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The Wars

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 2,543 ratings · 116 reviews

Robert Ross, a sensitive nineteen-year-old Canadian officer, went to war—The War to End All Wars. He found himself in the nightmare world of trench warfare, of mud and smoke, of chlorine gas and rotting corpses. In this world gone mad, Robert Ross performed a last desperate act to declare his commitment to life in the midst of death.

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Paperback, 192 pages

Published January 1st 1979 by Penguin Canada (first published 1977)

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Feb 28, 2011 K.D. Oliveros rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 501 Must Read Books

Shelves: 1001-core, 501, war, favorites, canadian

I almost did it last night. When I finished this book, I was too overjoyed by its beauty, I thought of putting the book in front of me, stand up and applaud. It’s just that I was not at home. I was in a 24-hr Dunkin’ Donuts outlet and people would definitely stare at me and think that I was a losing my mind. I did not know what to do. My head was spinning with joy and I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

Come to think of it, as a reader, how do you celebrate finishing a great novel? At the...more I almost did it last night. When I finished this book, I was too overjoyed by its beauty, I thought of putting the book in front of me, stand up and applaud. It’s just that I was not at home. I was in a 24-hr Dunkin’ Donuts outlet and people would definitely stare at me and think that I was a losing my mind. I did not know what to do. My head was spinning with joy and I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

Come to think of it, as a reader, how do you celebrate finishing a great novel? At the end of a beautiful opera or stage play, you stand up and clap your hands in appreciation. Or even after a movie. So far, in my 47 years of existence on earth and with at least a movie per month, I only saw two movies when people stood up and applauded after the screening and it was not a premiere showing or something. The movies were Dead Poet’s Society (1989) and Titanic (1997) which shows somehow that Filipinos, in general, know how to appreciate good works of art. I was one of them inside those moviehouses. I felt the same way last night. I wanted to express my appreciation to Timothy Findley (1930-2002) for writing such a beautiful novel. How? Had I been at home, I could have hugged and kissed my wife or daughter and they would understand. But not when you are alone with strangers. You know what I felt doing? If only Brignoles, France is just a 30-min drive from the donut store, I would have gone straight there and bring flowers to Timothy Findley’s grave.

If this novel, The Wars (1977) is to be my basis, I can say that Findley, a Canadian, is a brilliant writer. It is a war drama about a young rich Canadian soldier who joins the army and fights against German forces in trenches in France. Shivers ran through my skin in several scenes. My heart palpitated and my hands shook while holding the book in a couple of parts. It uses first-, second- and third-person narratives, something that is rare and Findley handled it masterfully. The novel is also an example of historiographic metafiction. Finally, it has a strong relevant theme: that war brings out the beast in man and most men in war do not really know what they are fighting for.

I just do not how to properly capture the beauty of this book. Suffice it to say that I will have to review my Top 10 Favorite Novels list as I think this has to be there.
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Oct 21, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, canada, world-war-1, france, belguim, ontario, horses, romance, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you

Moving account of one Canadian man’s experience with World War 1. The novel is barely 200 pages, so what we have here is no sweeping coverage of the war, nor an in-depth immersion in the horrors. But we get enough pictures of Robert Ross’s life leading up to the war for his character to shine through and then sufficient samples from the stages of his training and long service at Ypres in Belgium to feel very intimately the destructive power of the “War to End All Wars”. Findley uses plain and cl...more Moving account of one Canadian man’s experience with World War 1. The novel is barely 200 pages, so what we have here is no sweeping coverage of the war, nor an in-depth immersion in the horrors. But we get enough pictures of Robert Ross’s life leading up to the war for his character to shine through and then sufficient samples from the stages of his training and long service at Ypres in Belgium to feel very intimately the destructive power of the “War to End All Wars”. Findley uses plain and clear prose to render events that Robert experienced without presuming to know what he felt.

At the beginning of the book we get a foreshadowing of the story of Robert Ross. An unknown historian or journalist is trying to piece together his life in World War 1 from the time point of the author’s present in the late 70’s. A large archive of letters and photos he is working with seems to present a metaphor for how history is such a challenging task of reconstruction: Spread over table tops, a whole age lies in fragments underneath the lamp.

