The Good Soldier

By: Ford Madox Ford

Narrated by: Frank Muller

On the face of it Captain Edward Ashburnham's life was unimpeachable. But behind the mask where passion seethes, the captain's "good" life was rotting away.©1979 Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (P)1986 Recorded Books, LLC

A book to listen more than onece

This book is beautiful writing. The way that Ford Madox Ford describes every situation, they way he wrote every memory is amazing. I love to hear the voice of Frank Muller. I will listen to this book several more times, I know that each time I will hear something new, I will get more deeper in the story. Thanks.

ok

I am biased because I like this time period and can endure even some of the poorer books. This one was tough tough. This is very well-narrated, but is VERY hard to follow. I did not expect this stream-of-consciousness type story in a book so old. It gets tedious after a while. Like "Big Lights, Bright City," or others, it has a lot of interesting things going on, but no cohesive major story. Not to say that is a bad thing, but its not what I expected in this book. I got tripped up in the characters and who was doing what and why.

Even Frank Muller

Even Frank Muller, the superb reader, could keep my interest in this book. It is just dated. My wife gave it to me because it was one of the few readings by Muller I had missed, and I could not get through it. Sorry.

Good, but has it lost something?

A good book, excellently written. You will alternately love and hate the characters and take sides and then turn on your hero and wind up perhaps not liking any or loving them all again at the end, who knows? That being said, while the skill in writing remains, the shock of stripping away the layers of proper English etiquette and society are probably somewhat lost. The modern reader won't be dropping their monacle in alarm that Ford Maddox Ford "went there", thinking "no he can't" or "he daren't" or that sort of thing. So a bit dated, but structurally adept and interesting. Well-narrated and you can do it in a day or certainly a week. Perhaps not brilliant, but intelligent and stirring. I would compare Ford I think to Virginia Woolf, who I like better, especially Mrs Dalloway, of similar size and length, and Faulkner, for the psychology aspect and the twists and the turns. For a deeper, darker, longer, more ferocious whirlwind, try "Absolom, Absolom!", one of my favorite books, if you don't think this will float your boat.

Where’s the action?

I read it because it is on every must-read list. It did not hold my attention because it was like reading the diary of someone with less than average writing skills and a very uneventful life.. It was all description and nothing really ever happened. No more Ford Madox Ford for me. The best thing going for it was Frank Muller who is a great narrator.