A+Soldier+of+the+Great+War

=//A Soldier of the Great War// comments=



Comments:
I found Helprin’s exaggeration of human traits in his characters to be the most interesting and entertaining aspect of his style. One of the guiding principles of the book was Alessandro, a dying man from another generation, sharing his life lessons with both the readers and Nicolo. Examples of Helprin’s exaggeration of human traits in his characters consists of Ariane, Orfeo, and Guariglia. The first and most blatant of these exaggerated characters is Orfeo. Orfeo’s tight grip on the past defines him throughout the entire story and eventually leads to his death. Orfeo represents the human temptation to resist change, which Alessandro endured the entire book. Orfeo’s resistance to change cripples him and eventually kills him. Guarigllia represents paternal/ familial love. His dedication to his family keeps him alive and drives him to cripple himself to be with his family. Ariane represents hope. Throughout his experience in the war, Alesandro holds on to his image of Ariane just as she holds on to her image of Alesandro. The two use each other for inspiration to continue on the path of life. Helprin used all of these exaggerated characters to teach life lessons. –Benjamin Ellison

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I thought that this book was a very good read. I did find that tis book had a slow start but it got good past page 100. the most interesting character in the book was Orfeo and how he abused his power but protected allesandro from shooting. My favorite part of the book was when Alessandro was part of the 17th River Guard at the bell tower. Alessandro after the war for a while has lost everything his parents are dead and his sister is in America. After the war was over and Alessandro was back in italy I thought that the book became a lot less interesting. -Benton Franklin======

__ A Soldier of the Great War __ by Mark Helprin was definitely different than most novels. The book for me really didn’t get to interesting until Alessandro Giuliani, the main character, met Nicolo after he missed the bus. The way Helprin was able to convey Alessandro’s life story as a soldier by Alessandro telling a random illiterate teenager was really neat. Alessandro went through all the worst things possible about war such as being a deserter, finding deserters, and being a prisoner. The most awful part about the war was loosing everyone Alessandro loved or knew. There was some comic relief in this book through the dwarf Orfeo which I found nice. Overall the book was alright especially for being a World War I book, but I would only recommend this book to people who are really interested in this subject matter because it is long.