Brilliant and contradictory
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A very useful story and full of insights. Graves is very matter of fact about the most horrific aspects of the war - summary executions, soldiers wanting to kill their officers, officers who shot one of their own soldiers to persuade the others to leave the trench and attack, alcoholic officers who sent hundreds to their deaths, accidental deaths and deaths from our own sides guns. In a very detached style, we see all the horror involved.
He explains the strict hierarchy of society and of the army at the time. Yet, although he is obviously disillusioned with the war, he speaks as an old soldier, who believes in discipline, who cannot help but feeling that Britain is justified. Si whil he explains that those sections of the army who were undisciplined and 'slack' would tend not to be put in the most dangerous positions, and had much more chance therefore of surviving the war, he does not see these sections as the most intelligent, but as somehow "not playing the game". Contradictory, but brilliant.
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Surprisingly unputdownable.
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When I decided to read this book, I did so with trepidation. Previously, I had read All Quiet on The Western Front and Farewell to Arms and, even though I wanted to learn more about The First World War, I was worried about the diary format of Goodbye to All That. I was, of course, more than pleasantly surprised. Robert Graves is lucid and engaging through-out. Even in the beginning, when he recalls his education at Harrow, I found it fascinating and was hooked. Robert Graves has a wonderful way of writing, whereby it's as if he's only having a casual conversation. In fact, all the way through, Graves employs this friendly method of communication, even when he's discussing his time in the trenches. Naturally, there are more than a few harrowing occasions when the author conveys his dispair, especially towards the end, where Graves becomes increasingly disillusioned with the war, but, even so, the engaging dialogue abides. The book is highly interesting for several reasons. Firstly, and most prominently, there is much insight into the then-life of an officer, such as the antiquated hierarchy system, and trench war-fare, the old gas masks, the fun the officers had behind the lines, and the military tribunal system. And there is much more on that besides. There is also much about Robert Graves' family and his upbringing. I enjoyed the book particularly for it descriptions of Siegfried Sassoon and his and Graves' friendship. Having such an intimate description of so emminent a poet is invaluable, and adds real depth to any of Sassoon's work you might read afterward. Goodbye to All That is a great book. It is well crafted, and intriguing, and, more than anything, it is an important work of military literature.
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Brilliant!!!
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This is a most amazing book. It sounds totally current, although written decades ago. If you want to know the reality of war, not just World War One, but ALL wars, read this book. Graves is a brilliant writer... I couldn't put this book down.
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Classic
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Having read Blunden to Sassoon, Frank Richards to Remarque, it is this book which I constantly come back to. I can't quite single out why- whether its his descriptions of pre WW1 England, or the horrors of the war itself, or what happened in the immediate aftermath... its just so well pieced together. Unpretentious, graphic, gripping-
I visited the battlefield in France and Belgioum a couple of years ago and even though fully aware of the range of books and guides available- I consciously only took this one- and so we took in Graves' 'Brickstacks', and Cuinchy , and Givenchy etc- everything came to life. It really is such a remarkable book I can't praise it enough, and anyone who wants to get a grip on this most important of times really needs to take the time out to read Goodbye to All That.
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HEROISM, COURAGE, TRUE!!!!!!
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I bought this book for my history class & I have to say it's amazing. It's not happy clappy, this book gets to the rawity of war and it's obvious Robert Graves isn't afraid to say what it was really like for those men who gave their lives for US! The people are real and that just adds to the read. This book is for people who want to know the horror of war in all its "greatness" Glenn Simpson
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