Parade's End

This book requires concentration. It is not an easy or satisfying read. The TV series had an attempt at interpreting it but even that did not really work. I now know why late in my life I had never bothered with it before.

This is a series of four novels, originally published separately, in the 1920s. It covers the period just prior to the first world war and just right after the armistice. The main character, Christopher Tietgens, is a British officer, with a Tory background, temporarily taking over the command of an English army unit. Nobody thought much of Tietgens's ability to command an army unit due to his primarily administrative, non-combattant duties. In fact, the people around Tietjens, generally and unfairly, underestimated his competence. Someone does falsely accuse Tiegens of being a socialist, which could have led to being dismissed from the service.

Tietgens is married to Sylvia, whom is referred to as "a bitch" In the book. We find out that Sylvia is a considered. a slut, who has often cheated on her husband. In fact, Sylvia does not love Christopher, and both want out of the marriage. Neither of them seriously considers divorce because of their middle-class origins and the possible scandal a divorce would cause them. Christopher is in love with the youthful Valentine Wannop and considers moving in with her were he and his wife agree to separate. A good part of the book concerns the first world war. There is virtually no combat action related to the war but much talk, casualties mentioned in the past tense. Apparently, the book's author, Ford Madox Ford, takes a modern approach to the development of the novel by choosing discussion, instead of actual scenes of wartime combat and carnage, as had been the usual and popular method concerning books (and films) depicting war. This takes some getting use to and often causes the story line to bog down. The book does discuss the trench warfare utilized much during this war, and related problems there to, there is little to no meetings between Christopher, Valentine and both his family and friends. The book does discuss the Tietgens estate and civilians living there. The Tietgens' late, father is occasionally discussed, and how his behavior and personality traits indirectly affected both of his sons, Christopher, and his brother, Mark, but the ill fated father, is but never actually shown. The fate of the brothers, not altogether happy, is eluded to at the end of the book. After all, after this so called modern war is ended, the the author tells us there will be "no more parades."

For the centenary anniversary of the start of the Great War, I read the four linked novels that make up, 'The Parade's End.' It is a frustrating novel - on purpose. Ford uses modernistic techniques which subvert the normal joys of fiction reading. As a reader, I enjoy the vicarious thrill of viewing riveting drama experienced by fictional characters. Ford purposefully avoids giving the reader drama. We come into events either before they occur or afterwards. We rarely directly feel the fear, struggles or joys the characters undergo.

I would argue that this approach works in tackling a monumental subject like the Great War where combatants relived the war through shards of painful memories. The events are so gruesome and overwhelming that a direct style couldn't have deliver the experiencing of the life-shattering events of those years in Europe.

The novel's central character is Christopher Tietjen who is an upper class intellectual who questions the entire structure of English society while being immersed in it. His older brother Mark holds the family estate and tries to financial control Christopher but gets rejected. In particular, he ruins their relationship by employing a lying spy who spreads damaging rumors that Christopher has a loved child with a much younger commoner, Valentine Wannop. The villain in the novel is Christopher's wife Sylvia who delights in tormenting her husband but in the end only torments herself.

The best novel of the series is, "No More Parades" which focuses on the insanity of combat from a bureaucratic perspective. Decisions are made by people far removed from the horrors of war and are experienced by men who are killed - they often seem the lucky ones - or destroyed in mind, spirit or often both. Reading this section felt like I was getting a unique and personal experience of this horrible moment of history. I wish there had been much more of this novel and much less of those that portrayed the impact the war had on aristocratic England.

The pacing of the plot was very, very slow. Indeed, I found myself enjoying this book more on days where I could give it a listen for 3-5 hours at a time because then I felt that the book was moving forward. Set in a time period and place where not only WWI is taking place, but the Suffragette movement, and the breaking down of class barriers, nearly the entirety of this book is about the personal social interactions of the Tietjens.

Yep, you read that right. It was like one long gossip fest with a little bit of historical bits thrown in to give it some credence. Does that sound harsh? Many classics I find to be focused on perceived societal norms (read `gossip') and many people enjoy them. So, if you enjoy the drama of people trying to find love, happiness, and acceptance within constrained class systems, don't let this review stop you from checking this classic out.

I found the class differences to be one of the most interesting aspects of this book. Each societal class has it's dos and don'ts of who you can interact with at what events to what level. The necessity of having these classes mix in the military of WWI starts to break these class barriers. However, the the British Suffragette movement was happening at the same time and is merely mentioned in a conversation or two; it's a footnote. Sigh.....One of the biggest moves towards equality and Ford Maddox Ford turns it into a footnote.

The characters spent far more time anguishing over their personal lives and desires than fretting over the war. Yes, the war disrupted some of their planned holidays and their weekly get togethers. Yes, Sylvia managed to punish her husband through the gossip line, forcing him into `degrading' service with the lower orders. These machinations of Sylvia's practically guaranteed Christopher would be wounded. I loved hating her meanness.

