War and Remembrance
by Herman Wouk
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Book Summary Information
Author: Herman WoukEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-02-05
ISBN: 0671463144
Number of pages: 1056
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Book Reviews of War and Remembrance
Book Review: "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance"
Summary: 5 Stars
I've noticed that there continues to be an interest in these books, but that there have also been some interesting comments about them on Amazon. So I'll add some thoughts of mine.
These novels, which are really one, extended, story cover World War II from antecedents to conclusion from the American viewpoint. Wouk uses the device of having one set of characters--in this case Naval Officer "Pug" Henry and his family--continually turn up in key situations so as to allow the novel to cover the entire epoch while having a continuous, human-level plot. ("War and Peace", obviously an inspiration to Wouk, is probably the most famous example of this approach.) Without this device the writer is forced to chose between taking a microscopic view of the period, or ending up with a set of connected stories without a unifying, human-level plot, or interrupting the novel with historical asides. The downside of this device is that it relies on a series of improbable events and coincidences to get a key character into each historical situation important to the story. Readers then need to suspend disbelief on this point to enjoy the novel; those that can't are going to be disappointed.
Comments on Amazon suggest that these books are anything from soap operas to the greatest historical novels ever written. Those who consider them soap operas can't suspend disbelief concerning the plot improbabilities. That is a fair reason to not enjoy novels like these, but doesn't really consign them to the level of soap opera. But neither are they among the greatest historical novels ever written. In fact, they aren't even the best novels about World War II that use this plot device; that honor goes to Vasily Grossman's "Life and Fate", which covers the war from the Soviet viewpoint, and is a great novel by a great writer and well worth reading.
At the end of the day, Herman Wouk may be remembered as one of the finest American novelists of the twentieth century, in that his best books were outstanding, if conventional, novels. But he was not a great writer, although he was a very good one. That said, these are two books that deserve to endure and gain new generations of readers. They are well written, keep moving and encourage the reader to keep turning pages, and give a grand overview of the World War II era. If you love history you might prefer learning about the era from nonfiction books by historians and participants. If you are looking for deep characterizations and profound insight into the human experience you should probably read smaller-scale novels that look inward rather than cover the broad sweep of a world-wide conflict. But for a reader looking for a well constructed and well written story that also provides an overview of the conflict that consumed the world in the 1930s and 40s, and set the stage for the geopolitics of the half century to follow, these are wonderful books.
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