This discussion is now closed.
Check out other Related discussions
- Twelfth Night A Level English Literature (Edexcel)
- Books to compare (for coursework/comparative essays)
- The Tempest - Alonso, Gonzalo or Sebastian
- A level English literature, 2020
- System error
- Assignment Helper Here
- An Offer-Holder's Guide to Applying for English at Oxbridge
- AQA A Level English Literature A Paper 2 (7712/2A and 2B) 8 June 2023 [Exam Chat]
- English Language Question 5
- Books
- Name a boy's name which starts with the last letter of the above name
- Im getting annoyed at my friend and idk what to do
- Hello, my name is the-tempest!
- Accounting & Finance
- Make it More Magazine-ey !!
- Drama School Audition - Monologue suggestions
- I literally can’t concentrate at all and Im falling behind on everything :(
- Make it More Underwear-ey !!
- Maths Requirements of universities in Netherlands
- Make it More Foreign Language-ey !!
'Birdsong' by Sebastian Faulkes
I've just finished it. It was extremely moving..but too sexually explicit for my liking.
For some strange reason 'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpugo, which is aimed at 10-12 year olds,moved me much much more.
'Birdsong' is more gritty and goes deep into how war affects the soldiers. The images of horror that Stephen sees are haunting but there's something about it that i didnt completely feel comfortable with....perhaps it was the way adultery was treated. I mean Elizabeth doesnt have any guilty feelings about her affair.
Anyway , the most moving part for me was when Jack and stephen are underground and Jack describes his love for his dead son and Stephen says that he will have a child for Jack. That part was so poignant.
I give the novel about 7/10
What do you think?
For some strange reason 'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpugo, which is aimed at 10-12 year olds,moved me much much more.
'Birdsong' is more gritty and goes deep into how war affects the soldiers. The images of horror that Stephen sees are haunting but there's something about it that i didnt completely feel comfortable with....perhaps it was the way adultery was treated. I mean Elizabeth doesnt have any guilty feelings about her affair.
Anyway , the most moving part for me was when Jack and stephen are underground and Jack describes his love for his dead son and Stephen says that he will have a child for Jack. That part was so poignant.
I give the novel about 7/10
What do you think?
Scroll to see replies
It's truly a masterpiece of a novel. With regard to sexuality in the novel I don’t find it too explicit at all; it’s merely realist. Of course it’s totally subjective and no doubt depends on your age and possibly even (dare I say it?) your sex.
However, if you're interested in novels that deal with the psychological side of the war, I suggest you take a look at Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy. The first book is particularly good for this.
However, if you're interested in novels that deal with the psychological side of the war, I suggest you take a look at Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy. The first book is particularly good for this.
Thanks, i guess you're right. How old are you and what gender?
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it. I love WW1 literature.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it. I love WW1 literature.
I still haven't decided my stance on Birdsong. I'm not sure whether I thought it was good or not. There are definitely excellent parts though.
I second Endymion - read Regeneration. However, if you don't really like sexual explicitness (is that a word?) you might not want to read the second and third books in the series!
I second Endymion - read Regeneration. However, if you don't really like sexual explicitness (is that a word?) you might not want to read the second and third books in the series!
supercat
I still haven't decided my stance on Birdsong. I'm not sure whether I thought it was good or not. There are definitely excellent parts though.
I second Endymion - read Regeneration. However, if you don't really like sexual explicitness (is that a word?) you might not want to read the second and third books in the series!
I second Endymion - read Regeneration. However, if you don't really like sexual explicitness (is that a word?) you might not want to read the second and third books in the series!
Very true. I can't recall which book from the trilogy it is, but I love the fact you end up with a homosexual tryst after only 2 pages. If you thought Birdsong was explicit, then stay well away from these books!
haha i have issues with this book, it was on our school book list for years 9-10 and so in year 10 i got it and was so shocked about the sexual stuff lol! I told my teacher i think they should have take it off the list for year 9's. I really didn't think it is v suitable for 13/14 yr olds!
beth_geog
haha i have issues with this book, it was on our school book list for years 9-10 and so in year 10 i got it and was so shocked about the sexual stuff lol! I told my teacher i think they should have take it off the list for year 9's. I really didn't think it is v suitable for 13/14 yr olds!
Why not? Sex education is taught earlier than that and compared to what I bet a lot of 13/14 year olds know about sex / have been up to sex wise, it's probably nothing.
Birdsong was one of the texts I used in my A2 Eng lit coursework essay last year (the other was Regeneration.) I can't say I really liked reading the book that much, although it's undeniably powerful in parts. I preferred the Regeneration trilogy much more.
too sexually explicit
It was hardly pornographic literature!!
too sexually explicit
It was hardly pornographic literature!!
Birdsong is undoubtedly a moving and well writen book. Perhaps the best part of Faulk's writing is his evocation of period and details and so on. You can really get a sense of the time, it's just a bit hard to describe.
The first part of the book shocked me immensely at first. Yes, I have had a sheltered life! But it is not at all gratuitous- you can see how events prior to the start of the war helped to develop the character.