One picture captures the essence of the fictional author’s quest for understanding:
Robert Ross comes riding straight toward the camera. His hat has fallen off. His hands are knotted to the reins. They bleed. The horse is black and wet and falling. Robert’s lips are parted. He leans along the horse’s neck. His eyes are blank. There is mud on his cheeks and forehead and his uniform is burning—long, bright tails of flame are streaming out behinds him. He leaps through memory without a sound. …. You lay the fiery image back in your mind and let it rest. You know it will obtrude again and again and again until you find its meaning—here.

The story of Robert is that of an ordinary, sensitive man, just trying to do the right thing for the good of his country. He was very attached to his hydrocephalic sister who died as a teen. Having to kill and injured horse on the transport ship Robert is his introduction to the horrors of war, and it connects directly to his father forcing him as a boy to kill his sister’s rabbits after she dies. As a 2nd Lieutenant, he is forced him to strive for leadership, while at the same time he has to carry out orders by officers blind to the realities in the front line. He has no recourse to religious beliefs to help him make sense of the pervasive slaughter this war was marked by. We can only imagine whether he could buy into what one unusually kind officer wrote to his daughter before committing suicide:
Touch these pages and you have me in your fingertips. We survive in one another. Everything lives forever. Believe it. Nothing dies. I am your father always.

Interviews with an army nurse in her 80’s reveals at the book’s outset that Robert saved a lot of horses from a burning barn, that he did something to get arrested, and that he was terribly burned and spent a long time in a hospital. She is also the apparent mouthpiece later on for what Findley is trying to portray in writing this book: My opinion was—he was a hero. …You see, he did a thing that no one else would even dare think of doing. … Well, it was the war that was crazy, I guess. Not Robert Ross or what he did. By contrast, the leaders who started and managed the war: such men are just the butcher and the grocer—selling us meat and potatoes across the counter. That’s what binds us together. The appeal of our basest instincts. The lowest common denominator.

The only other source from someone who knew Robert was a sister of a lover he briefly had. Her journal as a young girl contains a poignant summary judgment of the war from a brother who also was in combat:

Someone once said to Clive: do you think we will ever be forgiven for what we have done? They meant their generation and the war and what the war had done to civilization. Clive said something I’ve never forgotten. He said: I doubt we’ll ever be forgiven. All I hope is that they’ll remember we were human beings.
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Aug 10, 2012 Janna Avon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are two really great things going on in Timothy Findley's The Wars.

Firstly, is the narrative technique. The book is written from the perspective of a historian trying to make sense of a moment of madness in the middle of the First World War. Findley accomplishes this goal through mixed medium narrating, using journal entries, interviews, photographs and the historian's conjecture. This keeps the story mysterious and engages the reader in a sort of detective, choose-your-own-adventure kind...more There are two really great things going on in Timothy Findley's The Wars.

Firstly, is the narrative technique. The book is written from the perspective of a historian trying to make sense of a moment of madness in the middle of the First World War. Findley accomplishes this goal through mixed medium narrating, using journal entries, interviews, photographs and the historian's conjecture. This keeps the story mysterious and engages the reader in a sort of detective, choose-your-own-adventure kind of way. It also builds a complex and multi-faceted protagonist that the reader is deeply invested in because as the reader, you are constructing this character through the very absence of the character's voice.

Secondly, Findley beautifully articulates the horror of the war through the chaos of the narrative structure. You're never quite sure what's going on and you're doing your best but everything in the story is moving relentlessly forward towards nothing but savagery and collapse and you can see that part. You can see this inevitable destruction, and you feel the weight of it. It's the same weight that all the Great War writers are trying to express in their poetry and memoirs, but they struggle constantly because they are too close to the trauma, too broken. By being a step removed, Findley is able to reconstruct the horror from a point of innocence and ignorance, and also leave you with the new horror of realizing the full extent of the transformation the First World War left on the soldiers that survived and the communities they tried to return to.