Valentine Wannope is an interesting character, but doesn't get as much reader time as the others. She is many years younger than Christopher, a Suffragette, and believes war is repulsive and peace is the way to go. Of course these opinions set her on the opposite track as Christopher, who grew up in a time where it was thought preposterous to give women the vote, equal pay, and employment opportunities. Plus he is serving in the war. On the other hand, Valentine's mother is a well-known writer, with thoughts of her own; and Christopher has the utmost respect for her works. Alas, Valentine's main role is as love interest.

Mark Tietjens, who is many, many years older than Christopher, has his set ideas on what female companionship is for. He expects perfect compliance within the limited role, set up for his comfort. He wants a woman to keep house, cook his meals, dust his hat, and warm his bed. Ford does a good job of placing this internal monologue of Mark's in contrast to how the world has moved on, how women now have a greater say in their role in a relationship, society, and the work force.

In the end, I am glad I took the time to read this classic. While a bit long-winded, it was an interesting take on upper British society during WWI. I enjoyed seeing demonstrated how a bit of mean-spirited gossip could potentially ruin a man; and how that man rises up and marches on with his life.

The narrator, Steven Crossley, did a decent job of all the male voices, especially with making Mark and Christopher sound related, but distinct. His female voices could use a little more femininity, but were still distinct for each lady character.

Parade's End is a large, multifaceted creation -- the sort of book that, while difficult at times to chew, grows in your estimation after some digestion. At the broadest level it is the story a man's passive resistance to social change, but such a summary doesn't do justice to a complex and often surprising work. It is also about control -- Christopher Tietjens and his wife Sylvia control each other in a deadlock that threatens mutual destruction, but neither will let go. Look for variations on the "control" theme ranging from military command decisions, to a man's paralysis to an unruly horse.

My one criticism of Ford, in fact, is that often far from subtle with his themes. In No More Parades, for example, the phrase "there will be no more parades" becomes a refrain to the point where you want to cry out "Enough! I get the point!"

This criticism aside, I recommend Parade's End to any reader, and would offer the following advice: First, treat it as one novel; don't think you can set it aside for months between titles. Second, though Christopher Tietjens is the primary character, there are other characters such as his brother Mark who are much more than just supporting cast, even though they may disappear for hundreds of pages at a time. Don't overlook their development and how they react to the changing world.

Ford Madox Ford wrote prolifically, with a repertoire which experimented with style, character and narrative across a variety of settings and subject matters. Ford's Parade's End is among the very best of his works. The centerpiece, Christopher Tietjens, seems on the surface to represent a now-commonplace theme in English literature--the "last English gentleman" metaphorically swept away by modernity in the aftermath of the First World War. The first of this set of novels, "Some Do Not", features an opening passage which is laced with brilliant satire, crystal-clear character development, and a style which is utterly accessible and utterly enchanting. Through the rest of this novel, and well into the next volume, Ford seems to be telling a straightforward "passing of the noble old things" story. But Ford Madox Ford is rarely so straightforward, and these novels are no exception. What seems to begin as a mere bemoaning of a passing age turns into a demonstration of the inevitability, and even the desirability of its passing. Although Ford creates a perfect foil to Tietjens to apparently illustrate the vulgarity and superficiality of the modern age, things are not so simple. Tietjens views his world as irreparably fading, but Ford understands that Tietjens' world may never have existed at all. Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga and CP Snow's Strangers and Brothers novel cycle both try to show the passing of "old England" and the marching in of modernity. Neither Snow nor Galsworthy, though each is wonderful, does as much with narrative style as Ford does here. Ford's novels seem to take a simpler approach to the topic by creating Tietjens, the representative of the "old order", and his wife Sylvia, the representative of the "new", but by the time that the plot is worked out, the reader comes to understand that Ford has created a hall of mirrors and metaphors, and nothing is as simple as it seems.
This is one of the great must-reads of 20th C. English literature. It's a shame that it's not required Brit lit reading in every college survey.

The Good Soldier is one of my favorite novels--"the best French novel written in English," they say. In PE Ford tried to do something very different, very difficult: tell the story of England through one very noble, very human and thus fallible man--Tietjens. There are times when it's sheer poetry, pure consciousness (not just "stream of"). You can sense the artist in FMF getting carried away (in a very controlled way--he is a mini-master, like his idol Henry James) with his own at times ridiculously impressive lyrical gifts. Get yourself a nice big box of Twining's Earl Grey and read this slowly. Luxuriating in it.

