There are many aspects of this book, some that I like some that I don't. At first, I was really excited to read it because it was good reviews and the summary on the back of the book was intriguing. I read the first ten pages before I chose it, and I was still interested. But- when I continued reading it, I found I hated the grammar. It may have been proper and right but it distracted me from the actual book. The sentences were often unclear and wordy and took away from the actual story, which was actually pretty good. The plot was clever and original and if the book would have been written better I would have actually enjoyed it. But, overall, I am sad to say I don not recommend this book.

La guerra, l'amore, la morte, la vita.



Quanto ho amato questo libro.
Ho cercato il film che ne è stato tratto inseguendolo nelle videoteche finché non è uscito.
Mette di fronte all'inutilità e all'assurdità della guerra attraverso l'amore, la follia, l'inganno.
Come ho letto in un altro commento, ogni personaggio meriterebbe una storia tutta sua, perché quello che riusciamo a sapere di loro non riesce a bastarci, ma solo ad aumentare il rimpianto.

I came to this book having loved the film and seeking a light read after American Psycho. This turned out to be a challenging intellectual exercise but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Mathilde is an engaging(!) heroine not least because she charms everybody around her into helping her in what appears to be a hopeless quest.
We follow Mathilde into a befuddling maze of description and counter-description of what went on that fateful Sunday at the wonderfully named Bingo Crepuscule. (If you've seen the film and want to find out why the trench was so called you'll find the answer in the book.) There are five soldiers directly involved in the dreadful event and there are at least as many who are witnesses to the deed and its aftermath. Each of these characters has a plethora of Russian-style soubriquets and by the end of the book I'd given up trying to analyse the impact of each clue on Mathilde's progress towards a conclusion that we all knew was coming.
The end of the book is very well achieved with a perfectly judged degree of understatement in Mathilde's story and then a perfect postcript.
If you're looking for the blood and thunder of the film you will be disappointed.

Amazing Japrisot, such story. It almost didn't fit my small mind. I had to read it, then watch the movie (sublime, by the way - by Jean Pierre Jeunet), and then read it again in order to understand both book and movie. It took me some time until I realize who was who - so many names, so many nicknames to these names - and it finally hit me: how genious this author can be. Amazing the way it all made sense in the end. Educating. Thrilling. I always go back to the last scene of the film, and it makes me shiver every time.

Although A Very Long Engagement was interesting and intriguing, it was not one of the best books I have ever read. There was, however, extremely valuable information throughout the book. I learned a ton about trench warfare and the conditions and happenings in these trenches. I feel more educated on the things that went on in the trenches and particularly the relationship between different men in the trenches. I wasn’t previously aware of neither how people stationed in the holes were treated nor how they lived, and this book helped clarify my perspective.
The basis of A Very Long Engagement is a woman called Mathilde who is searching for her fiancé who, apparently, was killed in action in WWI. Doubtful of Manech’s death, Mathilde follows the faint, buried trail left by her beloved Manech. The novel can be long and dreary, though there are a few parts in which you are biting your nails.
tOne thing about this book, however, is that it is extremely difficult to follow. It seems as though the book was originally written in French, and then translated using Google Translator (and I wouldn’t doubt that this is true). If you know or have ever used Google Translator, you know that sometimes their translations are not exactly correct; they don’t always make sense. You’ll read sentences in this book that sound like a three-year-old wrote them.
tOverall, I did not care much for this book. It wasn’t overwhelmingly interesting nor did I gain a tremendous amount of knowledge. I would not recommend this book to anyone, except perhaps someone who reads it in French.

Fascinating.

Five French soldiers had enough of war and tried to give themselves a blighty by shooting themselves in the hand. Instead, they are sentenced to death. There were more than five but the others were commuted to life imprisonment for one reason or another. But, France had outlawed firing squads. So the five were thrown, bound, to no man's land and left to their own devices. Both sides could shoot at them.

