This monumental novel, divided into four separate books, celebrates the end of an era, the irrevocable destruction of the comfortable, predictable ...
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Feb 01, 2012
Joselito
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Reading this (consisting of four books: "Some Do Not...", "No More Parades," "A Man Could Stand Up--," and "The Last Post), for me, was like chewing a single piece of gum for a month. It is not unreadable or incomprehensible. It's in English, originally in English (can't blame any faulty translation), and the characters are even English. But they talk differently. They act differently. Their motivations are hard to grasp. Like they're in a dream, their movement
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Nov 12, 2011
Jade
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I can't say I liked or disliked Ford's novel (composed of 4 separate books). There were aspects I loved and others I didn't. You have to be completely focused to be able to follow the train of thought--the novel jumps around from subject to subject, so if you're not paying close attention you'll find yourself lost pretty quickly; especially as one reads the last novels because more military jargon is used and if you're not versed in the military you won't know what's going on.
I can' More...
I can' More...
Mar 21, 2011
Tony
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Ford, Ford Madox. PARADE’S END. (1920s). ****. Ford’s novel of this title is actually composed of four novels – a tetrology: “Some Do Not...” (1924), “No More Parades” (1925), “A Man Could Stand Up –“ (1926, and “The Last Post” (1928). This is a massive novel (over 900 pages in the Everyman’s Library edition) and I onlly managed to read the first novel before I had to get it back to the library. It is epic novel of WW I, widely helo to be the best of all the novels written about that grea
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Jul 14, 2010
Mark
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“…there are not many English novels which deserve to be called great: Parade’s End is one of them.” ~W.H. Auden
When I was in college, I had to make a choice one semester between taking Romantic Literature or Victorian Literature. Knowing just enough about everything to get myself into trouble, I chose to take Victorian Literature. Romantic poetry did not sound like something a Montana kid grown up on Hemingway would want to read. Only much later, years and states away, would I disco More...
When I was in college, I had to make a choice one semester between taking Romantic Literature or Victorian Literature. Knowing just enough about everything to get myself into trouble, I chose to take Victorian Literature. Romantic poetry did not sound like something a Montana kid grown up on Hemingway would want to read. Only much later, years and states away, would I disco More...
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May 18, 2010
http://bookcents.blogspot.com/2010/05/pa...
Tthe plotline is easily summarized but it will not convey the power from Ford's design in telling it. What actually happens in the books is revealed almost incidentally as the consciousness of the characters mull over the history and context of what is happening in order to bring meaning to the action. Ford’s process makes the nature of understanding and perception a central focus of the books.
In looking at Christopher Tietjens, More...
Tthe plotline is easily summarized but it will not convey the power from Ford's design in telling it. What actually happens in the books is revealed almost incidentally as the consciousness of the characters mull over the history and context of what is happening in order to bring meaning to the action. Ford’s process makes the nature of understanding and perception a central focus of the books.
In looking at Christopher Tietjens, More...
Jul 25, 2011
Veronica
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Parade’s End consists of four novels; Some Do Not (1924), No More Parades (1925), A Man Could Stand Up (1926) and Last Post (1928).
Perhaps I am losing some literary steam, but I have only read one from the tetralogy and so will only be reviewing Some Do Not here.
This read corroborates for me the fine storytelling abilities of Mr. Ford. What seems to be a repeating theme of Ford’s is the personal misunderstandings that develop between people and his fine skill in portraying th More...
Perhaps I am losing some literary steam, but I have only read one from the tetralogy and so will only be reviewing Some Do Not here.
This read corroborates for me the fine storytelling abilities of Mr. Ford. What seems to be a repeating theme of Ford’s is the personal misunderstandings that develop between people and his fine skill in portraying th More...
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Nov 14, 2011
Sarah
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Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy Parade’s End, although intimidating in size, is a truly spectacular novel, chronicling the rapidly changing English society in the wake of World War I. The four novels that make up Parade’s End, Some Do Not…, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up-, and Last Post, following Christopher Tietjens, the “last Tory,” a brilliant country gentleman, employed as a statistician with the British government. The novel follows Tietjens, his wife Sylvia, and his love interest Vale
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Apr 17, 2010
carl
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This episode takes place mostly at the front in France. Captain Tietjens looks least like an
officer, but is the most competent particularly in organization skills. An odd
insight is that civilians can visit almost to the front lines, the war not being too
far of a travel from England. Sylvia arrives to torture Tiejtens more. She has come to
learn she loves to hate him or maybe more, hates to love him.
Tiejtens always striving to be perfect, gets in tr More...