This book is short and powerful, deeply moving and heartbreaking. At about the 3/4 mark, the narrative takes a step back from the action to remind the reader that they are the historian gathering facts. The reader is nailed to the centre of the big picture when a transcript ends and Findley points out that "[s]o far, you have read of the deaths of 557,017 people-- one of whom was killed by a streetcar, one of whom died of bronchitis and one of whom died in a barn with her rabbits." None of those three people died in the war. What Findley is doing is breaking the statistic of death by reminding us that each individual death was a tragedy. Each of those people were loved and missed. And that the book isn't over. The war isn't over. The battle of the Somme hasn't even started yet in the narrative. I've read this book a few times now and every time, that is the passage that makes me need to put it down and have a glass of water, to walk around and recover myself. That is the passage that piles each human being's remains onto my chest, each one on top of the other.

I highly recommend letting this book soak into your mind.(less)

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Jan 03, 2012 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: wwi-era-lit, canadian-lit, literary-analysis

This review was written in the late nineties (just for myself), and it was buried in amongst my things until today, when I uncovered the journal it was written in. I have transcribed it verbatim from all those years ago (although square brackets indicate some additional information for the sake of readability). It is one of my lost reviews.

Fragments. That is the greatest strength of Canadian Literature for me -- the masterful use of fragments. Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient is certainly...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

World War 1. The trench warfare. Principal protagonists both male, young and handsome. This, and Sebastian Faulk's "Birdsong" (another 1001 book which I would have reviewed, and given five stars, had I not read it long before I joined goodreads).

When you get so much, or even just a second helping, of the same thing your pleasure tends to be less and less. You'll go, hey, I've seen this before: family, war, a little sex and romance, the present's memory suddenly hurtling towards the past, the bea...more

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May 30, 2010 Surreysmum rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1984, canlit, homoerotic-fiction-by-men

[These notes were made in 1984:]. A very different experience from the movie - tho' not by any means an inferior one. Indeed, some of the scenes that one remembers from the movie as seeming intensely tho' mysteriously significant, are disappointingly lessened. But the compensation comes in our increased certainty of what's going on with Robert Ross, a satisfying confirmation of our intuitions about why he is so close to animals; why he behaves the way he does with respect to sex. (I am aware, of...more

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Mar 23, 2010 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: english-12

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 1. Plot summary

In the novel, The Wars, we meet Robert Ross who is a 19 year old Canadian officer who has gone to war in the year 1915.But not just any war; the war to end all wars. Throughout the story, we follow him from his home in Toronto to army training in Alberta, the troopship crossing of the Atlantic, the slaughter at Ypres, military leave and romantic attachment in England, and a return to the devastation in Belgium. The novel focuses on Robert’s response to each new place and new adven...more 1. Plot summary

In the novel, The Wars, we meet Robert Ross who is a 19 year old Canadian officer who has gone to war in the year 1915.But not just any war; the war to end all wars. Throughout the story, we follow him from his home in Toronto to army training in Alberta, the troopship crossing of the Atlantic, the slaughter at Ypres, military leave and romantic attachment in England, and a return to the devastation in Belgium. The novel focuses on Robert’s response to each new place and new adventure.
In the beginning of the book Robert has been enlisted in the army and agrees to join the army to forget about his sister who recently died from a fall. He also wants to get away because his girlfriend left him for another man. When Robert thought things were getting better, on a ship to England, Ross had to kill a horse that broke its leg. Robert arrives in France and is now in charge of a convoy; he has become lost in the fog and separated from his men. He falls into a muddy sinkhole and nearly drowns. He is saved by two of his men. Robert and his men finally reach their destination: the dugout. Eventually, Robert is now experiencing trench warfare at its worst. Following a shelling of the dugout, his fellow soldier loses his mind, and Robert finds himself close to the brink. Ordered to place guns in a location sure to be a deathtrap, Robert and his men find themselves in a gas attack. Robert is the only one with a gas mask, so he saves the men by telling them to urinate on clothes and hold them over their faces. One man is scared to urinate and Robert must do it for him. After pretending to be dead for hours, Robert finds that they are being watched by an enemy soldier. Rather than shooting the soldiers, the German allows all of Robert's men to leave the area. Just as Robert is leaving, however, the German makes a quick motion, resulting in Robert killing the man. Robert thinks that the German was reaching for his rifle when he was actually reaching for a pair of binoculars to look at the bird flying overhead. From then on he is then haunted by the sound of the bird. Robert leaves France to go battle on a small train. Shortly after reaching the bath house, he is brutally raped by an unknown number of his fellow soldiers. When he returns to his room, he finally receives his lost pack, and burns his picture of his ex-girlfriend. Robert then moves back out to the front. While under attack, he releases the horses so that they might live, in doing so he disobeys a direct order from an officer so the captain tries to kill him for treason. Three shells land which kill all of the horses. Robert is so angry and shoots the Captain between the eyes. He runs away as he knows he will be court-martialed for disobeying orders. He frees a hundred and thirty horses from an abandoned train and flees the area. He is a fugitive for some time before finally being caught in a barn with the horses. The soldiers surrounding Robert set the barn on fire, Robert is badly burned, and all the horses are killed. Although he lives for a while afterward, he never recovers from his wounds and dies before he can return to Canada.

