Peace: A Novel Audiobook

" Peace was not my typical genre of book. For me it was too tense the entire way through, so I didn't enjoy it. That's not to say that it wasn't well written, for it was. I read to escape, and this was more realism than I like. "

" A brief but moving book about a US soldier in Italy at the end of WW II. Says more than any book I remember about war and ordinary people. "

" The plot centered on a small group of soldiers in Italy during WWII. They are told to go up a mountain on a reconaissance mission. It's snowing and brutally cold and they argue about whether or not to report an earlier shooting in which one of them kills a German soldier and a civilian. I thought the writing was excellent. It was almost difficult at times to continue as these soldiers go through so much - they struggle with the weather, with a sniper and their own internal struggles about what is morally right, especially in war. It's almost like you can't imagine them going back home and living ordinary lives after this experience. "

" A war story. I actually didn't make it to the end. It just wasnt my genre. Every once in a while I read something i wouldnt normally reach for. sometimes it works. Sometimes It doesnt. This time it didnt. "

" Spare but evocative language pulls you into the horrors of war, all compressed into one small incident in Italy during the winter. Slight book, heavy themes. "

" Wonderfully written, marvelously spare, but a bit too smooth at the end. That's not a function of brevity. J.L. Karr's A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY is equally brief, but you close that book thinking it's perfect. This one is close..... "

" Excellent writing and YOU ARE THERE in WWII (I think that was the war!) "

" A day or 2 in the lives of 3 soldiers during WWII. Very detailed, descriptive, insightful "

" Overwritten, unrealistic and shoddily researched. "

" A thrilling story of the trust 3 American soldiers put in an ancient Italian man to guide them over a mountain and avoid a sniper's position. Can the old man be trusted? Do the Americans have a choice? Held me right to the end. "

" Read on a snowy Spring weekend in Patagonia - very good. "

" This is an elegant short novel about "doing the right thing" set in WW II Italy. See Perpetual Folly for my full review. "

" Short and powerful book. I liked the idea that it was set over a couple days. Could almost feel the cold in my fingers. "

" I liked this, but it didn't leave me with book lust. I was expedting something akin to "Soldier of the Great War" and was left hanging. That said, it is well- written with beautiful characters - and a very fast read. "

" Great piece of literature. There is no way to describe it - Bausch is just very very good. I don't normally read war books but this held my attention even when things got brutal at times. "

" great, hard hitting and it goes fast. First book in awhile that I cared about characters. "

" Wow! I read this entire book in one sitting with just a couple of pee breaks and a banana snack! Sometimes the books with the fewest words are the most profound. "

" Fantastic WWII novella. Beautifully written, suspenseful, lovely and tragic. One of the best things I've read all year. "

" Moving account of three soldiers and a partisan in a WWII setting. Humanity in all its complexity becomes the theme. The details of the protagonist's suffering shows the life of the soldier in a cold and hostile never land of arbitrary death. "

" An unrelenting pace makes one feel every physical pain and emotion as a small group of men hike up a darkened hill looking for the enemy in Italy. "

" Excellent story set in Italy during WWII. "

" Probably not being fair to this one, but it was just too short and too, well, vague to say more. It's like a long Hemingway story. Which for me is not a compliment. "

" I might be the last person to discover Richard Bausch but I read this in a sitting and loved it. What should I read next from him. Also, the jacket on the paperback - not the one pictured here - is stunning. "

" Read on a snowy Spring weekend in Patagonia - very good. "

" Best short story/novella (171p) that I've read in a while. Very real and haunting story of a small group of American soldiers on a purposeless mission in 1944 Italy. "

" Beautifully written, evocative and thoughtful piece of work. "

" Brief, eloquent and ultimately so sad, this tale has been told time and again, in different time and place settings. A wonderful antidote and flip-side to the Red Badge of Courage. "

" Exceptional writing. Wish I could give it 3.5 stars. I felt like I was right there on the mountain with the soldiers turning pages as quietly as possible not to be discovered by the enemy. "

" I read this in one sitting. The horrors of war.....you can actually feel the pain. "

" Short and powerful book. I liked the idea that it was set over a couple days. Could almost feel the cold in my fingers. "