Books we like ... and books we're not too fussed about
Richard Bausch
Tuskar Rock 2009
This novella is a powerful evocation of war. In the bitter winter after Mussolini’s surrender, a small group of American soldiers is moving up through Italy, being picked off one by one by retreating German troops and defeated Italian snipers. The shooting of a young woman by the sergeant is the initial focus of the story, but the later fatal wounding of one of the soldiers and the ambiguous role of an aged Italian peasant who acts as their guide, also prompts the Americans, scarcely more than teenagers, to reflect on the ubiquity and futility of war. Bausch, in his clear, unfussy prose, creates a claustrophobic atmosphere which reflects the devastating affect of the conflict on its participants. He is particularly good, I think, at conjuring up the mental disorientation that such extreme and inhuman conditions bring about. Very good indeed.
26 February 2010
http://www.richardbausch.com/
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