Provocateur …

… The Return of the Soldier: an incendiary, formidable debut | Books | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The Return of the Soldier is more about the pity than the glory of war; references to “flooded” trenches, a sky “full of flying death” and bullets falling “like rain on the rotting faces of the dead” show that West has no illusions about “the old Lie”. But The Return of the Soldier is not a straightforward anti-war book. One of its most tragic implications is that Chris is better off “sick” – he may be delusional, but his madness makes far more sense than the real world.