- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Virago Press Ltd; New edition edition (30 Jun 1980)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0860681440
- ISBN-13: 978-0860681441
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.4 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 52,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Return of the Soldier (Modern Library Classics)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Rebecca West - highly intelligent, highly gifted, vital, original, combative, formidable and kind - was a great woman' VICTORIA GLENDINNING
Book Description
This is a masterful novel about a shell-shocked, amnesiac soldier returning from WWI to the three women who love him.
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First Sentence
"Ah, don't begin to fuss!" wailed Kitty. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
"Ah, don't begin to fuss!" wailed Kitty. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Every now and then I will read a novel that makes me wonder why I don't try to cut down on the other things in my life and dedicate more time to reading. The Return of the Soldier is one such book. It is to be frank a masterpiece which will greatly affect how you look upon the world and reflect on your own attitudes to life and love.
The story is simple but the book is far from a simple story. It tells of a shell shocked soldier Chris who escapes the horrors of Flanders by blotting out the last fifteen years of his life and returning to a passionate love affair of the past. He has no recollection of what has occurred since, of his marriage to the gloriously shallow and vain Kitty, of his having to take on the responsibilities of providing the wealth to allow his family to continue their affluent existence, to furnish Baldry Court with beautiful things, of the death of his father and of his own son.
But the story is not his; it belongs to the three women of his life: Kitty his wife, Jenny his childhood friend who has always loved him, and the now dowdy Margaret whose subsequent hardships in life since he left hers fifteen years ago have taken their toll on her. But more than anything it is the story of class attitudes, of England when a stiff upper lip was the order of the day and when “duty” mattered. A story of the contrasts between those who are not able to do as they wish and those sheltered from the realities of life by having all the comforts of life provided to them. It’s a story about those who have “partaken of the inalienable dignity of a requited love”, of those who have known the love of another and those whose souls have been left bitter by the lack of such. It’s a bygone age when England countryside really was the garden of Eden and the full realities of the 20th Century had not been realised.
The book is full of wonderful insights and memorable passages such as when Kitty is to meet the doctor who will “cure” Chris and return him not only to the present but also back to Flanders and the horrors of the war. It is Jenny who as she begins to see the ugliness of Kitty’s sole reflects, “Beautiful women of her type lose, in this matter of admiration alone, their tremendous sense of class distinction: they are obscurely aware that it is their mission to flash the jewel of their beauty before all men, so that they desire it and work to get the wealth to buy it. And thus be seduced by a present appetite to a tilling of the earth that serves the future.” The novel is short but it is a big story and one I have no hesitation in recommending.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm 14 but although I struggled with the language, The Return of the Soldierhas to be one of the best books I've read in the last four months. The morals behind the tale are unforgettable and really thought provoking as well. The last page had me almost in tears and I reread it just to ascertain that I had the end correct. I haven't been able to get it out of my head all this past week and I doubt I ever will. It isn't the easier of books but if you concentrate on the storyline, you soon forget the language and are drawn into the tale. I would recommend it for anyone of all ages.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Set in 1916, Chris is wounded in France and, shell-shocked, loses his memory. Fifteen years are wiped out and he becomes again the twenty-one year old boy just graduated from university falling in love for the first time, rather than the thirty-six year old man with a wife and responsibilities which he really is. Told through the voice of his devoted cousin, this is a simple and simply-told story which yet is hugely resonent and deeply moving.
There are no literary tricks to the narration, no self-conscious flourishes: and, as readers, we are drawn close inside a detailed and intimate story, that is both emotionally-restrained and feels very true.
The three women - Kitty, the beautiful wife; Jenny, the devoted cousin; Margaret, the lower-class lover - are the focus of the book, and West dissects them and their social places with a scalpel, sharp and accurate.
The Freudian psychology which imbues the end of the story feels a little old-fashioned now, but would have been relatively fresh at the time of writing (1918-19).
Overall this is a much deeper story than appears on the simple surface: the return refers not just to the physical return of Chris, but also his return to his place in the social world of the time and the reassumption of all the responsibilities and privileges that go with that. And his reluctance and stoicism in the face of those is a sad indictment of what is meant (and means?) to be a man.
There are no literary tricks to the narration, no self-conscious flourishes: and, as readers, we are drawn close inside a detailed and intimate story, that is both emotionally-restrained and feels very true.
The three women - Kitty, the beautiful wife; Jenny, the devoted cousin; Margaret, the lower-class lover - are the focus of the book, and West dissects them and their social places with a scalpel, sharp and accurate.
The Freudian psychology which imbues the end of the story feels a little old-fashioned now, but would have been relatively fresh at the time of writing (1918-19).
Overall this is a much deeper story than appears on the simple surface: the return refers not just to the physical return of Chris, but also his return to his place in the social world of the time and the reassumption of all the responsibilities and privileges that go with that. And his reluctance and stoicism in the face of those is a sad indictment of what is meant (and means?) to be a man.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
the return of the soldier
I think this book was a good book even though I had to read it I have to use it for my A level English course about world war one it being a short book made it a better read.
Published 2 months ago by tricia
Amazing book, enthralling story, powerful language
I had to read this novel for a university course on First World War Literature, and I have to say I'm very glad that I did. Read more
Published 3 months ago by AMH1191
Perfectly pitched, beautiful writing
This bittersweet novel has a deceptively simple story which is brought to life through prose which is more like poetry at times; rich and full and evocative without ever being... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Katie Stevens
Engaging and disturbing!
This is an engaging and disturbing story of love lost and found, and lost again and of youth gone to never return. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Dona Rendell
A short read, yet it drags on forever
I am 17 and have just started studying A Level English Literature and the first topic I am studying is WW1 Literature. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2008 by L. Morris
Return of the Soldier
I read this book in order to prepare for teaching the A2 level English Literature course. Most of the texts we teach focus on the experience of life in the front. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2004
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