I Read Books: The Good Soldier
Madox Ford originally was going to call this The Saddest Story, so be warned. Two couples have been going to the same health spa for years to mitigate heart problems. It turns out that there have been several intrigues and affairs.
The story is told non-linearly, the narrator starting with his understanding of what was going on at the time, then darting back and forth amongst the four people’s stories, dipping into another couple of characters, and finally ending with death, catatonia and a few awkward and less final endings.
The narrator claims to have been just an observer, not taking part, passive in his not-quite loveless marriage. Yet at every turn he undercuts the initial view of every character. And if he was an observer then he was not good at it.
In the end he is the only one left to report on a pivotal moment, and at each stage he has gone back to change his story so we are left asking, what was the real story?
Still, we do know that it was sad, and that Major Ashburnham was not a good soldier.
Read This: For a convoluted, layered novel that cleverly uses an unreliable narrator
Don’t Read This: If you don’t want a depressing, complicated read.
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