Parade's End isn't the swiftest moving of epics. Comprised of what are supposed to be four seperate novels, it appears unlikely that any of the subsequent chapters in the story could stand alone. It is a powerful book, the story an inevitable tragedy, the results more of an afflication than anything truly humbling. The idea is very precise: tell of what could happen to a brutalized, perhaps incestually based feudal family of the ruling sort when confronted with the Modern Horror of the quick-paced, revolutionized ideas of the roving, buzzing, continually at war world.
The Age of the Teitjans is coming to an end--the age of the Old Rich and the Founding Fathers controlling and manipulating everything they come in contact with. The generation of today is gentle and much more soft--Freudian psychology and the threat or embrace of Socialism having done away with the undeniable hope that is the forces of Organized Religion. Women's Liberation, the freedom of serfs and of slaves and the rampant attack of the Colonialists on their governing masters has made a man like Christopher unable to side with anyone other than those most against his past. Parade's End is a story of the future--not just the future in the eyes of the past (this book was published in enstallments from 1924-1928), but the future of any generation of today following the end of a devastating World War. We hear tell of the moral degradation of a nation, of the changing expectations of the populace and the aroused suspicions of everyone, both those who fought in the war and are therefore accustomed to viewing others as hostile and those who remained at home or went abroad to escape the immediate consequences of a world gone mad with rage. Parade's End tells of exactly that: the end of the human celebration and, in the words of Ford's sometime friend and collaborator, seeing "even the most justifiable revolutions (being) prepared by personal impulses disguised into screeds." For, as even the elite wealthy must compete with the common man for sustinance, human nature inevitably takes over, with all its crude biases and sexual fixations, giving blood to politics and fostering a climate simply devouring itself for spite and for fun.
This book is a grand telling of the doom of empires. It is a story forever of the future as those of any age settling into an accustomed life start seeing the next generation foundering and no longer regret their own mistakes. Now they start to live in the memory of some distant and frequently misremembered past triumph. At the end I found myself struggling to remember my own name . . .

This is arguably the greatest British novel concerning the first world war; the society it changed and killed off forever, and the sheer state of stagnation and disaster of English society and social structure(and that of both her allies and enemies in the great war) that led to millions of needless deaths and the death of Britain (and europe) as dominant world powers; that mantle being handed over to America.

From such a simple story of doomed love and repression,Madox Ford is one of only a handful of English writers who can capture the essense of England and push through his message with such force.

I expect some readers will find the book a little slow;errudite and jar a little at the couple of anti semite comments made (Disraeli as a loathsome little jew) but in a way that better evokes the era. Europe tried to recapture its lost dominance by using the jew as a scapegoat that culminated in an even bigger tragedy less than a generation later.

A true-and criminally forgotten-masterpiece.

Ford Maddox Ford's book is, in fact, four, successive attempts to get to grips with what World War 1 revealed about the ruling class in Britain. His "modernist" style means laying down sequences of thumb nail impressionistic sketches, one after the other. Apparently trying to "model" his characters into three dimensions. In the end, though, this fails and we are left with caricatures, who become increasingly hysterical and implausible as the "plot" unfolds. About two thirds of the way in he finally relents and sketches the main character's self description in simple narrative form. ("Romantic Idealist" in the form of Public School, neo Greek idealism)But by then it is too late. Teitjen's wife is relentlessly vicious. Thos around her utterly vain and self absorbed, and nasty. His love interest is simply a vapid sketch. (Stoppard tries to fix this in the movie.) Teitjens is a sort of Victorian Parsifal: Unbelievably naive and unworldly. And, in this sense, just as self absorbed as those who surround him.

Ford Maddox Ford was, perhaps, just too close to the apocalyptic horror of those times. In this sense, Conrad is, perhaps, better at capturing the underlying pathos of the main characters. (Heart Of Darkness, et al) Sebastian Faulks ("Birdsong") has the benefit of 60 years hind sight. And produces a very fine insight into the feelings and sentiments that prevailed before the war and the effects of that war on those feelings.

Stoppard does a creditable job of writing a screenplay that edits out three quarters of the four book saga, and the entire last book altogether. Always having a sharp eye for the telling moment, Stoppard has to insert some character-defining scenes and dialog so the whole will hang together in a way they do not in this swamp of a book. The acting is excellent. This is one, rare, time the movie is a better and richer than the book. It seems to me he has Ms. Wannop's brother play the part of Ford Maddox Ford. Almost insanely hysterical and over wrought.

In contrast, the BBC hack job on Bird Song is execrable.

Putting down this novel, having finished it, has left me bereft. It is brilliant in every way and, happily, very long. I have lived with it for a month, reading it and when I wasn't reading it, thinking about it. Now I feel deprived, as if I had been allowed to live in a particularly exciting and stimulating place, a literary paradise, and have just been expelled from it.

I would rate it among the top ten novels I have ever read.

