Any modern novel that takes on the difficult task of painting a narrative picture of the horrors of war especially the First World War has to be appreciated. Whilst "All quiet on the western front " brought to a previous generation the horrors of the trenches I can really only think of Pat Barkers Regeneration Trilogy for the last years of the 20th century. A novel like this, for me, also has to be factually correct in its descriptive passages. There is a massive wealth of Autobiographies, Biographies and histories with first hand accounts of the trenches, equipment and after action reports so any modern novel cannot fail in the research areas. My personal view is probably too critical having spent many years reading just military biographies and histories. In these areas though Birdsong doesn't disappoint at all, highly graphic and disturbingly detailed, believable in all respects. The novel isn't just about the First World War though; we follow the main character before the war in France and there is a complex love triangle which provides the background for the character as he moves though the disillusionment of lost love then the horror of war.

Reviews of this novel often speak of the erotic nature of many of the passages, there is a love affair within the story and the scenes are given in a graphic nature but given the combat passages these pale into insignificance. After all what's worse - descriptive erotic sex scenes between consenting adults or descriptive accounts of men being blown into their component parts by shot and shell? However the superb descriptive narrative alone can't hold the novel together it starts very well set in France just before the war then moving quickly on to the trenches. It appears to lose pace and the addition in the later stages of a woman in 1978 attempting to find out what happened to the main characters by trying to piece together forgotten diaries just appears to be thrown together. The fact she has to be in 1978 - to enable her to meet people from the war generation - seems contrived and the character herself lacks credibility. The various plot threads whilst appearing at the beginning to gel together come apart badly and the ending seems forced and rushed. In the end, after having the harrowing wartime experiences of the main character brought to me as a reader I found I wasn't bothered at the end as it sort of fizzled out. All in all then a well written book with some superb descriptive passages but the flimsy pretexts for the characters coming together and the late addition of less well drawn characters weakens the already thin plot - which is sad as the main portion of the book is quite superb. That said it is better than many novels and an interesting read with gripping and disturbing passages in equal measure.