Quote:
Originally Posted by Billi
I just got my library copy and can start reading this evening. I think this book is a good companion to "Testament of Youth" and "The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon" as well as "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "The Rites of Spring" from the general book club this year. We now have the First World War broadly covered!
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Under Fire is indeed a good companion to the books we've read (although I missed Sassoon). I feel that it is the most beautifully written. I don't think I've read a book using such powerful and beautiful language since Fermor's A Time of Gifts.
I've never been quite clear on what makes a book 'literary' fiction. But I must know it when I see it because I have no doubt that this book qualifies. I expected Under Fire to be an important book, but I'm delighted that it is also a pleasure to read because of the author's (and translator's) mastery of language.
Thanks, Billi, for bringing this book to our attention.