Book ReviewBirdsong and All Quiet on the Western Front

“Birdsong” by Sebastian Faulks and “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque, are two books set during World War I. They each illustrate the traumas and horrors of war during that period of time. These two novels demonstrate how the burden of war irrevocably altered the lives of the characters.

The plot of “Bird Song” is complex. It is written in the third person and is set in France, during the early nineteen hundreds. The book describes a love affair between the main character Stephen Wraysford, an overseas textiles correspondent and Isabelle Azaire, the wife of a factory owner. They decide to elope together and Isabelle becomes pregnant with Stephen’s child. However, Isabelle becomes afraid that Stephen will not accept their child and decides to return home without revealing her pregnancy to him.

Several years after Isabelle’s sudden departure, Stephen is a member of the British Army which is stationed in France. During his time in France, he u...