birdsong

i've just finished reading the book birdsong by sebastian faulks. i'm not usually any great war story reader, but this one i couldn't put down (cover to cover in 6 days). the book promises to be disturbing and it most certainly is. rather than the usually glamourised description of the first world war it is much more horrific, full of the fear and suffering that went on in the trenches. what is most disturbing however is that i don't really want to believe it, like the michael moore books i want to believe that it is a cynical negative view that isn't really true.

stephen, the main character, manages to find two reasons to go on fighting, firstly is to see just how far he and the other soldiers can go or be pushed, and secondly is for the sake of those people who haven't even been born yet, for the sake of the children who are yet to come. at one point, when stephen is comforting a dying man, he tries to persuade him that it is worth living because when the war is over he can go back home and start a family, when even that argument isn't strong enough for his dying comrade, he promises that if he survives he will have children himself, in memory of his doomed friend.

i don't know that i have any great point to bring, except that i am reminded of the importance of children, both to us and infinitely more to God. 'lest we forget'

as with most of my book/cd/film favourites i am several years behind (birdsong was published in 1993 or something) but i reccomend it none the less!

just one final thought... why is it that a 400+ page novel i can read in 6 days, but a 300 page theology book takes me months...