The second part is perhaps the most moving evocation of the war that I have ever read. It did genuinely move me to tears- and very few books do that.
I went on to read Charlotte Gray, which is a partial sequel to Birdsong. I didn't think it was as good.
The first part of the book shocked me immensely at first. Yes, I have had a sheltered life! But it is not at all gratuitous- you can see how events prior to the start of the war helped to develop the character.
The second part is perhaps the most moving evocation of the war that I have ever read. It did genuinely move me to tears- and very few books do that.
I went on to read Charlotte Gray, which is a partial sequel to Birdsong. I didn't think it was as good.
evenstar88
I've just finished it. It was extremely moving..but too sexually explicit for my liking.
For some strange reason 'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpugo, which is aimed at 10-12 year olds,moved me much much more.
'Birdsong' is more gritty and goes deep into how war affects the soldiers. The images of horror that Stephen sees are haunting but there's something about it that i didnt completely feel comfortable with....perhaps it was the way adultery was treated. I mean Elizabeth doesnt have any guilty feelings about her affair.
Anyway , the most moving part for me was when Jack and stephen are underground and Jack describes his love for his dead son and Stephen says that he will have a child for Jack. That part was so poignant.
I give the novel about 7/10
What do you think?
For some strange reason 'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpugo, which is aimed at 10-12 year olds,moved me much much more.
'Birdsong' is more gritty and goes deep into how war affects the soldiers. The images of horror that Stephen sees are haunting but there's something about it that i didnt completely feel comfortable with....perhaps it was the way adultery was treated. I mean Elizabeth doesnt have any guilty feelings about her affair.
Anyway , the most moving part for me was when Jack and stephen are underground and Jack describes his love for his dead son and Stephen says that he will have a child for Jack. That part was so poignant.
I give the novel about 7/10
What do you think?
I liked Birdsong. The first third, i thought i'd stumbled upon the wrong book, safe to say it was NOT about war. The sex was just sex, please lets not call it porn!
I found the book moving, especially the part when the germans find stephen and they embrace. It really was well written and showed the scale of war, stephen and levi were just part of the machine that is warfare.
However, i did also feel that the concequences of adultery were kind of overlooked, and i didn't really find the ending satisfactory.
What about Roberts wife? Would he ever leave her? How could Elizabeth be so happy being so selfish? ( he had his own children and she was content to continue an affair because it was convenient and suited her). I don't know, i could understand Isabelle, Azaire was abusive, but Roberts wife was never really mentioned. 
when i first began to read birdsong, i found it incredibly boring and in parts the language seemed to be unstructured, it was hard to encourage myself to keep reading. After you get used to Faulks' style it does become easier and you find yourself almost gripped on what is going to happen. Parts of the book were extremely far-fetched like when Stephen and the tunneler bloke who lost his son, were trapped underground, there was no way the tunneler would have survived as long as he did and slim chance Stephen would have. The sexual parts of the book seemed to have been Faulks' favourite parts to write as they were the most detailed parts. I think they were well written it's not often you get someone willing to explicitly state what does happen in the bedroom and it would have been out of character for Faulks to just have said " and he had his way with her", for Isabelle it was a revelation, some freedom from her sexual frustrations to have a tender lover and to be shown affection rather than be hit. There were parts of the war that were a little too detailed for my liking it became nauseating in places, like when the guy was hanging on enemy barbed wire and had been shot at so much, his head was missing, or after dark when the surface of the mud was crawling with activity and there was a low groaning (reminded me of zombie style things), but again i have to say that any less detail would have been out of character and well lets face it- without the detail the book would have been boring all throughout. The theme of adultery was justified in Isabelle's case, no man in any time should feel he has the right to treat a woman like that, but i did feel sorry for Azaire he seemed to be a lonely, work driven, affection starved man who missed his first wife dearly. Robert on the other hand, well we aren't told of his situation with his wife so i feel he shouldn't have cheated let alone, let himself become a father and still not leave his wife and Elizabeth should have been more mature and thoughtful of his wife and children there was no need for her to continue a relationship it gives us women a bad name for being adulterous lol! The ending seemed rushed like it hadn't been properly thought out or matured, it seemed to abrupt after all the reader had experienced in the book,too unsatisfying, doesn't do itself justice- like you would think of the dead soldiers when your baby had just been born, it could have been done better.
evenstar88
I've just finished it. It was extremely moving..but too sexually explicit for my liking.
For some strange reason 'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpugo, which is aimed at 10-12 year olds,moved me much much more.
'Birdsong' is more gritty and goes deep into how war affects the soldiers. The images of horror that Stephen sees are haunting but there's something about it that i didnt completely feel comfortable with....perhaps it was the way adultery was treated. I mean Elizabeth doesnt have any guilty feelings about her affair.
Anyway , the most moving part for me was when Jack and stephen are underground and Jack describes his love for his dead son and Stephen says that he will have a child for Jack. That part was so poignant.
I give the novel about 7/10
What do you think?