2. Personal Response
From the beginning I thought The Wars by Timothy Findley was going to be a love it or hate it book. But at the end of the story I find myself somewhere in the middle. The author does a good job portraying what it would be like to be in the front line of war through the character of Robert Ross. However, he writes very abstract which I found very confusing and hard to follow. I would say I enjoyed this book for the most part. It wasn’t an outstanding book that I would necessarily recommend but it was a good story to read once.

3. Quotes
This quote comes from the scene when Robert is stuck in the mud and is rescued by two of his men:
“There’s nothing wrong with fairy tales, although, that doesn’t happen to be my line. Sometimes, I wouldn’t mind a good old fashioned beanstalk to get me out of all this mud. But no. What I do I quite realistic.”
I like this quote because it expresses how realistic war is. It is no joke or dream. It is life or death and you can’t spend time wishing some helicopter would come rescue you, because in most cases that’s not going to happen.
This next quote is just after Robert has been locked in his room on the ship and he is very unaware of what is going on:
“Almost at once, Robert heard a third sound that told him he was surrounded. Three at the very least and more than likely four were hidden in the dark. Robert felt a tug-very light at first-at the end of his towel. He pulled back and the pressure at the other end increased. He was afraid to put his hands out. He was certain he would touch someone and the thought of this was unbearable- not knowing who was there or why they had closed the door and locked him in.”
I chose this quote because it makes me feel the true suspense of life at war; living day by day not knowing when something might attack. I think it would be very intense to live your life in fear.

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Jan 09, 2011 Tiffany rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, canadian-literature, way-overrated, i-want-my-time-back

I struggled to appreciate this book in the beginning because I found no beauty in the writing. It was straightforward, simplistic, even a little patronizing at times. (Like we know 1916 was a leap year if the date is February 29. Thanks.) The characters lay flat for the most part, and I scoffed at the suspense Findley was attempting to construct surrounding "the event with the horses", which I knew would probably disappoint me. I didn't come away feeling like I had become acquainted with the mai...more

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May 30, 2011 Joanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, canadian, historical-fiction, war, re-read-potential, 1001-before-you-die, classics

What to say about this book? Who is Robert Ross?

Oh, the difficulty of giving praise to a novel I enjoyed rather than criticizing one I disliked! I've previously read Timothy Findley's The Piano Man's Daughter and honestly don't remember much about it at all. It just wasn't that memorable to me - all I know is that I didn't love or hate it. I vaguely remember the plot, but I don't feel like giving it a re-read to find out more. Disappointment.

And that's why I was so surprised to find out that thi...more

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Feb 26, 2013 JonSnow rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Timothy Findley's "The Wars" was a novel which chronicles the events surrounding Robert Ross. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that it was a very moving book. There were a number of times I had to fight to prevent my eyes from watering. The entire book is pieced together from various accounts and transcriptions, which was fascinating. I found the narrative effective at conveying the atmosphere and emotion. The scenes are lodged in my mind vividly. My reaction may have also been in part due...more

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May 12, 2013 Debbie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian-author, fiction, wwi

When I saw The Wars was the April choice for the War & Literature Readalong, I wondered how I had never heard of this early novel by one of Canada’s literary leaders. Since I’ve read it, I wonder all the more.

