I felt, indeed, a cold intellectual pride in his refusal to remember his prosperous maturity and his determined dwelling in the time of his first love, for it showed him so much saner than the rest of us, who take life as it comes, loaded with the essential and the irritating. I was even willing to admit that this choice of what was to him reality out of all the appearances so copiously presented by the world, this adroit recovery of the dropped pearl of beauty, was the act of genius I had always expected from him. But that did not make less agonizing this exclusion from his life.
(from The Return of the Soldier, pages 129-130 — the version I read was published in 1918 and very brittle, and I couldn’t find the book cover image online)
The Return of the Soldier, first published in 1918, was the first novel about World War I written by a woman. Rebecca West tells the story of a young English soldier suffering from shell shock, with a focus on the three women he loves. No one knows the horrors Chris Baldry witnessed in France because he doesn’t remember them. In fact, he doesn’t remember anything from the last 15 years — not even his wife, Kitty. Kitty finds out about her husband’s condition from a poor innkeeper’s daughter who knew Chris when they were young — a woman Chris believes he still loves.
When Chris returns to the family’s estate — a home that his wife and his cousin, Jenny, have turned into a sort of castle for him, a place where he should know nothing but happiness despite the death of his son five years earlier — he can’t deal with the changes. Jenny, the book’s first-person narrator, recognizes his longing for the past and laments the loss of their close friendship, which may have been more than that on her part. Chris insists that he must see Margaret, the woman from his past, who is now married, causing Kitty to become cold and withdrawn. Jenny acknowledges Kitty’s shallowness, but even she is guilty of class discrimination, constantly describing Margaret’s shabby appearance as “offensive.”
The Return of the Soldier hardly mentions the war, other than Jenny’s nightmares about Chris in No-Man’s Land and her worries that he will be sent back to the front if he regains his memory. It is such a short novel, and much of it is devoted to Jenny’s observations of the landscape, Chris and Margaret’s rekindled relationship, and efforts to help Chris remember the life he has with Kitty and Jenny. West gives readers much to contemplate, and Margaret’s struggle between helping Chris remember his wife and wanting to hold on to him again was emotional.
Although I found the story itself interesting, I must admit that if it hadn’t been so short and I hadn’t been reading it for the Literature and War Readalong, I probably would have abandoned it after the first 20 pages. West’s writing just didn’t grab me, and I moved from finding her words poetic and beautiful (“Birds sat on the telegraph wires that spanned the river as the black notes sit on a staff of music.” page 76) to dozing off while reading lengthy descriptions that I found somewhat boring. I was intrigued by the fact that this was the first WWI novel written by a woman and that it aimed to cover so much, from shell shock and the women left at home to class differences, but I think I longed for more scenes with Chris, and I wanted to feel more connected to the female characters. That’s the limitation of the first person point of view; we are only able to get to know the characters by what Jenny wishes to reveal. Moreover, the ending just didn’t feel authentic to me, and readers are removed from the events that occur. It ends rather abruptly, and my immediate thought was “Seriously?!?”
However, what I did like about The Return of the Soldier is it really makes you think about the characters and their motivations. It’s complex in that West doesn’t just lay it out there; you have to read between the lines, work through Jenny’s observations, and ponder them to understand the responsibilities thrown upon Chris when his father died and the importance of the women in his life. There’s very little said about Chris and Kitty’s son, so you have to really think about how his death has affected them. West also tackles the idea of true love and how time can take a toll on people but someone in love wouldn’t notice. So even though I wasn’t wowed by this novel, it might be worth giving a try.
Disclosure: I borrowed The Return of the Soldier from my local library. I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon associate.
© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
A new book for me. Thanks for the review.
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My pleasure!
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[…] Anna (Diary of an Eccentric) […]
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I read somewhere that this isn’t considered to be West’s best work. That there were quite a lot of imperfections in it and I do agree. There is a lot of Freidian therory in it and although I found it inetersting, it didn’t grab me either. I loved the descriptions of the garden, was shocked by the feelings uttered towards Margaret and think the complexity is interesting. However I expected Chris to be much more cetral, I wasn’t expecting a first person narrative from the POV of a female cousin.
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I didn’t think about the Freudian theory while I was reading it but I can see the points made in the discussion post. I really wanted more about Chris from his POV.
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I read it for the readalong and I loved it.
It think war isn’t that important and Freudian theories either. They seem to be tools used by Rebecca West, like magical elements in fairy tales. They are just tools that look modern and “plausible”.
I pitied Chris and Jenny. They were probably a better match than Chris and Kitty (she lacks the humanity Chris loves in Margaret) and Chris and Margaret (she doesn’t belong to his world. If he had married her 15 years ago, what kind of marriage would it have been? I’m not sure Margaret could have adapted to Chris’s way of life)
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Chris and Jenny were pretty sad characters, though I felt sorry for all of them in different ways. The war certainly takes a backseat to the others issues in the book, but the title is a bit misleading then.
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Sounds like this book could have been executed better.
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Definitely, if the soldier and war were meant to be a major theme.
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I call myself a West fan even though I’ve only read Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, which was astounding. I should pick her up esp this one as it’s short. Thanks for the honest review.
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I’ll have to check out another one of her books at some point.
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New title for me too…. sounds interesting.
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Sometimes I think I read so many new releases (which is great) but just need to kick back with an older title here and there. 🙂
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Thanks for your review – I don’t think this one’s for me.
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It’s definitely not for everyone.
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I haven’t read many books during WWI but I will think about this one…great review and thoughtfully written 😀
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Thanks, Staci! The other WWI readalong books — Strange Meeting and How Many Miles to Babylon — were much better.
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Readalongs and challenges enable us to read novels which we would otherwise not have read.
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So true! I’ve discovered a couple of gems through the readalong already.
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[…] Anna (Diary of an Eccentric) pointed out that what she liked the most about the book was the fact how it didn’t just give easy answers but encouraged you to think about the characters and their motivations. She also mentioned how life changing the death of Chris’ father was, a fact I must have overlooked completely. Anna also wrote that she felt we never really get to know Kitty and Margaret due to the first person narrative and that she would have liked to hear more about Chris, about what happened to him in the trenches. Although I did appreciate the book’s subtle use of war scenes through the means of Jenny’s nightmares, I expected it to be more from Chris’ point of view as well. […]
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How interesting that this was the first novel by a woman about World War I although like you say we don’t get to hear much about the war at all. I enjoyed it but also couldn’t connect to the characters and haven’t felt tempted to pick up anything by Rebecca West since. I’m very keen to try Black Lamb and Grey Falcon at some point though.
Thanks for linking me back to your review – I love reading other readers thoughts on books I’ve read 0:)
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You’re very welcome! I’ve heard good things about the Black Lamb book, so maybe I’ll try it some day. It’s really hard to call this a WWI novel. True, Chris wouldn’t be in the predicament he’s in without the war, but it’s really in the background and more of a plot device than anything.
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I’ve always thought that I would like Rebecca West. Your review solidifies that opinion.
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You’ll have to let me know if you read any of her novels. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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I enjoyed your review, Anna. You were kinder in yours than I was in mine. Hadn’t known that she was the first woman author to tackle WWI…
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I didn’t know that either until the read-along. I’m glad I gave the book a try even thought it didn’t “wow” me.
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[…] (WWI) 8. The Linen Queen by Patricia Falvey (WWII) 9. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake (WWII) 10. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West (WWI) 11. The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney (WWII) 12. Lebensborn by Jo […]
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You have some interesting thoughts on the book especially on the characters motivations and the aspects of the story told between the lines. Good review!
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Thanks! I may not have enjoyed it, but it certainly made me think.
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