A Soldier of the Great War (Mark Helprin, 1991)

(860 pages)

Premise a bit implausible - that this 70+ year old (the protagonist, Alessandro Giuliani) could walk overnight x kilometers alongside a kid he just met.  And I didn't love those parts of the book as much as when the author switched to just describing Alessandro's life and adventures (fortunately, that was most of the book).  (Mentioning this upfront but it's not a major problem - I'd definitely recommend this book.)

There are early passages that seem to be just floating out there, but author does a really good job of tying things together - sometimes with aspects I had forgotten over the course of hundreds of pages.

Quite a few fantasy touches - protagonist gets into multiple amazing situations, survives incredible dangers, meets one elite person after the next; the whole Orfeo (he of the blessed sap) story line.

As a youngster - encounter with Austrian soldiers, princess (and her fat relative), gondola ride with stricken orchestra member; horsemanship and the neighbor's daughter; mountaineering with Rafi. The lawyer Giuliani (his father)  Loves the family garden.

When get to wartime - stories of varied venues [northern Italy version of trench/front lines; dealing with deserters in two distinct ways; military prison; alpine maneuvering; POW], mostly areas that I've read much less about, so that part is interesting.

The kinds of conversations held by folks facing near-certain death; how they think of what might lie on the other side (or not); will I be remembered?  Author does a good job on this.

Author's technique of not writing scenes all the way to a conclusion - just giving the reader enough to know what's going to happen and leaving it to imagination - then picking up the story line - this really works well, I liked it.  Though he probably should have used the technique in the last half dozen pages.

Plenty of memorable characters - I liked Strassnitzky - the pacifist field marshal.  A general on the winter line charged with sending the Italian troops up towards Innsbruck - does a great job talking about the absurdity of what they were doing.

Alessandro's life gives a vehicle for the author to meditate on the nature of religious faith, the nature of love - for family-of-origin, for war buddies, for wife and child - of course there are no hard answers to any of this, but he offers lovely, thought-provoking things about these topics.

Proust-type touches - how memory of important people and events stays with us; also Alessandro's training in aesthetics - seeing beauty, linking to works of art. Significant chunks of the story line revolve around a couple art works; interesting.