I hate to start reviews on a pessimistic note, but I'm very relieved to have finished this book. Not
Midnight's Children relieved, not even
The Count Of Monte Cristo relieved; this book was not as challenging linguistically or plot wise as these two respectively. In fact, the language and plot were both easily understood. No, I was relieved to finish for a far more sinister reason; to put it bluntly, it bored me.
Told from the perspective of American John Dowell,
The Good Soldier tells the tale of the narrator's experiences with Leonora and Edward Ashburnham in the early 1900s, revealing the latter couple's life history and personal tragedies along the way. Dowell is in awe of Edward, hence calling him 'the good soldier'...all in spite of Edward's selfish actions that not only hurt his own wife Leonora, but also Dowell himself.
Of course, I'm always one to appreciate originality; there's no doubt that the way it's written is both unique and revolutionary for the 1920s. The narrator does not tell a chronological tale; it follows the natural ebb and flow of hindsight recollection. When I compare it to another outside-narrator telling the tale of one he admires-
The Great Gatsby- I wonder how one can bore me so much, and one can be my favourite book of all tim.? I think the differences lie in both the language- Nick lived through Fitzgerald's beautiful words in
TGG- and the characterisation. Though both are flawed, somehow Gatsby and Nick conjured up more sympathy in me than Ashburnham and Dowell. Unfortunately, the only character I ended up liking in
TGS, and that I felt was truly three dimensional, was the long-suffering Leonora...made all the more likeable by Dowell's constand disdain for her. When reading a book, I've realised that although I don't necessarily need to like EVERY aspect of a
narrator.. but I do need to feel
some sort of sympathy and understanding. I understand Dowell's bitterness, but feel that it is directed towards the wrong people.
So, this is the first review I've written where I would not necessarily recommend the book. Apparently, the book's original title was
The Saddest Story, but after WW1, Ford's publishers believed this inappropriate, and asked for another title.
The Good Soldier
was the author's sarcastic suggestion, but one I feel gave extra personality that- in my opinion- both Dowell and the novel needed. It makes the reader see Dowell from the offset as an admirer, not a depressive.
Despite all my criticism, ironically the final pages, after all that tedium, were a surprisingly moving conclusion. If only the narrator had been this dynamic the whole way through, instead of speaking in the mournful, self-loathing voice he chooses instead...this book could have been up there with
The Great Gatsby as one of my favourites.
