A Very Long Engagement

A Very Long Engagement is a magical book, one which weaves a tale and catches you in its spell--it will haunt you long after you put it down. The novel begins as five condemned French soldiers walk to their doom during World War I. They have all shot themselves, trying to get out of fighting and as punishment, will be thrown into the no-man's-land between the French trenches and the German trenches. Their families know nothing of this and after they die, are told them men died honorably. A few years later, Mathilde, the fiance of one of the men discovers some of the truth about what happened and she becomes convinced that her fiance has did not die--or at least did not die as she was told. She tries, doggedly, to uncover the truth. Along the way, she discovers many atrocities of that war. The novel pulls you along to its rather unexpected, yet still deeply satisfying ending, pulls you so much you won't be able to put this one down. The power of love, the strength of friendship, the failure of memory--all these come into play in this outstanding novel. I highly recommend this novel to all devoted readers. It's a bit of a challenge, following all the little clues Matilde gets, putting the truth together and tossing out the lies, but it's worth it. Enjoy.

I made the mistake of starting this book, misplacing it, finding it, and discovering I couldn't pick up where I'd left off and had to start at the beginning again. It's just not a book to read casually. You've got to concentrate and pay attention and read long chunks at a time.Dissatisfied with the official account of her lovers death in WWI, crippled artist Mathilde sets out to learn the truth. Here's the deal: five soldiers were condemned to death for self-mutilation. The manner of their execution was odd: they were forced into the no-man's-land between the French and German lines and left to fend for themselves. Everyone assumed they would all quickly die, but it seems at least one didn't . And there's confusion about his identity. And there's the fact that one of the buried men was wearing German boots, so what's that all about?A spellbinding and enchanting story, Japrisot's A Very Long Engagement is a little of everything: history, mystery, romance, intrigue, and all done in a splendidly literary style.This book was translated from the French, which may account for a small bit of the obscureness of the writing. But oh boy, is it worth sticking with it. If you're not smokin' anything, not drinkin' anything - if you're paying attention all the time, you're in for a superb reading experience.

I never would have guessed a book like this out of Japrisot after reading his 60s noir stuff -- I read it once when it first came out in English, read it too fast in the way that dogs and children are apt to gobble their food faster than the speed of tasteability, and then (as is the way with most good books) everyone I knew borrowed it and then leant it to their friends, and so on -- 2.5 years went by -- the book wound up in the hands of my friend Ted, one of the ten or twelve inhabitants of the planet who actually have the cojones to return a long-overdue book (I am NOT one of that rare dozen, by the way)mailed it back to me, and I read it twice, and it was even better than I remembered it, especially at Round 3, when I actually chilled out and read it at an excruciating turtlespace... To be able, at the cranky and over-post-post-contemporarized fin de siecle, to write such an overwhelmingly beautiful and downright odd love story without resorting to worn-lace nostalgia or otherwise bowing away from what presently squats before us as the toadlike specter of our world -- that's a feat worth more than ten million silly opinions. My own included.

Wow! I just finished this book after reading it every spare minute for the last 2 days. I did not want to put it down. The beginning of this novel is probably the best introduction to a group of characters that I have ever read. Not only for its character development but for the rhythm of the language. A spectacular achievement considering this is translated from the original French.This is a love story and an intriguing mystery as well as an indictment of the carnage of WWI. And in the midst of the climax of the story, the author gives further detail to a minor character (Mathilde's mother cancelling the cheese course) that had me laughing out loud. How did he know that I needed a break in the tension?This is a well told story that had me enthralled from beginning to end, deepened my definition of love, taught me more about WWI (Pat Barker's trilogy is fabulous for this also, and just as fascinating) and caused me to appreciate again the privilege of reading great literature and all the benefits truly great books bring to life.A must read.

I read this book in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. Japrisot not only artfully held the suspense until the last possible moment, he gave me such wonderful characters to care about that I couldn't *help* but frantically turn the pages trying to find out Did Manech die or didn't he?? But it's not just a good mystery story. It's realistic historical fiction that gave me a vivid sense of the trenches and post-war life. It's a beautiful, painful romance story. It's a clever, astute rendering of how people help each other and lie to each other and care for each other and punish each other. All of this, brilliant at every facet, in one little book. It's a brilliantly *woven* story...like Mathilde, the heroine, you have to hold on tho the wire and don't let go until you get to the end as Japrisot winds you through his labyrinthine tale.