Set in WWI, the story tells of young officer Robert Ross who enlists after a family tragedy leaves him bereft. Written and published in the mid-1970s when it was still possible to talk to people who remembered that war, and the elderly veterans who marched in the Remembrance Day parade...more

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Apr 19, 2011 rabbitprincess rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of war fiction

Recommended to rabbitprincess by: a rather roundabout Wikipedia jaunt

Shelves: bibliotheque, oh-canada, work-and-work-related, gov-gen-awards, 2011

Robert Ross is a Canadian soldier whose life story and particularly his death is being pieced together by a researcher in the "present" of the book (which at the time of publication would have been the mid- to late 1970s). The story is told through standard third-person limited as well as interview transcripts, diary excerpts and interludes with the researcher looking through books in the archives. This method of storytelling does feel kind of "elliptical" (thank you GR summary) at first, especi...more

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Feb 09, 2010 Rob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, read-in-2010, school-reading

In real life wars are big complicated things full of small but equally complicated individuals. But in memory they tend to become just a few iconic moments. World War II, being the most easily mythologized war, is lucky to have a few: Pearl Harbour, Hiroshima, the Holocaust, D-Day, the speeches of Churchill and Hitler in front of roaring crowds. But for World War I there is really only one long moment preserved in history: the trenches filled with senseless slaughter.

Good historical fiction, I t...more

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Jan 22, 2009 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well written, but not a masterpiece. Timothy Findley is evidently a genius, but my main problem with this book is that he only uses one voice for all his characters. This was most irritating when reading an excerpt from a 12-year-old girl's diary and the language and insight and the metaphors are those of an adult and of someone that's had time to write objectively about what's passed several years later. It did not at all seem realistic. There are "transcripts" supposedly taken from friends of...more

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Oct 14, 2010 Joedian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had to the read this for the purposes of my English class. I wouldn't say it was excruciatingly difficult to read but not being interested in depressing War novels, it's was exactly my cup of tea. The way it is written, it's so intensely metaphorical. If your way of thinking isn't in such a way, most of this book's significant events will just fly right over your head. I was interested in what would happen next and that's probably the only thing that made reading the book smoother. Otherwise,...more

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Jul 20, 2010 Skyla rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So like a lot of people I know I was forced to read this book in High School, so it has been a few years since I read it.

I enjoyed most of the books that my teachers set for me (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and this one aside). I hated everything about this book.

The plot was confusing and disjointed, the characters were annoying and bland, the style or writing was in my opinion very fractured and twisted.

There is no doubt that it had potential, a young soldier goes to war, faces l...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Sam Marchello rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-books

I haven't read this book since grade nine, and I liked it a lot more then than I do now. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mind-space for this book (I was reading it for my job), but I was pretty bored throughout. I love that it's a very emotional and intense look at trench warfare, but I'm not a war fan and books related to that subject tend not to hold my interest. This book is fairly graphic in terms of sexual content and gore, but it's very tasteful for the most part.

I think this just may ha...more

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May 29, 2008 Mel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Listen to Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones as you finish this one off. Bonus points if you're in a car watching Canadian countryside go by. Now brace yourself for a serious 'moment'.

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Nov 29, 2011 Lisa Odland rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very well written; descriptive and varied vocabulary. It was however, hard to follow. There were too many characters that didn't seem to have any significance, and I'm still struggling to see the overall point of the novel. What was the lesson, or the moral? There were however, many sections that I really enjoyed. There were a lot of passages that had little lessons themselves, but I'm not sure how they tied into the book as a whole. Overall, I'd say a 3.5 out of 5. Wouldn't read it again, but d...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Carole Prior rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this bittersweet story...hated the war! But the protagonist is so memorable..so defined and so entrenched that you feel as if you are standing next to him during his journey of the soul and spirit. The author, Timonthy Findley's description of moments--as remembered by Robert Raymond Ross, Second Lieutenient, CFA--stand out as the most vividly detailed with an emotional impact that is unforgettable...This is one of those stories that you cannot pull away from and talk about it for days a...more

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Feb 10, 2010 Claire Savage rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There was a lot in this little book! This is a pretty short read, but took me a while to finish. I loved the subtlety of the story, but to be honest, there were most definitely that wizzed over my head. My first foray into historical Canadian novels and it took a little getting used to the geography mentioned in the book. A pretty fantastic portrayal of war, and interesting that it's WWI- I havent read much about this one. Its the descriptions during war time in the trenches that were chilling a...more

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May 26, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: banned-book, fiction, four-star-plus-reads

In 2011, Canadian parents challenged the inclusion of Timothy Findley's award-winning novel The Wars on a high school reading list, describing it as depraved and full of sex. I mentioned the challenge in one of my periodic banned book blog entries and promised myself I'd read it. It took me a year to run down a copy -- it's a Canadian novel from the 1970s and you never see it on book store shelves, at least here in the States -- but with the help of a bookseller friend I tracked it down.

