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A review by briandice
The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion by Ford Madox Ford
4.0
Reading Hemingway's [b:A Moveable Feast|4631|A Moveable Feast|Ernest Hemingway|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327879332s/4631.jpg|2459084] brought me back to Ford, an author whose most well known piece of fiction has been on my perpetual "to read" list. Hemingway's less than flattering portrayal of Ford was the tipping point, and I finally decided to read this novel while Papa's well depicted portrait of Ford was fresh in my head.
After the first 50 pages I was convinced that I had read this story. Tropes tried-and-true seemed to drip from the pages; I found myself sighing and noting frequently how much of the book I had left. But then things changed. And the narrative took a completely different course; characters that were paint-by-number a chapter ago suddenly bloomed in unexpected ways. Ford had me on the rod for the sucker I was, and when he pulled the line, the hook set and the next 150 pages were amazing.
But there came a point in the story, and I don't want to even talk about the action of the book for fear of giving away ANYTHING - there came a point where I just wished that the book had ended. Like [b:The Sheltering Sky|243598|The Sheltering Sky|Paul Bowles|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173066659s/243598.jpg|2287950], I felt that I had experienced the penultimate part of the narrative somewhere way before the ending, and was shocked that there was more to read. The last 1/2 (or so) of the book isn't bad, it's just ... unfortunate additional parts of the character's stories that, while completing their lives, detracted from what I loved about the first half of the book. Had the novel ended at that "Part", and if you read - or have read - this book, you'll know of what I speak, this book would have been 5-stars without a doubt. In any event, I can still recommend it without hesitation and understand more fully why it is considered a literary classic. Despite Hemingway's comments about Ford's halitosis and annoying habits...
After the first 50 pages I was convinced that I had read this story. Tropes tried-and-true seemed to drip from the pages; I found myself sighing and noting frequently how much of the book I had left. But then things changed. And the narrative took a completely different course; characters that were paint-by-number a chapter ago suddenly bloomed in unexpected ways. Ford had me on the rod for the sucker I was, and when he pulled the line, the hook set and the next 150 pages were amazing.
But there came a point in the story, and I don't want to even talk about the action of the book for fear of giving away ANYTHING - there came a point where I just wished that the book had ended. Like [b:The Sheltering Sky|243598|The Sheltering Sky|Paul Bowles|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173066659s/243598.jpg|2287950], I felt that I had experienced the penultimate part of the narrative somewhere way before the ending, and was shocked that there was more to read. The last 1/2 (or so) of the book isn't bad, it's just ... unfortunate additional parts of the character's stories that, while completing their lives, detracted from what I loved about the first half of the book. Had the novel ended at that "Part", and if you read - or have read - this book, you'll know of what I speak, this book would have been 5-stars without a doubt. In any event, I can still recommend it without hesitation and understand more fully why it is considered a literary classic. Despite Hemingway's comments about Ford's halitosis and annoying habits...