A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry

tbh

I'll start this post by stating up front, I've never written a book review before, and I'm no literature scholar by any means. What I'm going to write won't do this book justice at all, so if anyone can help me develop my thoughts, I'd be eternally grateful.

A Long Long Way is the story of Willie Dunne, who was born in Dublin in 1896. Having lost his mother in childhood, Willie develops a close relationship with his father, who is a high ranking policeman working for Dublin Castle. Willie's dream is to follow his father into the force, but he doesn't meet the minimum height. In a bid to make up for his shortcomings, he joins the army and is sent to the trenches of World War I. At home on leave, he is deployed briefly against the 1916 rising, and witnesses the death of a rebel his own age. The rebellion itself upsets and confuses him, and leads him to wonder what exactly it is he is fighting for.

The story is a gritty and bleak account of the life of an average soldier at the front in the first world war. It's written in a style I found quite similar to John McGahern, in that Barry makes great use of language to paint a scene which draws the reader in because of it's normalcy. I really felt like I knew the main characters, and I felt (or at least I hoped) that the reactions they displayed to what was happening around them would have been similar to my own. These were not career army types. Most of them had touchingly pathetic reasons for joining the army in the first place, and they were doing the best they could to deal with the situation they found themselves in.

It's the type of book I call a "slice of life" in that it doesn't have a plot, as such. It's more a description of how the war affected a particular group of men, and the families they left behind. While Willie is the main character, there probably isn't anything about him that makes him a more compelling central character than any of the other characters featured, but I think that's one of the messages that really got through to me. Here is just one story, out of millions.

I finished reading this book yesterday, and I've been thinking about it ever since, which is always a good sign with me - as I've said I've never written a book review before either, but I was moved to this time. It's a fantastic book, touching, moving and profoundly thought-provoking.

would love to hear any opinions.