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Title: The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford ISBN: 1-4043-0588-2 Publisher: IndyPublish.com Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.99

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Manners- Monsters
Comment: The infamous British upperclass reserve and all that it has represented to the rest of the world and not in the least- Americans, is the drumbeat that propels Ford's "saddest story." The drums, of course herald the not too distant coming of the first world war; and the decline of European world order. Concealed by perfect manners and the props of empire and rank, the atrocities of the savaged and wanton "best people" are largely, at least consciously, lost upon our narrator- a wealthy Philadelphia Quaker and cuckold. Hailing from the city of Brotherly Love, apex of tolerance and patience and the illusive spirit of democracy, he witnesses the ravages of chaos, humiliation and intrapsychic violence. He watches this occur in the most fashionable and debauched haunts of Europe and onto the exotic occupied lands of the Empire. His three companions, a monstosity of a wife and the silently murderous Ashburnhams are the four who victimize themselves and those whom they touch, unstoppably, no will, no personal power. It is not, of course, a sad novel, it is more comic and tense with a bit of satisfaction at the demise of these three monsters and a blind fool. The barely conscious narrator, is just a pre-cognitive glimmer that, lost in the industry and scrambling assimilation, Americans would embody, briefly, perhaps in a world-view. Europe falls and America rises, just as the Ashburnhams would fail in their 'destiny' release the pent-up demons and the power to their American 'Friends.' We all know the rest. They, who were at the junction to the modern world and we to the post-modern wonder who indeed are the "best people."

The book stands alone for its artistic merit and flawless style. It is further, in my limited assessment, startlingly relevant to our present historical precipice.

Rating: 5
Summary: A book of the human heart
Comment: Told through the eyes of an American this is the best story about how love betrays, and how people can use the heart against you. It is the story of two couples who holiday together whilst the wife of the narrator is sleeping with the eponymous good soldier whilst feigning a heart condition. Once you read this, you will never trust your partner again, but you'll pass it to strangers on the train, I know I have.