Book/Movie Post: War Horse
War Horse, a 1982 children’s novel by Michael Morpugo and a 2011 film adaptation of the book, directed by Stephen Spielberg. If I had only read the book or seen the film, I think my review of either would have been glowing, but having seen the film, reading the book somehow made me enjoy both less.
The story centres around Joey, a part-thoroughbred horse owned by a boy named Albert. The novel is narrated by Joey; the film gives the human characters and their stories a bit more prominence, for hopefully obvious reasons. At the outbreak of war, Joey is sold to a cavalry captain and taken to the front, against Albert’s wishes. Albert promises Joey that he will find him and bring him home. The story then follows his experience as a cavalry horse, pulling an ambulance, being cared for on a farm, and as an artillery horse, on both sides of the war.
Cut for length.
Book post: Leviathan
Leviathan, a 2009 novel Young Adult by Scott Westerfield, which recasts World War I as a conflict between “Darwinists”, who use genetically-engineered animals, and “Clankers”, who rely on giant mecha. Usually, I find YA an interesting and enjoyable read, but I struggled with this book.
Book post: The Winter of the World
The Winter of the World, a 2007 anthology of World War I poetry, edited by Dominic Hibberd and John Onions. When I bought this, I’d been toying with buying a WWI poetry anthology for a while, and this was just a flat-out cover-purchase, because I was tossing up between this and the Penguin Book of WWI Poetry, and this one just looked nicer.
Book post: Somme Mud
Somme Mud, a memoir by E. F. Lynch, written in the 1920s, and published in 2006. This book has been repeatedly called the Australian All Quiet on the Western Front, and has apparently started to be included on school reading lists to try and make callow young school children understand What Their Forefathers Went Through. This book is an absolutely startling testament to the psyche of the soldiers. It will resonate with anyone who is interested in the ANZAC experience, but I think it has broader appeal as well.
TV post: Birdsong
Birdsong, the 2012 adaptation of the pretty silly 1991 book by Sebastian Faulks. I was no fan of the book. The miniseries took a relatively interventionist approach to adapting it, and therefore made it slightly better.
Book post: Testament of Youth
Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain’s 1933 memoir of her youth, her time as a VAD, and her struggle to adapt to living on after the war when practically everyone she loved had died. I reviewed the miniseries of Testament of Youth some time ago, when I was lost in the wilderness and totally unable to put my hands on a copy of the book. The miniseries stands on its own, but the comparison between the two is interesting.
Movie post: A Very Long Engagement
A Very Long Engagement, a 2004 film based on a 1991 book about a French girl named Mathilde, whose fiancé was declared MIA in WWI. The film opens with the last known movements of Manech, who, with four others has been convicted of self-mutilation to escape military service, and is to be sent “over the top” into No Man’s Land to find whatever death awaits him there. From early in the film we are told that all five perished in a subsequent battle, and although multiple witnesses confirm this, Mathilde keeps investigating and discovers that this may not be the case. This is a decent film, with a good cast, interesting characters, and a convoluted, clever mystery plot.
TV post: My Boy Jack
A 2007 telemovie based on a play, based on the true story of Rudyard Kipling’s family, particularly his son Jack, who fought in the first world war. Rudyard Kipling was a famous and well-established English poet by the outbreak of war, and along with various others, like Thomas Hardy, was heavily involved in the production of propaganda during the war. His son jack had very poor eyesight, and failed the medical for the Royal Navy before the war. Following the outbreak of war, he set his heart on a commission in an infantry regiment, and after failing a succession of medicals, Rudyard Kipling used his influence to get him a spot. John Kipling ships out to France before his eighteenth birthday – he has to have permission from his parents to go.
Movie post: Beneath Hill 60
Beneath Hill 60, a 2010 film based on the diary of Captain Oliver Woodward, commander of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company. This film is essentially formula WWI – the tunnelling aspect would provide a novel element, if Birdsong hadn’t done it first. That said, it isn’t a bad film: well-written, well-acted, and with less than the usual dose of maudlin What’s-the-Point-of-it-All? meandering.
TV post: ANZACs
ANZACs, a 1985 miniseries about a group of men who enlist in the 8th Battalion, AIF, in 1914 and follows them until 1919. Along the way, they are involved in the Gallipoli landing, the Somme offensive, particularly Pozieres, 3rd Ypres, and a bunch of other engagements.
This is a really excellent miniseries which has been praised for its historical accuracy, and which manages to cover off the touchpoints of the war without falling into the traps of being cliched or didactic. One might think that because I’m Australian I was bound to like it, but this fails to take account of Australians’ huge cultural cringe. I had some cringe-moments (mostly because of larrikin Bill Hogan), but I actually think this would appeal outside Australia as an interesting and fairly accurate depiction of the WWI experience.
Cut for length, not spoilers.
