The best piece of literature I have ever read. The characters are very lifelike. Although I did not particularly like the way the book plays with time, it is still one of the best books I have ever read. I learnt a lot about the second world war and how war can not only change circumstances but also the psychological effect war can have on people. A must read for anyone who hasn't read it.

Stick with it. This book is well worth the effort. I picked up the book from my daughter who had just completed her A's and to be honest I found it difficult to put down. To really bring out the atmosphere treat yourself to a trip to France and visit somewhere like Vimy Ridge where you can still see trenches and go underground in a mine. Try not to cry when you reach the memorial. The interplay between the various generations in the book adds to the intensity of the war scenes. A well chosen book for English Literature - even if it is a little raunchy and gory; but that is what one should expect in the passage of life and death.

Boring, dull and predictable is how I describe this incredibley disapointing novel. The poor mixture of powerful and woefully inadequete imagery give it a disjointed feel and the character development is slow and lacks depth. The chapters involving Wraysford's daughter are by far the worse being completely unmoving and seem nothing more than what they are filler chapters to increase the length and occasionally lead onto part of Wraysford's experiences in the war and to finally to explain the happy ending of his life. I was asked to write a paper on this novel but refused because of its bland story line and unimaginative plot twists (I say this in the loosist possible sense as they are more slow curves than dramatic twists).