One of the five is engaged to Mathilde Donnay. She doesn't seem to be the girl to give up. She wants to know what happened to her fiancée and the other four men. Some people are more helpful than others. Isn't that always the way.

In 2013 I read about 10 pp and hadn't picked it up since then. Just goes to show, you never know treasures you have lurking on your bookshelves. And it may take more than 10 pages to let you know how good it is.

Apparently a bestseller in France before it was translated.

Una novela que narra la historia de cinco soldados arrojados a la muerte y la búsqueda de la verdad por Matilde, novia de uno de ellos. Una historia que es como un puzzle y que a través del paso del tiempo podrá armarse.

Largo domingo de noviazgo (Un long dimanche de fiançailles, título original) es una novela escrita por el francés Sébastien Japrisot y publicada el 6 de septiembre de 1991 por primera vez. La novela ganó el Premio "Interallié" ese mismo año.

[El Premio Interallié (Prix Interallié), se concede desde el 3 de diciembre de 1930 a una novela en idioma francés. En esa fecha, un grupo de treinta periodistas que almorzaba en el club Cercle de l'Union interalliée de París, instituyó el premio cuando esperaban que las damas deliberaran en quién sería el ganador del Premio Femina. La ceremonia de entrega se realiza en el restaurante parisino Lasserre durante el mes de Noviembre y no tiene compensación económica].

Contratapa:
En el frío invierno de 1917, cinco soldados franceses, heridos y maniatados, caminan hacia un destino trágico en un desolado rincón del frente. Matilde sabe, en el fondo de su corazón, que su amado Manech sigue vivo, a pesar del telegrama que anunciaba que había caído en combate junto a tantos otros de sus camaradas. Una certeza que se mezcla con el horror y la indignación cuando, una vez acabada la guerra, un sargento moribundo le cuenta la verdad sobre la última vez en que vio a su novio: Manech y otros cuatro soldados, acusados de herirse a sí mismos para escapar del frente, fueron atados y abandonados en tierra de nadie. A partir de ese momento, Matilde emprende la búsqueda de la verdad. A lo largo de los años, armada de un coraje inquebrantable, irá escudriñando las vidas de aquel puñado de hombres entregados a la muerte. Descubrirá historias de amor, de culpa, de abandono, con el trasfondo siempre de la locura colectiva que llevó a los hombres a cometer las peores atrocidades en nombre de la patria. Una conmovedora historia de amor a través del tiempo, envuelta en un apasionante misterio que se va desvelando poco a poco, dejando al descubierto una tupida red de ilusiones, amor y desdicha.

Comentario:

"Erase una vez cinco soldados franceses que hacían la guerra, porque así son las cosas". Es así como inicia esta trágica, misteriosa y conmovedora historia de amor y drama compuesta de 14 capítulos y 373 páginas.

En la noche del sábado 6 de enero de 1917 bajo un crudo invierno cinco soldados franceses, heridos, con las manos atadas a la espalda, exhaustos y casi sin esperanzas de sobrevivir, son víctimas de una de las más crueles decisiones que el ejército francés procedió sobre sus propios soldados: abandonarlos a su suerte al reducido espacio comprendido entre los frentes franceses y alemanes, expuestos a una carnicería latente. Nos encontramos en el contexto histórico de la Primera Guerra Mundial.

Qué pasó exactamente con estos cinco soldados es una incógnita que se vuelve obsesiva para Matilde Donnay quien se pasará la vida buscando por todos los medios que esté a su alcance la verdad sobre el sábado 6 y domingo 7 de enero de ese año. Ella es novia del más joven de los cinco desgraciados.

Cada capítulo conduce a una pista nueva para desentrañar la verdad que busca Matilde. La novela se convierte en una especie de novela epistolar, ya que a través de las cartas que se intercambia Matilde con otros personajes relacionados al asunto poco a poco se irá entretejiendo la historia de aquellos cinco soldados franceses, de esta manera, Matilde intentará armar el puzzle para entender qué fue lo que le pasó a su novio en el frente de la trinchera Bingo Crepúsculo.

