Strange Meeting by Susan Hill is a powerful book. A lot is packed into its 184 pages (paperback). I borrowed it from the library on Thursday and almost read it in two sessions. John Hilliard is eager to return to his battalion in France after a period of sick leave. He has found it difficult at home, his family have no idea what he has seen, think everything will be over by Christmas and that England is doing fine. One returning he meets David Barton, a new cheerful recruit, yet to know the horrors of war. The two unlikely pair form a friendship which deepens over time. Barton is everyone's friend and he keeps morale up. He writes long letters home to his many family members, telling them everything, whereas Hilliard's letters are stilted and formal. They begin to share their feelings (as well as their parcels from home) and the two are good for one another.
Hill writes about the days of waiting, rifle cleaning, repairing the trenches and the first time Barton sees someone shot in front of him. This effects him badly, and for a period he thinks he cannot cope, that he has lost his sense feeling for the death of others, but his friend brings him through this trauma. shows him he is wrong. Hill spares the reader nothings as she shows the conditions the men live in as well as their fear when waiting around, and the final push over the top when all hell breaks loose. By the time they go over the top Barton is raring to go and fired up, Hilliard hopes against hope the outcome will be good.
The story is one of loyalty and friendship through the horrors of war. Here the mindless orders from above cost lives and little else.There are pointless recces, stupid accidents and the poor men having seen their friends die, know they most likely will be next. I found the book deeply moving and so well written. I cannot get this one out of my head.
At the back of the book Susan Hill writes about how the story came to be written and how it affected her. She says she wants nothing more to do with WWI now, but she is proud of her book. It was one she had to write. I can imagine how difficult it was to write. She wrote it in two months. My feeling is that she wrote it fast to get it over with. She said she went for walks between paragraphs. I'm sure she needed to. This is a book I will remember for a long time.
Hill writes about the days of waiting, rifle cleaning, repairing the trenches and the first time Barton sees someone shot in front of him. This effects him badly, and for a period he thinks he cannot cope, that he has lost his sense feeling for the death of others, but his friend brings him through this trauma. shows him he is wrong. Hill spares the reader nothings as she shows the conditions the men live in as well as their fear when waiting around, and the final push over the top when all hell breaks loose. By the time they go over the top Barton is raring to go and fired up, Hilliard hopes against hope the outcome will be good.
The story is one of loyalty and friendship through the horrors of war. Here the mindless orders from above cost lives and little else.There are pointless recces, stupid accidents and the poor men having seen their friends die, know they most likely will be next. I found the book deeply moving and so well written. I cannot get this one out of my head.
At the back of the book Susan Hill writes about how the story came to be written and how it affected her. She says she wants nothing more to do with WWI now, but she is proud of her book. It was one she had to write. I can imagine how difficult it was to write. She wrote it in two months. My feeling is that she wrote it fast to get it over with. She said she went for walks between paragraphs. I'm sure she needed to. This is a book I will remember for a long time.
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