Return of the Soldier Book

"I heard, amazed, his step ring strong upon the stone, for I had felt his absence as a kind of death from which he would emerge ghostlike, impalpable."

Two women await the return of a soldier, Chris, from World War I. His wife, Kitty, is an upper-class woman, still mourning the death of their child. Jenny, his cousin, serves as narrator for this beautifully written novella by Rebecca West. I felt this wasn't so much a commentary about the war itself as it was a critique of the social classes and expectations of the day as well as an examination of truth and love. You see, Chris has suffered from shell-shock and has summarily wiped away all memory of the past fifteen years of his life. Kitty is a stranger to him, and Jenny remains as a young childhood companion. The one memory that rushes back and impresses most upon his mind is that of a first love, Margaret. Many prejudices of the upper class towards the lower class are revealed as we witness the reactions of both Kitty and Jenny towards Margaret. Jenny is so assured that she and Kitty have secured Chris's happiness through their material wealth and beauty. "This house, this life with us, was the core of his heart." Jenny cannot imagine that the old flame could ever be rekindled with a woman as plain and simple, even offensive in her eyes, as Margaret. "She isn't beautiful any longer. She's drearily married. She's seamed and scored and ravaged by squalid circumstances. You can't love her when you see her."

I will refrain from saying too much more about the plot. It is fascinating to watch the interactions between the three women and Chris. Does truth lead to happiness? What duties do these women have towards Chris? What motivates them to act as they do? I observed Jenny's bit of growth despite the short length of this story, and it left me hopeful. To me, Jenny was the true protagonist in this story, not simply narrating the happenings around her. This experience has changed her awareness of love and life ; what she will do with this growth… well, we can only speculate. "I felt, indeed, a cold intellectual pride in his refusal to remember his prosperous maturity and his determined dwelling in the time of his first love, for it showed him so much saner than the rest of us, who take life as it comes, loaded with the unessential and the irritating."

This was a wonderful introduction to West's very lyrical writing. It's a very quick read and one that certainly makes you think; the ending was very moving. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one, and I look forward to reading more of Rebecca West.

I shudder to think of what soldiers have to witness whist taking to the battlefield, regardless of what war they were fighting in. Some return home bathed in glory, but for others mental anguish and post traumatic stress can be emotionally paralyzing. What though of shell shock?, unable to remember the horrors of war would surely be a blessing?, but then again not. For loved ones back at home have to pick up the fragmented pieces of someones lost memories, and welcome back a complete stranger.

Reading 'The return of the Soldier' was like diving into deep water, then watching the ripple effects as they drift away. Rebecca West was apparently the first woman to write of the Great War. And this taut short novel from 1918 tells of Chris, a young English soldier with memory loss, robbing him of the last 15 years. The narrative is told from the perspective not from the frontline but from the view point of three woman, Kitty the wife, cousin Jenny, and Margaret, Chris's first love, she is the one Chris remembers most, causing pain for Kitty that she is unknown to him. This in simple terms is a tale of loss, and those surviving the burdening wreckage back at home. It may have a tragic and sad premise, but it also contains some beautifully rendered passages of writing.

When Chris returns to the family's estate, a home he shares with Kitty and his cousin, Jenny, they turn the home into a sort of castle for him, a place where he should feel at piece and be happy, but he can't deal with his surroundings and believes he is still in love with his sweetheart Margaret from years before. Jenny, the book's first-person narrator, recognizes his longing for the past and laments the loss of their close friendship. Kitty struggles with Chris's behaviour, and becomes cold and withdrawn, whist for Chris he insists that he simply must see Margaret (now married herself), his love from a bygone era.
There is hardly any mention of war once these four people start to tackle the problems they face, with much of the story devoted to Jenny's observations of the British countryside. West gives the reader much to contemplate, and the story itself feels like ones distant dream. We also learn that Chris and Kitty once had a child, who sadly passed away, leading the story to be polished off in a tender and heartfelt manner.

Although I found the story itself interesting, it's short length didn't do the characters full justice, I wanted to spend more time with them, this is testament to West's poetic writing, which was so pleasing on the eye. But she doesn't just lay it all out there on picnic blanket, you do have to read between the lines, work through observations, and ponder on gathered thoughts. West also tackles the idea of love, and how time can take it's toll on those involved directly, you do wonder if Chris and Kitty's relationship would survived, regardless of his shell shock.
Everything ends rather abruptly, I felt a little bit cheated, but that's only because I admired so much what went before.