For some strange reason 'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpugo, which is aimed at 10-12 year olds,moved me much much more.
'Birdsong' is more gritty and goes deep into how war affects the soldiers. The images of horror that Stephen sees are haunting but there's something about it that i didnt completely feel comfortable with....perhaps it was the way adultery was treated. I mean Elizabeth doesnt have any guilty feelings about her affair.
Anyway , the most moving part for me was when Jack and stephen are underground and Jack describes his love for his dead son and Stephen says that he will have a child for Jack. That part was so poignant.
I give the novel about 7/10
What do you think?
Just finished reading it and i agree with you , moving but not amazing by a long way. I found it too sexually explicit and was quite indignant at the way they treated adultery with Elizabeth like it was such a good idea to go get pregnant with someone else's husband. I didnt like how the intensity between Stephen and Isabelle was in the later stages of the novel, treated as something insignificant and fickle, when so much of the earlier book had been dominated by it. I thought the story telling at the end was rushed and shabby tbh, and the bit with the germans and Stephen getting out, i nearly stopped reading it! Stephens relationship with Weir was defintely the high point for me, loved the portrayal of the character of Micheal Weir.
FadeToBlackout
I went on to read Charlotte Gray, which is a partial sequel to Birdsong. I didn't think it was as good.
I went on to read Charlotte Gray, which is a partial sequel to Birdsong. I didn't think it was as good.
i've been given charlotte gray by a friend who said it was very good. but should i read birdsong first?
I have just finished the book to. I thought that of the last section, the birth of the baby was unnecessary and it would have been preferable just to leave it in the restaurant when the fnal pieces of Stephen, Isabelle, Jeannes life was revealed.
Initially I anticipated the ending being that Stephen had died in the war, and it was left for Elizabeth to fit together the final pieces...obviously, that was not the case.
I thought the book was good and addressed some interesting points, however, it was too sexually explicit for my liking, and the end was thoroughly disappointing.
Initially I anticipated the ending being that Stephen had died in the war, and it was left for Elizabeth to fit together the final pieces...obviously, that was not the case.
I thought the book was good and addressed some interesting points, however, it was too sexually explicit for my liking, and the end was thoroughly disappointing.
rebel717
Parts of the book were extremely far-fetched like when Stephen and the tunneler bloke who lost his son, were trapped underground, there was no way the tunneler would have survived as long as he did and slim chance Stephen would have.
Why is it that the phrase 'tunneler bloke' sounds less and less literary each second?
For my part I thought it was a masterpiece when I first read it at 15; but one begins to mould their tastes when they're doing a literature degree. Evocative, deliciously explicit, touching and true - but I've read better.
Definitely read Regeneration, its amazing...
The guy who can't eat is so so frightening though
The guy who can't eat is so so frightening though
Bethy
Definitely read Regeneration, its amazing...
The guy who can't eat is so so frightening though
The guy who can't eat is so so frightening though
wait 'til you watch the film
My dad told me to read Birdsong as he found it deeply moving. I don't know about you, but deeply moving my arse! I thought some of it was thought-provoking especially the part where Stephen came out the tunnel with the German (and Firebrace died) and I did enjoy reading it. It's just it didn't have the effect i was expecting. I wouldn't regard it as a classic in any case. The sexual stuff didn't offend me and I can see that Faulkes wanted to evoke the passion that Stephen and Isobel felt but i think some of the detail was a bit unnecessary.
I'd give it 7/10. Though it has made me think more about the horrors the soldiers in the war had to endure, and how they were treated when (or I suppose, if) they came home.
Maybe you have to be older to appreciate it more?
I'd give it 7/10. Though it has made me think more about the horrors the soldiers in the war had to endure, and how they were treated when (or I suppose, if) they came home.
Maybe you have to be older to appreciate it more?
Related discussions
- Twelfth Night A Level English Literature (Edexcel)
- Books to compare (for coursework/comparative essays)
- The Tempest - Alonso, Gonzalo or Sebastian
- A level English literature, 2020
- System error
- Assignment Helper Here
- An Offer-Holder's Guide to Applying for English at Oxbridge
- AQA A Level English Literature A Paper 2 (7712/2A and 2B) 8 June 2023 [Exam Chat]
- English Language Question 5
- Books
- Name a boy's name which starts with the last letter of the above name
- Im getting annoyed at my friend and idk what to do
- Hello, my name is the-tempest!
- Accounting & Finance
- Make it More Magazine-ey !!
- Drama School Audition - Monologue suggestions
- I literally can’t concentrate at all and Im falling behind on everything :(
- Make it More Underwear-ey !!
- Maths Requirements of universities in Netherlands
- Make it More Foreign Language-ey !!
Latest
Trending
Last reply 1 week ago
TSR Goes Green: Do you prefer a print book or an e-reader?Last reply 2 weeks ago
What was the first book that got you into reading?Trending
Last reply 1 week ago
TSR Goes Green: Do you prefer a print book or an e-reader?Last reply 2 weeks ago
What was the first book that got you into reading?
