Actually it's four separate novels; 906 pages in my edition:--Some Do Not . . . (1924)
--No More Parades (1925)
--A Man Could Stand Up -- (1926)
--The Last Post (1928)
Large canvas in hands of skilled writer = fine results.
Something I found effective: Ford varies his writing styles . . . sometimes it made me think of Joyce as in this, but Ford's method never struck me in the show-off way as it feels with Joyce. Over a long book, Ford reveals details in unexpected ways that build interest, changes the tempo, creates empathy with lead characters. You end up really wanting things to go well for them, which makes the ending quite tense.
Sylvia Tietjens - an amazing character - took skill to develop.
Author's ability to give glimpses of "what it felt like" in widely varying venues:
--WWI - especially from the perspective of folks (like Christopher Tietjens) not really designed to be there - death, shelling, bureaucracy
--Brit aristocracy
--Brit aristocracy in a changing time
--intensity and confusion of forming a romantic relationship in such difficult circumstances
--Brit bureaucracy
--the world of a younger son in Brit aristocracy
--even the world of folks working for the Tietjens family
Characters/threads
--Christopher Tietjens
--Valentine Wannop; her writer-mother
--Groby Great Tree
--MacMaster (Scottish non-aristocrat, makes good) and his wife
--Mark Tietjens
--England - London, countryside
The overall theme of course is "change" - many write about WWI this way - not sure any do it more effectively.
A thought on "change" during those years: Thomas Hardy's striking book was written in 1895, and the relationship as described between Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead created a sensation - compare to Christopher Tietjens and Valentine Wannop (or Mark Tietjens and Marie Leonie, for that matter). Just one more area (if an incredibly important one) where things had changed, a lot, and quickly.
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