"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Wednesday, March 02, 2022

The Good Soldier (Ford Madox Ford, 1915)

(199 pages)

I very much liked Parade's End, so was quite interested in trying this novel.

Maybe I missed something - but I'm not recommending this one.

An American couple hang out, a lot, with a British couple in Europe.  Florence (wife in American couple) and Edward (in British couple) suffer from heart problems and need to be treated delicately; they spend time at a spa every year.

The books is written entirely from perspective of the American husband.

The author's introduction tells us that he intended to name this "The Saddest Story", but the publisher felt it wouldn't sell.  Author often does describe this as "the saddest story" while recounting innumerable sad things.

Which, for me, is not a recipe for a good read.

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