From acclaimed novelist Mark Helprin comes a lush, literary epic about love, beauty, and the world at war. Alessandro Giuliani, the young son of a prosperous Roman lawyer, enjoys an idyllic life full of privilege: he races horses across the country to the sea, he climbs mountains in the Alps, and, while a student of painting at the ancient university in Bologna, he falls in love. Then the Great War intervenes. Half a century later, in August of 1964, Alessandro, a white-haired professor, tall and proud, meets an illiterate ...
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From acclaimed novelist Mark Helprin comes a lush, literary epic about love, beauty, and the world at war. Alessandro Giuliani, the young son of a prosperous Roman lawyer, enjoys an idyllic life full of privilege: he races horses across the country to the sea, he climbs mountains in the Alps, and, while a student of painting at the ancient university in Bologna, he falls in love. Then the Great War intervenes. Half a century later, in August of 1964, Alessandro, a white-haired professor, tall and proud, meets an illiterate young factory worker on the road. As they walk toward Monte Prato, a village seventy kilometers away, the old man a soldier and a hero who became a prisoner and then a deserter, wandering in the hell that claimed Europe tells him how he tragically lost one family and gained another. The boy, envying the richness and drama of Alessandro s experiences, realizes that this magnificent tale is not merely a story: it s a recapitulation of his life, his reckoning with mortality, and, above all, a love song for his family."
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This is the best fiction I've ever read. The author's words just flow with lots of descriptions which you can visualize. The story is about a man retelling his life as a soldier. There's lots of history in this novel. He was a soldier in the Italian army during WWI. He fought mainly against the Austrians. It's not all a war story but a life story of incredible happenings as well as a love story. It has many pages but it's also a page turner you will love.
Maura C
Jan 26, 2012
Everyone Should Read This Book
Helprin's novel came out in the early 90s to much acclaim. It is an absolute classic story of one man's life, primarily during World War I. Another of his books that should be assigned reading in English and/or History courses.
This may well be the best novel written by an American writer in the 20th century - and, one could argue, even in earlier and later centuries. Helprin is brilliant. Period.
george h
Oct 6, 2011
first world war from the Italian perspective
This is a wonderful book albeit you have to accept the early slow development. I had not realised the effect on Italian conscripts nor the dreadful conditions under which they were commanded in the Great War until reading this book, I think it quite a "Tour de Force" and would thoroughly recommend it.
Randall
Apr 9, 2011
A Wonderful Sweeping Epic
Mark Helprin's A Soldier Of The Great War must be considered a modern literary classic. The description is artful, the action is intense and there is humour throughout. The underlying vein of irony is brilliant: Italy at war. The chaos, described by a young student of "aesthetics" searches for meaning and purpose. Only love and death can give such a story a proper conclusion. Bravo!
HopelessRomatic
Apr 25, 2007
A Romantic, Aesthetic, Intellectual Historical Fic
Simply stated, one of the best books I have ever read! It should be on everyone's "must read" list.