Major Tietjens in the trenches at a very hot spot a few months before the end of the war, that's the meat of the book, and then Miss Wannop in London on Armistice day forms the bookends. The entire action on the front might be just half an hour or so. There is nothing dull or contrived in it at all. There is a nice sentence or two here that captures the notion of aristocracy that Tietjens carries around in his head, how a gentleman should do nothing at all. And some nobless oblige, about keeping the tenant farmers well equipped etc. There some mention too of the 1918 influenza pandemic, rather timely for me as I read this in the covid-19 pandemic. Ha, the opening part with Miss Wannop covers a full ten minutes, so that's even more compressed! The whole thing is really top notch! ( )

Almost finished reading this *on Armistice Day* but not quite. Review now up on my blog. ( )

This is the third volume in the Parade's End tetralogy. In this volume we follow Tietjens to the front lines of World War I and then see how his story continues through a long section set in London on Armistice Day, 11/11/18. I loved this volume almost as much as the first volume, Some Do Not... It allows us to get back to the balance between civilian life and warfare that was missing from the previous books, No More Parades. In this volume we see the way that Tietjens earns the somewhat grudging admiration of his men after his commanding officer is declared incompetent due to alcoholism. There is a strong thematic focus on sanity--how one remains sane in the face of something like World War I. As an art historian, I felt that this theme resonates with the artistic production of many postwar art movements, such as Dada.

The second half of the book deals with the celebrations on Armistice Day and resolves the romantic tension between Christopher and Valentine by examining both their interior monologues as they reconcile their moral beliefs with their desire to find happiness. The seismic social shifts caused by the war also force the main characters to reassess the validity of what Ford sets up as premodern values of chastity and self-abnegation. I found this section very moving and almost as tense as the battle scenes! In this volume the postwar situation is most fruitfully compared to prewar values. ( )

Part 3 of Ford's 'Parade's End' quartet. The style of writing and constant references to things of which i have no knowledge still is a problem for me. Very little happens in this volume. I am not really sure if this book could ever be read alone to the point that anyone would have any idea what was going on.Thus the other 2 previous volumes have saved me. This did have some rather graphic representations of what it was like to actually be in the trenches of WWI, and for that, I am appreciative. Much of the book is one man's sense of what this war chapter of his life is for him and the mental gymnastics necessary to not go mad. So the writing style is actually remarkably accurate as to how our minds are constantly jumping around from seemingly random topic to random topic....but it is much easier to follow when it is in your own mind! While these books are struggling to reach the 3 star level from me, my 3-volume investment thus far is such that i will definitely finish the 4th of the set, but only after a break with something with a little less heft. [Oh, and i love these original little orange Penguin Books paperbacks!!] ( )