Parade's End Audiobook

" This book is really a collection of four shorter novellas. I am giving the five star rating based on the first two books, Some Do Not and No More Parades, though the quality drops off somewhat for the other two. The quality of Madox Ford's writing is superb and the stream of consciousness strolls through the main character's thoughts are intriguing. Christopher Tietjens is a turn of the 20th century English gentlemen, with all the infuriating mindset that position implies. Despite being frustrated at the main character's lack of action towards what will make him happy, I found it refreshing to be inside the thoughts of such an intelligent mind. There is one passage in the third book where Christopher is musing on the fact that he just wants someone to talk to, and if that means he has to live with the woman he is obsessing about and to seduce her, that's a byproduct of the fact that they'll get to keep on conversing. That bit of thought seems to sum up his character, an intelligent, lonely man looking for someone who can relate to him. Tietjens' psychopathic wife adds spice throughout the books, and the third book provides a first hand account of an English officer's life in France during WWI. I really can't express my love for this book enough, other than to say it's one of the best I've read in years. "

" Amazing insight into British society and the English mind around WW1. I read this for one of my MA classes (and re-read for an essay and then re-read yet again) and since have read several others books by Ford, a forgotten great hopefully coming back to the forefront with the new BBC/HBO miniseries, though I think this book is too difficult for most casual readers that will come to it from the miniseries. The time shifts are initially confusing, but when one lets yourself go (I think the confusion the reader feels is intended, it mimics the confusion the characters feel), one discovers great comic moments (the breakfast scene at the Duchemins in particular), a beautiful love story and a very sympathetic hero of the stiff upper lip variety, and one of the most despicable yet fascinating characters you're likely to encounter in literature. If you're not sure that you can commit to the full book, read Some Do Not.... This is a self-contained book in it's own right--if you finish it wanting to know what happens to the characters, then by all means read on. But it's in my mind easily the strongest of the four books--most comic and best use of modernist techniques, namely the time shift (which Ford coined). "

" Only read the first one and half of four novels - I understand it's downhill, but I'm actually enjoying this, which is a nice change of pace given the course reading. "

" Its good - but so longwinded, gave up after 400 pages. "

" It took me long to finish the book. The story line is a bit confusing because of the time shifts. The war part and the battlefront scenes are not persuasive. It is about the dying of the old "ancient regime" when clashing with the new world order influence. Nevertheless I give the book 4 stars "

" Terrific! In this day and age when everything is sound bites, quick reads, and info overload, it's great to slow down and really savor words and really get to know the characters in a book. Pleasurable reading! "

" Stamina needed to get through all 4 volumes but worth it. "

" One of my favorite novels, and one of the books that I continue to dip back into every six months to a year. It's almost unique in my experience in that the main character changes almost not at all while the world falls apart around him. "

" Loved and adored this book. "

" Stopped reading for the mo as having to concentrate on MA books - hoping to restart in September. "

" Hard to get into but worth the effect. Absolutely moving and impressive. Wonderful. Makes you laugh, cry, draw back in horror. "

" Looong book. The first book of the group was very good, the second OK, the third interminable and the fourth and last relatively interesting. All the stream of consciousness told through the eyes of someone with PTSD got old after a while. "

" I can't wait to read this again... after 30 years... and I can't wait to see Tom Stoppard's screenplay! "

" The most wonderful, wonderful thing. "

" This book was terminally dull and incomphrensible in some places. Stick to the tv version with Benedict Cumberbatch. "

" My personal choice for greatest English novel. Read before you watch HBO's adaptation. I fear they may Downton it. "