The Birthday Boys

Her prose is economical and expressive to the point that other talented writers now strike me as using too many words. What's more, Bainbridge's imagination is stunning. Although I understood that I was reading a 'fictional' account of the failed Scott expedition, I kept finding myself thinking that I was there, witnessing what happened, peering over a shoulder as someone wrote in his journal...(!) She's that good. I'm a historian, and I find B's imagined re-creation of what happened on the Scott expedition (which is based on her expert command of the historical sources) completely convincing, and powerfully moving. What a genius! Bravo, Bainbridge.

I have recently "discovered" Beryl Bainbridge, and have found her voice to be one of the most engaging in current fiction. I have very little interest in Scott's brilliant failure, but Bainbridge takes the reader inside the souls of five doomed heroes of the British Empire in a heartbreaking and mesmerizing way. I especially appreciate the lack of revisionism in her writing- these men are not judged by our standards, but by those of their own time. (I also loved Forever England.)

Bainbridge takes the tragic 1912 South Pole journey of Robert Scott and his men, and tells the tale from each of the five perspectives. Her talent is that the voice of each man sounds distinct from the others, and the story slowly draws you in to its inevitable, tragic conclusion. It helps to know more about the actual journey; reading this novel, although fabulous, is like seeing a picture through a keyhole.

Bainbridge's book made this Alaskan feel cold. The stupidity, pigheadedness, and bravery of Scott and his men are exposed beautifully in this little book.

this is a haunting,sad and frightening book about the (mis)adventures of robert f scott and his crew on their attempt to get to the south pole in 1911. it is told through the eyes of four crew members and scott himself, all of whom perished on their way back from the pole. after two years of rigor they found that amundsen, clearly better prepared and with dogs instead of the (lamentable decision, this) ponies that scott had brought, had gotten there first. the men are perfect examples of the sort of late-victorian optimistic adventurers who helped make england the wellspring of 19th/early 20th century adventuring and scientific discovery. sadly, their "for king and country" fortitude could not compensate for the antarctic conditions and the terrible facts and misjudgments of the journey itself. most interesting is that, although a weird literary device -- a tale told through the eyes of those who are in fact not alive to tell the tale --it works on all levels. it is a compelling read and especially in apposition to "into thin air," in all of its high-tech failure. read this, and then tackle scott's own journals, which were found with his body several years after his death a mere 11 miles from safety.