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Product Description
Product Description
Alec and Jerry shouldn't have been friends: Alec's life was one of privilege, while Jerry's was one of toil. But this hardly mattered to two young men whose shared love of horses brought them together and whose whole lives lay ahead of them.
When war breaks out in 1914, both Jerry and Alec sign up - yet for quite different reasons. On the fields of Flanders they find themselves standing together, but once again divided: as officer and enlisted man.
And it is there, surrounded by mud and chaos and death, that one of them makes a fateful decision whose consequences will test their friendship and loyalty to breaking point.
About the Author
Jennifer Johnston was born in Dublin in 1930 and is one of our foremost Irish writers. Her fifteen novels include The Old Jest, winner of the Whitbread Prize, The Captains and the Kings, winner of the Evening Standard Best First Novel Award and the Yorkshire Post Award for Best Book of the Year and Shadows on Our Skin which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her novel Fools Mortals was published in 2007. She lives in County Derry.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel, written by Jennifer Johnston tells the tale of two young men from Ireland, one a Catholic peasant, and the other, the son of a Protestant landowner. The book goes on to tell how,they forged a life long friendship, and followed each other to the ends of the earth, all set against the stark sectarian background of pre independent Ireland. The plot develops around Alexander, the protestant, and how his relationship with his mother drove him to leave for the war and Jerry his Catholic friend, who dreams of an independent Ireland. The book, paints a clear vivid and truly disgusting picture of the hardship and suffering endured by all men who went to fight in World War 1, whether they were rich or poor, hero or villain. This novel is a truly compelling account of both Irish life, and life in the war, at the early part of the 20th century. This book contrasts strained family relationships with iron clad friendships, the comfort of the "Big House" with the squalor of the trenches. In short this book is a vivid, startling and precise reflection on life during World War 1
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This short novel holds a few surprises well worth waiting for. Written by the Dublin born Ms Johnston, now living across the border in Derry, it examines the Irish political landscape,
through a personal not a political lens as it follows the fortunes of Alex from the Big House and Jerry, an Irish peasant.
Written by Alex as a first person narrative it gives the reader a distinct feeling of getting up close and personal. You feel like you're eavesdropping.
Truth to tell nothing much happens for a while. A sense of ennui begins to set in for the reader mirroring the lifestyle of the two young protagonists. At times you wonder if it is just another tableau of the Anglo- Irish class and their peasant peers. World War 1 is the backdrop.
A surprising element for me was finding Patrick Pearse , leader of the Irish 1916 revolution, coming to life in its pages. Pearse is so often nothing more than a relic of some very distant past.
The book takes off when the two young men enlist and set off to serve at the Front.
Johnston never resorts to hyperbole, yet she manages to convey a very real sense of the horror and degradation of the trenches of World War 1.Both young men are so credible. Neither of them especially motivated by lofty political ideas but rather like most people stumbling along through life's events trying to make some sense of it all.
But no cosseted life in the Big House nor the discipline of Army life could adequately prepare the two young protagonists for the dilemma they face towards the end.This was a veritable crisis of conscience where nothing less than a personal response would do.
The descriptions of nature and the changing of the seasons capture the quintessence of the damp Irish climate like no other I've come across.The Big House is beatifully captured both in its splendour and its often dark, dismal interiors.
This is not the usual tale of larger than life war heroes but a down-to - earth portrayal of the harsh reality of war. A glimpse of young First World War manhood together with telling glimpses of class division. Once you get started you can't stop till you finish it. Well worth reading.
through a personal not a political lens as it follows the fortunes of Alex from the Big House and Jerry, an Irish peasant.
Written by Alex as a first person narrative it gives the reader a distinct feeling of getting up close and personal. You feel like you're eavesdropping.
Truth to tell nothing much happens for a while. A sense of ennui begins to set in for the reader mirroring the lifestyle of the two young protagonists. At times you wonder if it is just another tableau of the Anglo- Irish class and their peasant peers. World War 1 is the backdrop.
A surprising element for me was finding Patrick Pearse , leader of the Irish 1916 revolution, coming to life in its pages. Pearse is so often nothing more than a relic of some very distant past.
The book takes off when the two young men enlist and set off to serve at the Front.
Johnston never resorts to hyperbole, yet she manages to convey a very real sense of the horror and degradation of the trenches of World War 1.Both young men are so credible. Neither of them especially motivated by lofty political ideas but rather like most people stumbling along through life's events trying to make some sense of it all.
But no cosseted life in the Big House nor the discipline of Army life could adequately prepare the two young protagonists for the dilemma they face towards the end.This was a veritable crisis of conscience where nothing less than a personal response would do.
The descriptions of nature and the changing of the seasons capture the quintessence of the damp Irish climate like no other I've come across.The Big House is beatifully captured both in its splendour and its often dark, dismal interiors.
This is not the usual tale of larger than life war heroes but a down-to - earth portrayal of the harsh reality of war. A glimpse of young First World War manhood together with telling glimpses of class division. Once you get started you can't stop till you finish it. Well worth reading.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I expected more of this book after reading the reviews, but was left somewhat disappointed. I found the style of writing clunky in places, and, particularly in the latter half of the book, the dialogue was written more as you would expect in a play rather than a novel - in fact it might work better on stage than on the page. The most effective part of the story was that telling of life in Ireland, where you got a real sense of oppression and unhappiness in Alec's home. The latter half of the book, set in the trenches, for me was less successful. And other books depict this aspect of the First World War better than this, e.g. Sebastian Foulkes, Pat Barker. The biggest indictment of the book for me was that as I approached the end, and the inevitable, which had been sign-posted at the start of the book, I wasn't moved by their situation, and didn't much care what happened to either of the two protagonists.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Ireland and the First World War
Jennifer Johnston does not seem to as revered among contemporary Irish writers in quite the way she should be. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Alexis Paladin
Magnificent - a book to read and re-read
I first read this book at school for GCSE English - and now, 15 years later, I still regularly read it. Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2008 by Lesley
A heart-wrenching First World War story
With the huge popularity of other more recent World War One literature, such as "Birdsong", "Regeneration" etc. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2008 by S. Barnes
Quick but enjoyable!
I just LOVE this book to pieces. I,too, like some of the other reviewers had to read it as part of my english course in the Leaving cert but it was oceans away from the normal... Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2007 by Celtise
this book is simply awesome
I must say I was first put off by the small amount of pages in the book(156 pages) but after reading it, it didn't make a blind bit of differance,It's simply amazing, a real... Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2002
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