Book post: Birdsong
A 1993 book by Sebastian Faulks, about Stephen Wraysford, an orphan cum clothmerchant cum homewrecker cum infantry officer perpetually stationed in the line alongside a tunneling corps. Focuses primarily on the tunnelling corps and their activities, with the obligatory couple of trips ‘over the top’ for Wraysford.
TV Post: Testament of Youth
Testament of Youth a 1979 miniseries based on Vera Brittain’s 1933 memoir. Available on YouTube, starting here. Really excellent and very much worth watching.
Spoilers Ahoy.
Gutenberging World War One
No doubt everyone has heard of Project Gutenberg, a huge collection of free ebooks with expired copyright. Alongside Shakespeare and Austen, Gutenberg has an excellent collection of books about World War One (thoughtfully organised into a bookshelf, no less).
This collection includes diaries/memoirs and fiction, and was all written fairly close to the event (since otherwise the copyright won’t yet have expired). I am currently reading:
- Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915 – contains fascinating discussion, particularly of the Ambulance Trains, which went up close to the front and brought injured men back to hospitals.
- The Backwash of War and Fanny Goes to War – experiences of a VAD and a FANY respectively.
- Five Months at ANZAC – the experiences of a Medical Officer at Gallipoli
My interests were primarily medical, since there are plenty of easily accessible in-print books about the experiences of the infantry. However, Gutenberg also has a heap of infantry and other books available as well.
A really useful resource for ebook-ready WWIers.
End of NaNoWriMo Sitrep
So, I cracked 50,000 and won NaNoWriMo for the 4th year straight, but I didn’t make it to my personal goal of 60,000, nor did I finish Steadfast.
There was one very simple reason for this. On 12 November, my grandfather was hospitalised.
Continue Reading →
Day 27
Ned: on trial
Arabella: in support
Me: don’t ask
Wordcount:: 52,201 (ending w/c for Nanowrimo 2011)
Excerpt:
At the end of the third day, Bobby walks out of the court beside her. They don’t speak, but Arabella feels both relieved and unworthy of Bobby’s sympathetic silence. He’s a scrappy schoolboy, about to matriculate, but here he sits beside his disgraced brother’s fallen sweetheart, day after day. She wishes she could find a way to thank him for that, but only Ned has ever been that good at understanding her, and he isn’t here to interpret.
Bobby breaks the silence by saying, “You must really love Ned.”
Day 26
Ned: “chuffed”?
Arabella: Onoes, Robert is injured!
Me: As expected, the last five days of the month are going to be messy. Glad I got my 50k, not sure I’ll get to 60…
Wordcount: 50,784
Excerpt:
Then there comes the patient she recognises. He’s older than she remembers, and his pallid face and hair standing up on end from days of lying down mean she has to snatch at the tag attached to his button to be sure. She reads Corporal Robert Reid, North Penland Guards, shrapnel on lung – high risk of infection, and takes her hand in his. “Robert,” she says, “Bobby.”
His eyes open, and he squeezes her hand weakly. “Hullo Arabella,” he says. “Damn, Ned would be chuffed to know I’ve wound up with you.”
Day 25
Ned: well-thought-of by his CO…?
Arabella: alternating between the ambulance train and the hospital, fretting
Me: WINNER – VALIDATED, MOFOs. o/ Also, cribbing most of Arabella’s experiences from the fascinating (and free!) Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front 1914-1915
Wordcount: 50,112 according to the NaNoWriMo validator; slightly more according to yWriter
Excerpt:
The first time Arabella is detailed to the train, it rolls up to the station at the village of Septacre, less than two miles behind the front. The sector is not all that hot, so the train takes on a few walking wounded from the clearing station, then waits while casualties trickle in. The noise of the fighting, loud but dulled by distance, keeps her awake the first couple of nights, before she gets used to it. The wounded soldiers, sitting up in their bunks, can name each mortar or gun from the sound of its explosion.
Day 24
Ned: imperilled!
Arabella: making friends, being deployed
Me: really didn’t feel like writing today. –;
Wordcount: 47,862
Excerpt:
Arabella strolls from her house to the theatre district just as the sun is sinking towards the horizon. Most of the playhouses, or at least those which haven’t been requisitioned, are still open and playing shows with appropriately patriotic and sentimental themes. The crowds in the dining rooms and coffee shops around the theatres are different though: it is impossible not to notice the lack of men in their prime. Women escort children and grandparents. The occasional soldier on leave wears his uniform and his wounded spirit with pride. The army gives out medallions to men who volunteered but were declared medically unfit. Arabella sees a few of these around people’s necks as well.
“Arabella Mays.”
Day 23
Ned: worried about Robert and looking for Arabella
Arabella: looking in on Robert daily
Me: it’s all coming together… *steeples fingers*
Wordcount: 46,114
Excerpt:
The nurse takes him through one room and into another, where he immediately sees two figures sitting by the bed of a third. “Thank you,” he says.