A través de dichas cartas Matilde se enterará de la vida de los otro cuatro soldados, vidas llenas de historias de amor, amistad, traición, culpa, celos, soledad, que me han conmovido, haciendo a estos personajes entrañables. Los personajes que más destaco son Matilde Donnay por su pasión y amor inquebrantable al paso del tiempo, Ese Hombre (Benoit Notre-Dame) por su inteligencia y fortaleza para conducirse ante la adversidad, Celestine Poux por su creatividad infinita para salir airoso incluso en el mismísimo infierno que es la guerra, Eskimo (Kleber) y Biscotte por su amistad y Tina Lombardi, por su rabiosa determinación para hacer justicia por sus propios medios pese a arriesgar su propia vida.

La obra expone el romanticismo de Matilde por buscar sin desmayo el paradero y destino de su novio alimentando sus esperanzas de encontrarle gracias al amor que siente por él, pero también la novela revela las consecuencias devastadoras que trajo la guerra para cada una de las almas humanas que la sufrieron directa e indirectamente. La obra, claramente denuncia el sin sentido de la guerra que lo destruye todo, la memoria, los sentimientos más nobles, una vida de dicha, el amor.

Una novela para releerse muchas veces. Recomendable.

Loved it! E un altfel de roman de dragoste, cu o construcție ingenioasă și care devine, treptat, o anchetă polițistă a anchetării dispariției logodnicului pierdut în război. Finalul e oarecum previzibil în sensul că ajungi să înțelegi, de pe undeva de la jumătatea cărții, că naratorul încearcă să te trimită pe o pistă falsă pentru a dezvălui la final cât de tare te-ai înșela - e o rețetă clasică în romanele polițiste. Cu toate astea, nu am putut să o las din mână și am citit-o într-o zi și câteva ore.

And this was a VERY long book!! Not because of the number of pages but because it is SLOW, tedious, and stiltingly boring. Ugh!! I was so glad to finish it - it felt like I was reading a very boring school assignment. I think I should get an "A" for finishing it!!

Ideea in sine mi-a placut, insa cartea este foarte greu de parcurs din cauza numeroaselor personaje, a legăturii dintre ele si a succesiunii ulterioare a evenimentelor.
De multe ori am simtit nevoia sa renunt, insa m-am incapatanat sa o duc pana la capat.
Actiunea debutează in timpul Primului Război Mondial, in anul 1917, in Franta unde 5 soldati, lupta pentru supraviețuire in tranșeele inamicului.
Printre acestia se afla si Mathieu, logodnicul tinerei Mathilde, care dispare fara urma in timpul razboiului si pe care aceasta Incearca neobosita sa il găsească, pe parcursul a mai multi ani, punând cap la cap piesele unui puzzle complicat si întortocheat.

Japrisot is a genius! A wonderful, wonderful book! At the end, everything just came together and I was so moved! How can someone have such an intense love for another individual? And the details...I felt like I was in the trenches along with the five soldiers. I MUST read this book (physically) in case I missed anything. Too bad a lot of his work has yet to be translated to English.

Themes: war, love, hope
Setting: WWI and post war France

Five soldiers were convicted of cowardice after shooting themselves in the hand. They are tied up and forced into enemy territory. Later the fiancee of one of the men receives a letter than convinces her to go looking for the truth behind their deaths and she will not stop until she finds out everything.

It is an intriguing idea, but I didn't really like the main character, Mathilde, and I never understood why she had this compulsion to keep asking questions. I didn't find her sympathetic or believable. I wound up skipping a lot of the story, but I made it through to the rather improbable end because I wanted to see what happened.

The stories of the war itself were well written and powerful. But overall, I really can't recommend the book. I kept putting it off, reaching for any other book besides this one. Finally I made myself finish it today, but if it felt like a chore, then it can hardly be worth reading, can it? 2 stars.