Parade's End

[Serial_Apologist]

Glad you reminded me, I always meant to read the second and third Sassoon novels....off to the river people....

Sassoon? You've got till next week!

[aeolium]

Well, the last part of PE certainly seemed quite a bit messier than the others, with some gruesome, absurd and moving war scenes. I think this review seemed a fair summation. It all seemed a bit quickly wrapped up, telescoped and rather unconvincingly. Why did Sylvia abandon her principles and suggest divorce from Tietjens and remarriage to Gen Campion? What was the point of the Groby Tree destruction - simply an act of iconoclasm and revenge? Tietjens' taking the two Groby logs back to London and burning one of them at the Armistice celebration seems to be conflating episodes from two different stages (at least according to Julian Barnes' description of the novels - the Groby Tree destruction occurring in novel 4, the Armistice celebration at the end of novel 3) Barnes, too, suggested that the description of Tietjens and Valentine's life together in novel 4 was far from idyllic, but none of that was suggested in the adaptation. Perhaps it did really need a more extended series.

Still, it was a very enjoyable production with a good script, good performances and fine photography (and great comic touches). Top marks on the acting front I would give to Alan Howard, Roger Allam and Rebecca Hall and the direction by Susanna White was excellent.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It all seemed a bit quickly wrapped up, telescoped and rather unconvincingly.

Still, it was a very enjoyable production with a good script, good performances and fine photography (and great comic touches). Top marks on the acting front I would give to Alan Howard, Roger Allam and Rebecca Hall and the direction by Susanna White was excellent.

- an extra episode (at least) seemed needed to give this excellent series a better paced ending - one that the preceding episodes deserved.

[gurnemanz]

Having enjoyed it greatly, like others I did find the end a bit abrupt. I had looked at the clock with a quarter of an hour to go and wondered how they were going to manage to tie things up in such a short time.

[vinteuil]

... the ending was always going to be awkward. There is a continuing, unresolved, debate as to whether this should be a trilogy (as some claim Ford intended, as Graham Greene advocated, as Bodley Head published), ending with the just-post-armistice gathering where Tietjens and the Wannop girl dance, and where the reader can imagine a future - or whether it should be a tetralogy (as others claim Ford intended, as Penguin publish), with a final, equally unresolved 'ending' , more impressionistic and dream-like, in a not particularly happy ending for anyone, Tietjens and the Wannop girl eking out an existence in a cottage...

The tele version incorporated bits of vol 4 ( among other things, Sylvia's proposal to General Campion:

"If I were to divorce Christopher, will you marry me?"

(Tho' his firm answer -

' He exclaimed with the vehemence of a shocked hen:
"Good God, no!" '

was far from clear in the tele version... )) -

Really, the only serious answer to all who have been following this seriously - is to get the (Penguin) book - and read for yourselves!!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Really, the only serious answer to all who have been following this seriously - is to get the (Penguin) book - and read for yourselves!!!

Quite so, and I intend so doing now that the series has ended. (I was given The Good Soldier last Christmas, so I shall read that first!)

[amateur51]

For those who like comfy-cosy period soapy drama, snuggle up in your PJs on the sofa with cocoa, Downtown Abbey is back tonight .....

I'm afraid I can't cope with 5 minutes of drama/comedy stuck in between 7 minute blocks of adverts.

[amateur51]

And (round about the same time?) Siegfried Sassoon's trilogy - at least the second and third volumes, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer and Sherston's Progress. A bit of mental arithmetic suggests they have been lying on my shelves, never read, for 30 years.

Siegfried Sassoon: A Biography by Max Egremont is worth reading too

[amateur51]

Quite so, and I intend so doing now that the series has ended. (I was given The Good Soldier last Christmas, so I shall read that first!)

I've just finished The Good Soldier ferney and it's quite brilliant. However it is also a book on which you have to concentrate pretty hard (well I did ) as it's quite easy to get lost. Definitely a book to re-read pretty soon after you've digested the first reading I think

[vinteuil]

I've just finished The Good Soldier ferney and it's quite brilliant. However it is also a book on which you have to concentrate pretty hard ...

... I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Amateur! It's quite a hypnotic work, one gets completely drawn in to it, while also being repeatedly wrong-footed - the 'comedy' of the self-deluded narrator becomes more and more grim - and the sad sad sadness of the last part is truly devastating...

[Anna]

I'm afraid I can't cope with 5 minutes of drama/comedy stuck in between 7 minute blocks of adverts.

But it's ok to watch with half an eye whilst doing the jumbo crossword .......
I missed the last episode of PE, BBC Wales pulled it because the rugby overran (Scarlets v Ospreys) and replaced it with some old episodes of Coast, so I shall catch up within a few days. I intend purchasing the Good Soldier first, as recommended. Flaws'n'all, PE has been totally engrossing viewing demanding concentration and thought. Which is A Good Thing.

[Richard Tarleton]

I missed the last episode of PE, BBC Wales pulled it because the rugby overran (Scarlets v Ospreys) and replaced it with some old episodes of Coast, so I shall catch up within a few days.

Anna, this is one of the serious disadvantages of living in Wales - the tendency to assume the entire population is sport-mad, and to alter the national schedules in favour of some village-pump sporting fixture which, it's a fair bet, anyone who's remotely interested in will be at.

And in the absence of Mr Pee I'll helpfully point out that you can watch English (or Scottish, or N Ireland) BBC2 at the scheduled times through your Sky digibox (or I daresay some other satellite arrangement). We watched it at 9 pm on BBC HD channel (169 on Sky) .

PS, and not entirely off-thread, there have been several sightings of ospreys on the Daugleddau river system this autumn. They fish for grey mullet on the falling tide.

[Anna]

Anna, this is one of the serious disadvantages of living in Wales - the tendency to assume the entire population is sport-mad, and to alter the national schedules in favour of some village-pump sporting fixture which, it's a fair bet, anyone who's remotely interested in will be at.

And in the absence of Mr Pee I'll helpfully point out that you can watch English (or Scottish, or N Ireland) BBC2 at the scheduled times through your Sky digibox (or I daresay some other satellite arrangement). We watched it at 9 pm on BBC HD channel (169 on Sky) .

PS, and not entirely off-thread, there have been several sightings of ospreys on the Daugleddau river system this autumn. They fish for grey mullet on the falling tide.

Hello? Excuse me? Scarlets (my team) we lost v Ospreys - some village idiot competiton you think? How very dare you! You live in Wales, is not rugby in your blood?

[Richard Tarleton]

Hello? Excuse me? Scarlets (my team) we lost v Ospreys - some village idiot competiton you think? How very dare you! You live in Wales, is not rugby in your blood?

No I passed on the transfusion when I moved here (20 years ago!). Actually my forebears on my mother's side (Welsh speakers all) were from the NW. I think they're all Liverpool supporters up there aren't they? (continues digging even deeper hole)

[Anna]

No I passed on the transfusion when I moved here (20 years ago!). Actually my forebears on my mother's side (Welsh speakers all) were from the NW. I think they're all Liverpool supporters up there aren't they? (continues digging even deeper hole)

South Walians live and die rugby. North Walians not only speak Welsh funny, they are inclined to support soccer of the English variety!! But, you are ok. As an adopted Sod of the Soil (I suspect your heart really is at Twickenham ......)