a-long-long-way1Synopsis from book cover: “One of the most vivid and realised characters of recent fiction, Willie Dunne is the innocent hero of Sebastian Barry’s highly acclaimed novel.  Leaving Dublin to fight for the Allied cause as a member of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, he finds himself caught between the war playing out on foreign fields and that festering at home, waiting to erupt with the Easter Rising.  Profoundly moving, intimate and epic, A Long Long Way charts and evokes a terrible coming of age, one too often written out in history.”

I read this for my book group and yesterday we met to discuss it, so what did we all think of it?

I think it is probably the first book that we have read that we all agreed on.  We thought it was an excellent novel although we all got so wrapped up in the narrative we had to remind ourselves that it was a novel and not a biography.  The characters are very well drawn and filled out.  The descriptions of what it was like on a WW1 battlefield and in the trenches were so well described you actually thought you were there yourself.  It describes the awful conditions and lack of food and it portrays many different human emotions; fear, love, loss, betrayal, confusion etc  The narrative is very lyrical which makes the book quite compelling despite the horrific details of the battlefield.  One of the most awful passages for me was the description of the first time they soldiers encountered mustard gas!

The author also manages to bring in the political aspect of the war and the Irish situation and reasons for why some of the Irish soldiers were taking part in the war.  The political views of the main character change as the war leaves it mark on him, leaving him to feel confused about the situation.

I would thoroughly recommend anyone to read this book, especially if you are interested in WW1.

2 Comments CherryPie on May 16th 2009

2 Responses to “A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry”

  1. jmb says:

    Sounds like an interesting book Cherie. World War I had such a powerful influence on everyone, changing so many lives and so many people’s ideas about war.

    • CherryPie says:

      It is a very interesting book, it brings into sharp focus what it was actually like experience battle during WW1. It shows the awfulness and the humanity.