Wars

One of the best what? One of the best Canadian novels, one of the best war novels . . . take your pick. Joeseph Jonston must only like stories where there are only good people doing nice things, and where children are sheltered from the scary fact that sometimes the world is a bad place. I think this is the problem when you have a work of art as powerful and brilliant as The Wars --- it gets assigned in high schools, and people who wouldn't know a good book from a hole in the ground are made to read it. The Wars examines the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual wages of World War One (I think the plural in the title references the fact that there are so many other "little" wars simultaneously going on within the main character, within his family, within society, etc). Findley explores his themes with powerful, poetic, and concise prose. The Wars is a short book, and Findley's fluid style means it can be read quickly. However, not a single word is wasted. The prose is rich with fresh imagery, but those images are never just decoration, or descriptive showmanshp --- they all have their purpose and their place. This is one of the calling cards of a great writer. Some would say the age warning is appropriate. Some of the events of the plot and some of the images are indeed explicitly violent or sexual. They are never gratuitous, and are used to drive home the horror of World War One, but the more squeemish or puritanical readers may find them off-putting.

I feel as though, reading through all of the reviews of this novel, that I must not have read the same book as those who gave this book poor ratings. I believe it is honestly one of the best books I have ever read.Yes, the characters are not normal--but they start off that way. It is the war that tears apart their family, turns them into killers, forces them to commit acts of depravity. Yes, Ross is a very complex character--but not to begin with. He begins as a simple, if not naive young adult in Canada and ends a mad, misunderstood soldier in Europe. Yes, Findley changes the narrative every 20 pages or so and yes, it can be confusing. But the book is about finding the humanity in the inhumanity of war by taking a look at a fictional but personal case. Findley's aim is not neatly tying up loose ends and making everything "fit" but unravelling tied ends and showing that nothing "fits."If you enjoy happy endings that give easy answers and generic lessons, read another book. Findley's work is complicated, disturbing, and heavy and I for one enjoyed it. It's a book I still think about years after reading it and would recommend not "burning it to the ground" as some other critics have suggested, but leaving it until one is mature enough to comprehend its brevity.

There is little I can say about this book except READ IT. Having read about eleven of Findley's works, I would rate this in the top three, behind Headhunter and Not Wanted on the Voyage, perhaps. This is an excellent novel written by, in my opinion, the most talented writer alive today. Findley's abstract style may take a little while to grow on some readers, but once it does, it will make them bona fide Findley addicts like yours truly.

I first read this book years ago when I bought it just for something to read at an airport somewhere. I have never forgotten it. Recently I reread it and was once again moved by its beauty and power. This story of a young Canadian soldier's experiences during World War I is one of the most haunting statements on the insanity of war ever written