So here's the thing: 200 pages in, the only war Mr. Wilson had fought was against Villa, in Mexico. And I think he was still fighting it when I finally called time. I can't say I wasn't warned. The title clearly states that this book chronicles events from 1901 onward, but I am guilty of not taking the title at face value. Thus far, Woodrow Wilson's upbringing, years at Princeton, first marriage (death did them part), and remarriage while in her first term as President have been chronicled at length, along with events more closely related to war, albeit not necessarily the one raging in Europe.
More than the plodding pace, what did me in was the poor grammar and punctuation. I'm not sure whether this is unique to the electronic (Nook) format or if the print version suffers from the same dearth of commas and apostrophes, but I was nearly driven to distraction by this issue.
In short, I come away more disappointed than anything. I had high hopes, as I've heard wonderful things about the author, John Dos Passos, but I just couldn't make this one work for me. Perhaps that's a testament to some of the wonderful World War I writing I've already done: The Guns of August and The Beauty and the Sorrow, which both present a holistic view of the war, particularly the causes; Dead Wake, which chronicles the Lusitania disaster; and, of course, The Last of the Doughboys, which is a collection of memoirs from the Americans who served in Mr. Wilson's war - including one who was stationed on the Mexican border.
No comments:
Post a Comment