overall I liked the madcap rides, the narrow escapes, and lucky guesses.

I suppose De gustibus non disputandem est applies. I myself loved Alessandro's rebuilding of the telephone (I’m a licensed ham radio gal), the swimming feats, and the logic, philosophy, and rhetoric fly-bys because I know of those. The narrative is rich enough to welcome diverse readers interacting according to distinct tastes. Alessandro likens beauty to the artistic technique "intarsia," such as complex marquetry or colorful yarns, seen together vibrantly as a whole. Here are a few themes, threads, reactions, and good writing bits, teased from the whole:

1. Believable, sympathetic depictions of neighbors/friends/diverse compatriots.
2. Crisply drawn interactions of young/older characters, with (of course) fleshing out of male soldiers but also profiling believable, spicy women. (I loved the witty, self-possessed travel agent Irishwoman on the train.)
3. Impressive details of physical stamina (swimming, walking, climbing!)--inspirational.
4. Unwrapping how those in power manipulate systems and each other, for ill and good.
5. The "Great War" of the title cuts at least two ways: yes WW1, but also the living of a life anytime leads to many skirmishes and battles. Alessandro, walking with young Nicolo, describes and models weapons of reasoning things out wisely.
6. Sensitive, up-close description of sex and love: youthful infatuation, raucous or quiet mature sex, the depths of loving.
7. My favorite: this book uses humor well and impishly delights and instructs us with irony.

Alessandro aims for virtues, among them Truth—both beautiful and useful. But life’s puzzles are neither easily nor obviously solved. Early in the narrative, old man Alessandro on a rural trolley thinks fast and invents a white lie to right a wrong. After the driver rudely ignored a young man racing to board (Nicolo), Alessandro outrageously insists he himself owns the fields and wants to inspect them, so the driver will stop. Alessandro becomes a savvy Trickster to cope with a fractured world. Such resilient imagination and trickery is seen at work, ironically, in the crazy, bad-guy bureaucrat Orfeo who thinks he is righting wrongs. A similar over-the-top trickery comes into play with the unnervingly savvy general who ignores literal combat details and manufactures false cavalry narratives for a pacifist good. As the love story of Ariana and Alessandro resolves, Helprin doesn’t allow us to wallow long in a "satisfying ending.” I believe Helprin stimulates readers to step out beyond the memorable story, like he pushed Nicolo onward, to work creatively in dealing with our own “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

8. A reservation: The "Christian" identification of characters falls flat for me. People in Alessandro’s world act and talk more as secular humanists or deists. Yes, priests and the Pope do make positive appearances. Alessandro has Christlike "suffering servant” qualities. But the book provides little insight into the distinctive way Christian faith and communities might shape daily lives.

I bought the book upon recommendation by Jake Novak, financial and political analyst, who sees it as an underappreciated gem. I'm grateful. Reading on Kindle aids with moving back and forth and highlighting. Some annoying typos do mar the text.
Bottom Line: This book held my interest and keeps me reflecting on its means, methods, and messages.

8 people found this helpful

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Jean Minton

I loved it! I am just finishing up a year ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2017

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I loved it! I am just finishing up a year living in the Dolomites of Italy. As I move through the mountains here, I see many bunkers used by soldiers in WWI and appreciated this book for bringing them to life. Helprin is a masterful storyteller who kept my attention through the entire 860 pages. I always enjoyed the opportunity to sit down and read. I especially loved this conversation between Alessandro and one of his captors Strassnitzky (p663):
"Rome is a training school for the heavenly city, a jumping-off place. You take earthly pleasures and gracefully translate them to the language of the divine."
"That's called art," Alessandro said.
"But what if death is only a void?"
"Even if heaven doesn't exist, I will have experienced it beforehand, because I will have created it."
Spoken like someone who truly lives each day, each moment (!) to the fullest and as if it could be his last.

13 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Greatest Descriptive Prose I've Read

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2020

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I am biased. Helprin is my favorite writer. I do not take that lightly as I have been a voracious reader for about 60 years. I was hooked on Helprin as soon as I read A Winter's Tale which I have read several times. When I first read this book decades ago I liked it less than I do now. There are times in the book when It feels slow to me initially, but I find that those times evolve into beautiful decriptive prose that has me reading in rapt attention. I think it is those times that I struggled with decades ago. So, this is a book that demands a fair degree of attention in order to fully appreciate.

The personal experiece knowledge Helprin brings to life, through his characters, is immaculate. I always feel as though he knows intimately what he is talking about whether it be war, rock climbing, music, horses.... He often uses a technique where he builds a situation to a crescendo then ends the chapter before he gives the ending. Even then you will almost certainly know what the result was. If you do not it will be ferenced later to assure your perspective. It is his incredible descriptive use of prose that allows this be comprehensible.

Helprin is unique. He writes like a painter paints, weaving testures and colors into expressive ideas. Thus his works relay the story so slowly, at times, it can be difficult. If you are up for the challenge you will find yourself on a beautiful literary trip.

2 people found this helpful

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JBK123

Ranks with "Gates of Fire" and "The Killer Angels"

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2014

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This Book drew me in the way "Gates of Fire" and "Killer Angels" did. I always wanted to know what was to happen next, but not in the form of a cliffhanger, but because I was so interested in the character, and the well-written cast around him.The main character is flawed, likeable, interesting,

The book takes Alessandro through a series of situations and adventures almost like "Candide". You wonder if he will survive, stay true to himself, his family, country, comrades, and love. He evolves from a somewhat self-absorbed lightweight intellectual into a man nearly parallel with the Greek ideal of warrior-poet.

The book covers some of the alpine fighting in World War I, as well as the periods before and immediately after the war. Alessandro knows more than his share of the trials of the military, The writing is tight. compact, but in no way dense. There is a lot of "there" there.

The central theme of the book is not the war, but the specific character in it, and how it affects him. Don't get it as a reference book for the war, but do get it, and go on the journey for the sake of the beauty of the trip.

I very much liked it, and I will read it again, because I want to go through those experiences with Alessandro again.

20 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Gehrig Schultz

Too much

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2017

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I have to say that although Helprin's language and imagery are beautiful that by page 600 it was rather too much to have Alessandro bounce from death sentence to aerie in the Alps to prisoner of war in a pacifist cavalry. Sort of a Forest Gump romp through the Italian First World War. If this book was 300 pages shorter, it would become a classic.

bmi

A truly great writer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 2, 2013

Verified Purchase

Mark Helprin, with the exception of Freddy and Fredericka, is one of those amazing writers most people don't know about.

I was introduced to him by an American academic and have now read all his novels.

It's wonderful. A love story, a story of friendship a story of the war in the Alps. The characters are amazing, the prose is luminous.

Try it you will not be disappointed.

C. Chessell

Found at Last!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2013

Verified Purchase

I loved this book the first time around and thought so much of it that I gave my copy to someone else but I wanted to still have a copy in my library. It is a keeper and I don't keep many books at all. Really worth a go. Grateful to the book company that sold me a copy in very good condition for a fantastic price. Thanks

Jonathan Wright

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

Good stuff

P. Yates

Splendid

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 25, 2010

Verified Purchase

On a par with Birdsong (from seb faulks), loved every minute could not put it down, and now need to find something similar to carry on

One person found this helpful

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