Chrissie's Books

This is a semi-autobiographical novella. The American author is writing of his own experiences as a volunteer ambulance driver in France during the First World War in 1917. The writing is disjointed, a scathing commentary of war. It covers disparate events; there is little continuity to the story. Each short chapter depicts different scenes of war, the trip over the Atlantic, days in Paris and "the French girls", a didactic discussion one night among Frenchmen and Americans - an anarchist, a talkative socialist, another with deep religious conviction. There are numerous scenes of the French land and towns, somewhat colorfully depicted, with French slate tiles, mansard roofs, abbeys and colorful foulards. Clearly the author wanted to demonstrate a thorough knowledge with a palette of numerous pigments, the gas and mud eerily painted in pigments of green, gray and mustard.

I preferred The Backwash Of War.

The audiobook's narration narration by Jeff Woodman, mixing both American and French accents, was quite well done.