And I'm...more In 2011, Canadian parents challenged the inclusion of Timothy Findley's award-winning novel The Wars on a high school reading list, describing it as depraved and full of sex. I mentioned the challenge in one of my periodic banned book blog entries and promised myself I'd read it. It took me a year to run down a copy -- it's a Canadian novel from the 1970s and you never see it on book store shelves, at least here in the States -- but with the help of a bookseller friend I tracked it down.

And I'm glad I did -- but first to the depravity. The novel is about a young Canadian man, Robert Ross, who joins the military to fight in World War One. The depravity, to my mind, is the war itself, in all its mindless horror. While the complaining parents were busy counting repetitions of the word "breast" (five times), I was counting the bodies of the senselessly killed (thousands). Nevertheless, there it is, that word "breast." Also "penis." Early in the story Robert visits a whorehouse in Alberta; while there the girl he is with shows him a peephole in the wall; through it Robert witnesses a homosexual act. Later in the novel Robert has sex with Lady d'Orsey. Later still he is raped by fellow soldiers in the bathhouse of an insane asylum. In between these acts of depravity Robert fights in the trenches near Ypres and St. Eloi, where he witnesses, participates in, and commits acts of unspeakably lethal obscenity, all for the glory of Canada and the preservation of the British Empire. The parents in Ontario, like so many of their fellow book banners, idiotically confuse condemning depravity with depravity itself, so let's hear no more of them, the small-minded fools.

This is an anti-war book in the great tradition of anti-war books, filled with shocking detail but no overt anti-war commentary -- the action, the carnage, and the deaths speak for themselves. Of course Robert goes off to war an innocent young man; his fellow officers and the soldiers under them are innocent young men too. That is affecting; what is more affecting is the inclusion of animals and their sad fates. One of Robert's trenchmates collects small animals -- toads, hedgehogs, rabbits -- small creatures as shellshocked as the men around them. Robert, accidentally, becomes the officer in charge of mules and horses; indeed the climactic showdown occurs during the Somme offensive as Robert is trying to evacuate a hundred horses from a stock barn about to be shelled by the Germans. Birds, horses, dogs, mules, cats -- everywhere are animals trapped in the chaos of the front lines, helpless in the midst of human chaos.

I'm more than halfway convinced the Canadian objections to this book are really in reaction to the ringing clarity of its anti-war message, that counting repetitions of the word "breast" is mere cover for suppressing a dangerous book that might turn potential cannon fodder into pacifists, much like the real reasons behind the repeated challenges to Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five here in the States.

Anti-war books may not be your cup of tea. But this is one of the best ones I've ever read, certainly one of the best written, and I'll long remember it.(less)

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Mar 17, 2011 Regine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian-authors, bucket-list-books, owned, war

I hate reviewing Timothy Findley books. The reason is, I'm always at a loss for words because of how emotionally straining it is to read one of his novels. I hate rereading my review of "Not Wanted on the Voyage" because I realize that my words don't do justice to his books, (and most of my review was a rant about Margaret Atwood.)

Let's not get off track. I'll try to express my feelings about this book as coherently as I can. I'm on such an emotional high from finishing the book, that I feel lik...more I hate reviewing Timothy Findley books. The reason is, I'm always at a loss for words because of how emotionally straining it is to read one of his novels. I hate rereading my review of "Not Wanted on the Voyage" because I realize that my words don't do justice to his books, (and most of my review was a rant about Margaret Atwood.)

Let's not get off track. I'll try to express my feelings about this book as coherently as I can. I'm on such an emotional high from finishing the book, that I feel like I'm writing an e-mail after a glass of Chardonnay. Drunk-mailing they say.

"The Wars" takes place during the First World War. It follows the military career of a sensitive young Canadian soldier, Robert Ross. Robert Ross is thrown into the front lines, where he witnesses the atrocities of trench warfare.