Nov 22, 2009
Kristin
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I really enjoyed this book. It's a bit all over the place with the back and forth in time but, knowing how tightly written The Good Soldier is, I'm sure that in a re-read I will find that all of the time shifts work to further the plot. The characters are compelling, the chance to see into the manners of the time and the mindset of the war on everyone was fascinating. I had no idea, for instance, that the negative attitude towards soldiers coming back from war existed during the Great War to suc
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Jun 24, 2010
Matt
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A stylistic tour-de-force. It is very interesting how the four individual books actually morph into the single volume of "Parade's End", as if it originally was one book and not four. Perhaps that was Ford's intent; I don't know enough about his planning and writing of each of the separate books. However, the fact that they merge almost seamlessly into the single volume is rather amazing. There are so many fascinating things going on with regard to structure and technique, and yet thes
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Feb 06, 2012
I found this book to be a fantastic slog. It had been so difficult for me to read, in fact, that I found myself trying to skim, and resisting, just barely.
I suppose part of the problem must have been the unmatched expectations I've had for this humongous doorstopper. I've heard of it as 'an epic tale of WWI'. But in reality, it was more involved with two people trying to outdo each other in the amount of suffering they could cause. I found the endless digging in the machinations and More...
I suppose part of the problem must have been the unmatched expectations I've had for this humongous doorstopper. I've heard of it as 'an epic tale of WWI'. But in reality, it was more involved with two people trying to outdo each other in the amount of suffering they could cause. I found the endless digging in the machinations and More...
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Dec 17, 2010
James
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“At the beginning of the war…I had to look in on the War Office, and in a room I found a fellow…What do you think he was doing…what the hell do you think he was doing? He was devising the ceremonial for the disbanding of a Kitchener battalion. You can’t say we were not prepared in one matter at least…. Well, the end of the show was to be: the adjutant would stand the battalion at ease; the band would play Land of Hope and Glory, and then the adjutant would say: There will be no more parades…. Do
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Jun 10, 2009
Akemi
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The classic that no one has ever heard of. My professor urged us to make others read Parade's End so that it stays in print- so go read it! Technically I haven't finished it yet since we only had to read three of the four books for my class, but I will complete The Last Post soon.
Parade's End follows the singular Christopher Tietjens and his experiences of World War I. Tietjens is nothing if not unique, and I think it's worth reading the novel simply to meet him. Maybe I'm biased sin More...
Parade's End follows the singular Christopher Tietjens and his experiences of World War I. Tietjens is nothing if not unique, and I think it's worth reading the novel simply to meet him. Maybe I'm biased sin More...
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Oct 21, 2011
Gene
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OK, I'm cheating a bit here because I've only read the first three novels of the quartet--however, those three form a complete story. A moving work. I happened to read it right after I read Njal's Saga, and the resonances between the two were pronounced. I'm due to reread it, and when I do, I'll write a thorough review.
May 26, 2010
Frederick
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One of my favorite novels, and one of the books that I continue to dip back into every six months to a year. It's almost unique in my experience in that the main character changes almost not at all while the world falls apart around him.
May 10, 2010
Paul
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Only read the first one and half of four novels - I understand it's downhill, but I'm actually enjoying this, which is a nice change of pace given the course reading.
Nov 03, 2008
Yarb
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Masterly evocation of the Great War and the upheaval in British society which accompanied it. The POV drifts and weaves from first to third person, time is dilated, layer on impressionist layer is daubed, until Ford's subject is embedded in the very marrow of the reader.[return][return]Every character is sumptuously drawn, every chain of thought is as natural, as solid and as wildly intricate as a spiderweb. This book is an aching lament with moments of roguish, cocksure humour.[return][return]H
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Apr 12, 2011
Gina
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I simply can't. . . I need to reflect in solitude for a long, long time before I can chronicle the wonders of this book which nobody seems to read. Thank God for The Middlemarchers Book Group that comes up with such rare and unforgettible writing. Christopher Tietjins....he should rank with Hamlet, Jay Gatsby, Stephen Daedalus and that whole company of vibrant protagonists.
Back to Tietjins, his Lady Macbeth of a wife, Sylvia, and the huge Dickensian cast of characters in th More...
Back to Tietjins, his Lady Macbeth of a wife, Sylvia, and the huge Dickensian cast of characters in th More...
Nov 28, 2011
Ian
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I feel as if this book has owned me for the past months. As some points I loved it and couldn't wait to read it. At others, it was like wading through treacle. Now that I've finished it, I don't know if I like it or not.
It was portrayed as some great book about the first world war, but that only appears in the third book of the four. A lot of it is about his wife...Even writing about the book has become a chore. Read it if you have a major operation and need a few months to recuperate More...
It was portrayed as some great book about the first world war, but that only appears in the third book of the four. A lot of it is about his wife...Even writing about the book has become a chore. Read it if you have a major operation and need a few months to recuperate More...
Apr 20, 2008
JTait
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If I want to impress people, I talk about how I actually got through all of this book (or books). Very long, but very insightful. A fabulous look into the personal experience of WWI.
Aug 03, 2008
Scott
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Ford Madox Ford is one of those authors that really surprised me. I was required to read one of his books for a college course and fell in love with his post-WW1 fiction.
Nov 12, 2007
Clifford
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Well worth reading for anybody intersted in WWI and who isn't interested in the conflagration of western civilization?
Apr 03, 2008
This is my favorite book, which I am currently reading for the 6th or 7th tim