Having read Ford's absolutely brilliantly wrought little novel "The good soldier", and having read the terrible review of Parade's End on the store.com, I didn't quite know what to expect when starting on this tetralogy. I am quite sure I wouldn't have liked it at all as a teenager, but as a man of forty years with a wrecked mariage behind me, I find this a deeply moving account of a man's grappling with profound moral issues of love, faithfulness, war and politics. It is set against the dramatic backdrop of WW1, where Ford himself served as an officer in a regiment just like Tietjens'. One may suspect that Ford has incorporated other elements of his own life in the plot, as he himself lived with three women in succession after leaving his wife, whom he never divorced. Ford's style of writing isn't exactly straightforward, and if you are accustomed only to Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum you may find it tedious reading. But my personal opinion is that Ford succeds in doing what his old buddy Conrad tried to do but never quite achieved, if you see what I mean... I do warmly recommend this book to the literate reader who wants to enjoy some truly great literature.

One of the greatest books EVER written in the English language. Period. (Well, actually, it's four books, but they don't publish them separately anymore.) FMF is a modernist genius in the order of a Faulkner or a Woolf, with a beautiful style, incredibly human characters, and a mind-boggling knowledge of both the human heart and the physical world. FMF seems to be as quasi-omniscient as his noble last Tory, the main character, Christopher Tietjens. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that it's an easy book. Parade's End not a potboiler to read at the beach while you're getting a tan and sipping margaritas. It is a book that challenges the reader to let go of expectation and any hope of conventional structure, and to allow FMF's unique storytelling to settle into your gut slowly. It is a moral novel that doesn't moralize. A book about what it is to be good, to be a human being. FMF's beautiful style is even exceeded by his love for humanity and generosity of spirit. The sheer uncynicalness of the book--especially in this hollow, cynical age--is like a balm on this reader's eyes. This is one of those books, like Sound & The Fury, like Ulysses, like Pride & Prejudice, like Great Expectations, that EVERYONE should read.

How I wish I could urge this enormous, engrossing, and satisfying novel on everyone who, for instance, loved Pat Barker's WWI Trilogy, or Ford's own THE GOOD SOLDIER, or Mary Renault's THE CHARIOTEER, or indeed anyone who cares about intricate characterization, a terrific love story, sweep and intricacy in serious fiction. The love story of Christopher Tietjens and Valentine Wannop, and Tietjens monumental battle with his vicious wife Sylvia and all the British ruling class who prop her up, will enthrall you. Let the Ford Madox Ford revival begin!

How I wish I could urge this enormous, engrossing, and satisfying novel on everyone who, for instance, loved Pat Barker's WWI Trilogy, or Ford's own THE GOOD SOLDIER, or Mary Renault's THE CHARIOTEER, or indeed anyone who cares about intricate characterization, a terrific love story, sweep and intricacy in serious fiction. The love story of Christopher Tietjens and Valentine Wannop, and Tietjens monumental battle with his vicious wife Sylvia and all the British ruling class who prop her up, will enthrall you. Let the Ford Madox Ford revival begin!

Essential for anyone trying to understand the birth of the modern world and the destruction of the old aristocratic, agricultural paradigm. Christoper Tietjens is a hero of the old world and is ground down, and nearly destroyed, by the first war and the cataclysmic social adjustments that accompanied it. Ford's style takes some getting used to as does Faulkner's, for example; he works in an impressionistic fashion so the plot line is hard to follow. Stick with it as this is one of the great ones.

Please, this is no easy read as others have pointed out. However, it is a powerful set of novels about duty as against living for self interest. I have often wondered why the English produced the best novels and paintings of the First World War. The French look upon their culture as a high point of European culture but Barbusse and Picasso but they are nothing compared to the English or Germans. This book is worth the struggle. It is deeply touching about how to live when everything is wrong. The protagonist's wife is one of the best bitchs in literature.

"Mrs. Satterrhwaite with her French maid, her priest, and her disreputable young man, Mr. Bayliss, were at Lobscheid, an unknown and little-frequented air resort among the pinewoods of the Taunus. Mrs. Satterthwaite was ultra-fashionable and consummately indifferent - she only really lost her temper at her table and under her nose you consumed her famous Black Hamburg grapes without taking their skin and all."

If you're looking for Benedict Cumberbatch, you won't find him here. Although this is supposed to be one of the great English novels, I found it unreadable. The characters, including the main one, were extremely unattractive. I gave up after 40 pages.

I won't go into details re language, style, structure (see other readers' reviews)--this is simply the best novel I've read since I got through Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time."

Denis Jonnes

Kitakyushu, Japan

I recommend this movie and I also bought the Book on CD. This is a great fictional novel that is set in England before WW1. The novel is difficult to read, so I recommend watching the HBO miniseries that supports the novel very well by setting the chronology much better than the novel itself. The acting in this miniseries is impeccable and should not be missed. Benedict fans will be floored by his magnificent acting. He is much more refined an actor in this series than in the SHERLOCK series...