I know, I know. You're probably thinking that you've seen this all before, just another piece of antiwar literature. But it's much more. Findley really takes it up to the next level; He portrays the hell that is war without making it seem over-the-top, or comical.The story is told through the perspectives of a historian, and a handful of people that knew Ross. The story can often seem fragmented because it often switches from a first, second, and third person point of view, but because each perspective has such a distinct voice, it completely works.

Although this is a book about war, and there are definitely some BADASS moments in this book, (the baddest moment involves peeing into handkerchiefs, yes you read that right) what really stands out for me is the depth of Ross's character. Here is a young man, just freshly emerged from boyhood. He wants to escape life with a dysfunctional family, so he enlists for war. The little tidbits about the Ross family in Canada had me very close to tears. Robert Ross was characterized as the type of man to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and in the end, this is what brings him to his breaking point.

Not to say that this book was perfect. I felt at times that the war was just a backdrop to Findley's other themes: dysfunctional families, sexuality, man's relationship with nature, love, mental illness. Regardless, these are themes that he does well.

5 stars. A must read. For everybody, really. (less)

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Apr 08, 2009 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've always enjoyed war novels, but this was exceptional in some ways... I didn't so much appreciate the elements of the war as much as the characterization of Robert Ross. The very changes rendered by family and stress and pain and, yes, the war were devastating; I think it even had me crying a bit. No witnesses means no certainty though, right?

I'm not sure about reading more Findley. A friend and co-worker from Canada insisted I read this and mailed it to me on my birthday, so I felt more than...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, canada-canadian-author, war

This is a story of WW I with a Canadian perspective. My father enlisted in the CRAF in WWI - he lived in Alberta and was sent to Ontario - near Toronto - for basic training. Robert Ross, the book's protagonist, lived in Ontario and was sent to Alberta for basic training. The war ended before my father could be sent to Europe - I doubt I would be here today if he had managed to get to Europe. That is the personal connection which may explain why I could barely stop reading this book.

I have not re...more

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Dec 09, 2008 Jesse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first thing I noticed about Findley's The Wars was the flawless descriptive writing. Not one word is extraneous in this book. The writing is impeccable and Findley was clearly an intelligent and impressive writer whose book could stand up strongly on any English Literature reading list.

I loved that while there are relationships in The Wars, the war is not simply a backdrop to a cheesy romantic subplot. Even more enjoybale is that while it contains characters who are homosexual, and also sado...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Cece rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Overall I really liked this book, 3.5. I struggled over some parts (view spoiler) but other than that I actually enjoyed reading it. If I had read it outside of my grade 12 english class I probably would have been very confused over how the book is written- point of view, time setting. The plot is pretty slow in some parts, especially the beginning, but I think Findley did a very good job getting some points across regarding the war.

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Mar 17, 2012 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was a hard book to get through without taking a break, there were sad moments where I had to stop and think what it would really be like in the wars. It was remarkable at all the animals symbols that Findley has used, starting with the horse and dog both being man;s best friend and the rabbit.
There was a lot of emotional feelings going inside of me when I was flipping the pages of The Wars, but it got me hooked, I had too keep reading and see how it all ended.

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Jan 06, 2010 Leif Schenstead-Harris rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My one star is a literal response to the "didn't like it" text: I felt that The Wars was needlessly messy and incoherent, mistaking a mimetic response to chaos as a productive literary avenue. Findley's writing is not as good as I remembered from reading Not Wanted on this Voyage, and I often felt as if the images were either belaboured or mistily elusive. The repeated passage was a nice touch, but as a saving grace it hardly manages to salvage the other 190-odd pages.

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Apr 28, 2013 Jerome rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I started this book off, immediately despising it. I couldn't tolerate its slow pace or minute descriptions (which I thought the book would solely be composed of).

And then I kept reading.

By the end, I began to like the imagery and symbolism, and most importantly, the story. The very end and epilogue was such a strong finish that I can't say I hated the book. It's not one of my favourites, but I enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or memoirs, because it certa...more

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About Timothy Findley

Timothy Irving Frederick Findley was a Canadian novelist and playwright. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials.

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“I doubt we will ever be forgiven. All I hope is – they'll remember we were human beings” — 19 people liked it

“People can only be found in what they do.” — 14 people liked it

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