Another book from the overflowing D-G TBR shelf!
It seems it’s not possible to read The Lie without comparing it to Pat Barker’s Regeneration Trilogy, which I think is one of the finest attempts to render the horror of World War I in fiction. Malcolm Forbes, who reviewed it for The Australian, thought that:
Pat Barker matches her for historical accuracy and the ability to delve deep into the human psyche, but Dunmore’s haunting, lyrical and mesmeric prose to describe carnage and loss elevates her into a different league. (The Weekend Australian, March 1-2, 2014)
But while I thought The Lie was well written and quite interesting, I didn’t find it as compelling as Barker’s Regeneration (the first of the trilogy) which I read more than a decade ago. With its avoid-the-issue ending, the plot of The Lie is a bit simplistic, and the novel wears its architecture too noticeably, flickering back and forth between the returned soldier’s flashbacks to the trenches and his musings in the present. It’s been done before, and despite the prolific quotations from other people’s poetry, it needs to be done better than this to ‘elevate her into a different league’.
Author: Helen Dunmore
Title: The Lie
Publisher: Hutchinson, London, 2014
ISBN: None (uncorrected proof copy)
Source: Won in an online competition, thanks Naomi!
Availability
Fishpond: The Lie
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
I’m a big fan of Helen Dunmore but I haven’t come across this book yet. Might leave it until I’ve read the rest of her work. I’m also a big fan of the Regeneration trilogy (and Pat Barker in general).
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By: sharkell on January 27, 2015
at 9:57 pm
Excellent, you love both and I respect your taste. I won’t give up on her then, maybe this one is just not as good as her others!
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By: Lisa Hill on January 28, 2015
at 8:10 am
Thank you. I enjoyed The Greatcoat and Talking to the Dead.
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By: sharkell on January 28, 2015
at 9:42 am
I dont tend to get on with Helen Dunmore’s novels, and the “faults” you list here suggest I wouldnt like this one either.
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By: kimbofo on January 28, 2015
at 1:07 am
Which other ones have you read? Based on what Sharkell says, I’m going to try something else, but not another war novel.
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By: Lisa Hill on January 28, 2015
at 8:19 am
“A Spell of Winter” and “The Seige”.
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By: kimbofo on January 28, 2015
at 9:01 am
I’ll see if I can find these suggestions in the library:)
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By: Lisa Hill on January 28, 2015
at 10:53 am
I totally agree. ‘Regeneration’ was much more interesting to me than ‘The Lie’.
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By: Anokatony on January 28, 2015
at 2:39 pm
Did you review it? I’ll link if you did:)
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By: Lisa Hill on January 28, 2015
at 5:18 pm
Yes, I did review ‘The Lie’. Here is the link to my review: https://anokatony.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/the-lie-by-helen-dunmore-on-the-anniversary-of-world-war-i/
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By: Anokatony on January 29, 2015
at 2:44 am
LOL *blush* You did, and oh dear #MyForgetfulBrain I even commented on it!
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By: Lisa Hill on January 29, 2015
at 8:59 am
Ah, I really want to read the Pat Barker trilogy. So many books, so little time!
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By: DebraB on January 30, 2015
at 1:40 pm
So true, always so true!
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By: Lisa Hill on January 30, 2015
at 6:12 pm