"Much of what we know and feel about the First World War we owe to Vera Brittain’s elegiac yet unsparing book, which set a standard for memoirists from Martha Gellhorn to Lillian Hellman. Abandoning her studies at Oxford in 1915 to enlist as a nurse in the armed services, Brittain served in London, in Malta, and on the Western Front. By war’s end she had lost virtually everyone she loved. Testament of Youth is both a record of what she lived through and an elegy for a vanished generation."
The BBC did a superb mini-series on it back in the 70s. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I tried reading the book, but it's a slow paced horror. Not that the book is bad, it's excellent.
But it seems the Brits have a knack for capturing the horrors of war we pretty much never equal.
Had the same problem with Piece of Cake, the book felt astonishingly real, but that was also why I couldn't read it. I felt like I was sitting on someone's shoulder on a ride to hell.
There's a new movie out, it's getting mixed reviews. From what I've seen, they pulled the punches.
The 1970s mini-series is available from BBC and Amazon-UK, but it's a Euro dvd, you need an unlocked dvd player to see it. You can get the book from any library, but I think an e-reader would be a better choice for this one. The smaller pages give the feeling of a faster tempo than the book, if the book has twice as many words per page. At least thats the way it feels to me.
History is a funny thing. When all is said and done, it's about getting an understanding, a perspective on an era or event. The book and the mini-series do that.
Note: I lost the link to the quote, and can't seem to find it now. If you stumble across, would you please post the link. Sorry about that, chief.
The BBC did a superb mini-series on it back in the 70s. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I tried reading the book, but it's a slow paced horror. Not that the book is bad, it's excellent.
But it seems the Brits have a knack for capturing the horrors of war we pretty much never equal.
Had the same problem with Piece of Cake, the book felt astonishingly real, but that was also why I couldn't read it. I felt like I was sitting on someone's shoulder on a ride to hell.
There's a new movie out, it's getting mixed reviews. From what I've seen, they pulled the punches.
The 1970s mini-series is available from BBC and Amazon-UK, but it's a Euro dvd, you need an unlocked dvd player to see it. You can get the book from any library, but I think an e-reader would be a better choice for this one. The smaller pages give the feeling of a faster tempo than the book, if the book has twice as many words per page. At least thats the way it feels to me.
History is a funny thing. When all is said and done, it's about getting an understanding, a perspective on an era or event. The book and the mini-series do that.
Note: I lost the link to the quote, and can't seem to find it now. If you stumble across, would you please post the link. Sorry about that, chief.