Ned recognises Katrin and Fish immediately. They’re sitting on opposite sides of the bed; Katrin’s back is to him. He considers coming back, but he has no idea what Robert’s condition is like. Straightening his shoulders, he crosses the room. Fish looks up as he approaches, his expression enigmatic.
Cast: Katrin Anluen
This was easy – I want to cast Hayley Atwell in all the roles ever.
Day 22
Ned: being judgy and meeting Katrin Anluen
Arabella: at the hospital in Bayetteville
Me: yay, another female character!
Wordcount: 44,001
Excerpt:
Fish doesn’t come after him then, but he does come to find him later, when Ned’s washing up one of the large stew pots so that it can be used to boil water for coffee.
“What are you and she doing?” Ned asks him, not looking up from his task.
Fish crouches next to the washing basin and says, “She wants to go and see Robert.”
Day 21
Ned: on the train to the front
Arabella: relieved she’s not pregnant
Me: struggling with this section.
Wordcount: 42,079
Excerpt:
There is a rumour among the other nurse trainees that she has a sweetheart. That was inevitable; the way she was mooning around the last few months. To them, a twenty-six year old spinster is a curiosity. They are clearly of the view that her man should be pushed into matrimony as quickly as possible, before her charms wither and he is beguiled by a girl less perilously close to being on the shelf.
Book post: My Dear I Wanted To Tell You
My dear I wanted to tell you a 2011 novel by Lousia Young about young up-and-coming officer Riley Purefoy, the girl he loves, his CO, the girl he loves, and his cousin, whom nobody loves.
Cut for length, not spoilers.
Day 20
Ned: …
Arabella: …
Me: ._. *hangs head* I was busy, all right?
Wordcount: 41,229, which isn’t at all exactly the same as yesterday. X|
Excerpt: *crickets chirp*
Day 19
Ned: upset – his brother’s been shrapnelled in the lung. D:
Arabella: N/A…
Me: 6200 words today. BOOYAH.
Wordcount: 41,229
Excerpt:
When they eventually get back to the trench, Deuce is waiting for him. “You didn’t tell me you had a brother on the line, Reid,” he says. His buff good humour is absent.
“Er, yes, sir,” says Ned, trying to wipe the muck from his forehead and only wiping it into his eyes. “Corporal Robert Reid, 3rd battalion, North Penland Guards.”
Day 18
Ned: omg! My brother is at the front!
Arabella: being strong for both of them
Me: going back and adding characters so I have the option of killing them later. *steeples fingers*
Wordcount: 35,029
Excerpt:
“Fish has filled me in on most of it,” Robert continues. “So you were in Hope Gaol. No wonder we couldn’t find you. We were told you were for Oldcastle.”
Day 17
Ned: more wedded bliss…
Arabella: ditto
Me: not writing happy stuff all that well
Wordcount: 33,750
Excerpt:
Very early in the morning, Ned wakes and can’t get back to sleep. He’s thinking about the moment when Lennox came with the police to arrest him. That image quickly becomes another, of the spirit leg being wrenched from his flesh by the warden; and then another, of the second beating he received at the gaol.
TV post: Downton Abbey (Season 2)
Downton Abbey, a 2010 and 2011 TV series, the second season of which covers the First World War.
Matthew Crawley, a captain in the BEF, William Mason, a private, and Thomas Barrow, a stretcher bearer, all spend varying amounts of time in the trenches. I have a great deal of fondness for this show (somewhat battered by Season 2…), but in my view it handled the war pretty badly.
Spoilers ahoy.
Day 16
Ned: enjoying wedded bliss
Arabella: likewise
Me: throwing up in my mouth a little. Torture, melee, evil plots, prison, sickness and death? Sure, I’ll write that. A wedding? Ew, do I have to? :<
Wordcount: 32,000 exactly. LOL.
Excerpt:
(Heh, I couldn’t even bear to c/p that schmaltzy wedding scene. Here, have some carnage instead.)
They’re close now. The pillbox’s guns are concentrated on them, spewing out round after round of death at them. Ned is now deflecting a bullet a second as the machine gun tears up and down the line. There’s a gap to his left. He doesn’t stop to think about what that means.
Poem: The Snowdrop Maid
So anyway, it transpired that I had to write a poem for this story. It’s in a particular style, and generally not very good, and let’s face it, I’m here to write a novel, not a poetry anthology. And I was never much of a poet. But, the poem was important to have, and will never be presented all together (hopefully preventing people from realising how bad it is). Later in the story, the soldiers start singing it as “The Poppy Maid” rather than “The Snowdrop Maid”. It loosely fits the melody/meter of Moreton Bay.
Once in my youth I wand’ring went
My heart sore and my spirits low,
And in a lost and sunlight field
I met a maiden, long ago.