Marina Maxwell
  • Home
  • MMMusings
  • Blogs
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • Book Reviews
  • FAMILY TALES

Reviews

Categories

All


I read and review both historical fiction and non-fiction, but also enjoy biographies, crime and some contemporary fiction.
​ 

Please note that unless stated that I have received these books directly from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review, I either purchase my own copies or source them from my local library service. 

​Links to Amazon, Book Depository or Dymocks Australia are only for the reader's reference.
(Due to some poor experiences recently with Booktopia, from 2023 I will no longer link to them.)

My reviews for Historical Novels Review, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society, can be found online here
​

The Photographer of the Lost *

30/8/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture

There are numerous novels that have attempted to make sense of the experience of World War I, but only a rare few have succeeded. This one delves into both the War but also its aftermath in France as reconstruction and recovery clashes with bitter memory and grief.

Harry is an ex-soldier and photographer hired to take photos in the war cemeteries for English families who want some tangible image of their dead loved one - a grave-marker or scene associated with their war service. His sister-in-law, Edie, has received in the mail a photograph of her missing husband, Francis, without any explanation. She becomes convinced he must still be alive. Individually, Harry and Edie travel through the destroyed landscape and cemeteries in the hope they will find evidence of Francis. In the process, they meet others on similar quests as they struggle to resolve questions about the War and their own relationship issues. 

There are aspects of this novel that are beautifully written, intensely moving and resonate accurately the enormous loss and heartache suffered, that show the devastated landscape and the shocking effects of what would now be described as untreated PTSD. Some of the best passages contain the succinct black humour of men marching towards certain death. 

Yet at the same time the novel is irksome with repetitive thought processes and over-indulgent contemplation on the self that reflects 21st Century attitudes rather than those of the stoic early 20th Century. Also, the increasingly annoying fad in current literature for a disruptive time-line and switches in tenses just ends up an unnecessary distraction.

Initially captured by the premise of this novel – how people handle the aftermath of war - I had hoped to love it but I’m afraid it disappointed me, due in no small part to its wavering construction.  

(*  The book was published as “The Poppy Wife” in America. I have no idea why, as this is primarily Harry’s story and the original British title and cover have a poetic quality that conveys the symbolism so much better.)


Three stars


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

Booktopia
​

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    See
    Historical Novel Society
    ​
    for my reviews of historical fiction
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • MMMusings
  • Blogs
  • About Me
  • My Books
  • Book Reviews
  • FAMILY TALES