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178th out of 434 books
—
240 voters
Generals Die in Bed
A new edition of the classic novel about the frontlines of World War I.
""Unique among the novels of its day, it has stood the test of time."" -Author and historian Pierre Berton
All war is hell -- but for troops serving in World War I, it was the bloodiest trench warfare ever known. Generals Die in Bed is a first-hand account of one young man catapulted from new recruit to...more
""Unique among the novels of its day, it has stood the test of time."" -Author and historian Pierre Berton
All war is hell -- but for troops serving in World War I, it was the bloodiest trench warfare ever known. Generals Die in Bed is a first-hand account of one young man catapulted from new recruit to...more
Paperback, 152 pages
Published
February 16th 2007
by Annick Press
(first published 1930)
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This is a seminal work, written and published before All Quiet on the Western Front, which bears a strong resemblance to it. The life of a Canadian soldier in the trenches of World War I allowed little room for nobility or love or friendship, filled as it was with rats, lice, poison gas, the ubiquitous stench of death and the few shattered yards of polluted mud which became his whole world. Written in the simple, flat style of Hemingway, this is a Canadian classic.
(Review originally posted on my livejournal account: http://intoyourlungs.livejournal.com/...)
Why I Read It: This was required reading for Religious Themes in Literature II class (which has emphasis on Buddhism, as opposed to Judeo-Christian themes, which was last semester).
Like Bow Grip (which I reviewed yesterday), this is another Canadian novel that is not at all well-known. This book DID cause a bit of a stir when it was published in 1930 though, mostly because of its very blatant anti-war s...more
Why I Read It: This was required reading for Religious Themes in Literature II class (which has emphasis on Buddhism, as opposed to Judeo-Christian themes, which was last semester).
Like Bow Grip (which I reviewed yesterday), this is another Canadian novel that is not at all well-known. This book DID cause a bit of a stir when it was published in 1930 though, mostly because of its very blatant anti-war s...more
I am giving it a 2 our of 5 for a few reasons.
1 reason would be because I had to read this for school, so essentially I was forced to read this book.
2 reason, I don't like war books... at all. No offense to people who love war novels, I hate them. I don't know why I don't it's just that there is something about them, possibly the fact that the morals in war books are all the same (in my mind), war is bad........ yeah, i got that idea after the first 2 pages.
The 3 reason would be that it was k...more
1 reason would be because I had to read this for school, so essentially I was forced to read this book.
2 reason, I don't like war books... at all. No offense to people who love war novels, I hate them. I don't know why I don't it's just that there is something about them, possibly the fact that the morals in war books are all the same (in my mind), war is bad........ yeah, i got that idea after the first 2 pages.
The 3 reason would be that it was k...more
Awesome read.
I should have had a real problem with this book because "First person, present tense" is not exactly my style. But after reading this, I think it's all a matter of context. When it's been used in other books, it feels like it's the author's arbitrary choice with no real message behind it. For instance, Wolf Hall. What does it matter if I'm "right there" in Thomas Cromwell's shoes? BFD! I wasn't feeling the urgency or importance of the tone (unless it was self-importance). However, using the tens...more
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A fast-paced and mean-spirited account of a Canadian infantry volunteer in the First World War. It starts amid the badinage of young recruits in barracks in Montreal then rapidly escalates into the terror of being under shell-fire, of witnessing mass casualties, queues at the brothels and the callous distribution of a comrade's rations moments after he'd been brained by a sniper's bullet. It is impossible for today's generation to conceive of life in the trenches, but one gets a clue when, fille...more
I had to read this as part of my 12th grade English curriculum and it pretty much bored me to tears. Most people I know that disliked the novel also harbor a dislike of war narratives, but I'm not in that category at all. I just found it underwhelming and oversimplistic - I understand he was trying to be universal and somewhat 'mechanical / detached', but to me it was without depth, very boring and stilted.
I am still haunted by the images this author shares, I can't imagine how anyone returned home sane. It is especially powerful because of the narrator; extraordinary descriptions of complete hell in simple written observations. No explanations, no justifications, just 'this is what we did, this is what we saw'.
An absolute must-read for everyone.
An absolute must-read for everyone.
If you want to know what World War I was like from a soldier's point of view, this is the book to read. if you aren't convinced that wars like this one are insane, read this novel. If you agree that the people who like war are rarely the ones who actually fight them, this book will solicit a huge Amen.
Apr 24, 2010
Alicia
added it
Although the topic and writing is not something everyone can get in to (read: me), this book, orginially published in the 1930s, is about World War I.
"Why the hell should they want the war to end? They got lots of damn fools like us who'll enlist, and when they stop enlisting, they'll drag 'em in."
"Why the hell should they want the war to end? They got lots of damn fools like us who'll enlist, and when they stop enlisting, they'll drag 'em in."
Small but powerful. I read this years ago for a Canadian lit class, and then again for a religion and violence class. Read it again, and I still find it makes a strong impression on me. Simple, quick read, but stays with you.
First World War told from the perspective of a young man. Confronting, deals with the horrors of war in graphic detail, morbid and depressing, particularly given that the story was based on the writers experience.
I honestly did not expect to like this as much as I did. The first-account take on a trench in World War I was morbid, depressing, yet so fascinating to read about, as weird as that may sound. Recommended.
Very interesting and quite a touching novel. I studied this at school and was pleasnatly surprsed that I enjoyed it so much.
There's a good reason one of the reviewers in 1930 said this was "the best of the war books".
A great first person WW1 novel. An excellent read. This should be studied in Canada instead or alongside 'All Quiet on the Western Front'.
This is a disturbing piece of work. There is power in it that cannot be described, only experienced.
Its simple and uncompromising prose is satisfying to read ... to an extent.
Well written account of a soldier's experience of WW1. Atmospheric and disturbing.
Graphic, and great Canadian piece of literature!
Worst book ever.
Decent little WWI period piece that caused quite a stir on release in 1930. The frankness of a soldier's lot in (and out of) the trenches might seem familiar now, but no wonder it turned heads barely a decade after war's end. Recommended.
This book is brilliant. It's gruesome, but definitely not pro-war. Read it in a CanLit class at uni this year.
Graphic and disturbing, it gave an honest account of what the war was like.
Not as much swearing as typical war books have, but very slow and choppy. It's the kind of book All Quiet on the Western Front is, but All Quiet is a classic for a reason. I didn't finish reading it. Moved on to a different book.
This along with All Quiet on the Western Front (including the movie), helps keep war from being romanticized.
The fact that this story is based on the author's experiences in the trenches makes it very powerful.
May 22, 2013
Ozten
marked it as to-read
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Charles Yale Harrison was born in Philadelphia in 1898 but later moved to Montreal with his family. He reportedly left school in grade four following an argument with a teacher about The Merchant of Venice. At the age of sixteen, he took a job with the Montreal Star, but shortly after he enlisted with the Royal Montreal Regiment and fought as a machine-gunner in France and Belgium in the First Wor...more
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