A true war story is never about war... It's about sorrow

When I was writing my book, My Beautiful Mistake, I spent years researching WWII. It was important to me to get the facts right, but it was also important to get a feel for what it was like, however feebly, from the comforts of my desk.

I had the extraordinary privilege of meeting and interviewing a couple of WWII vets. They spoke of their experiences candidly and humbly, without embellishment or pride. Some of the scenes I wrote are taken directly from their recollections, and I am forever honoured they trusted me to tell their stories. I also read hundreds of letters from men and women who were there. They described the terror of crawling out of a tank on fire, the bone chilling despair of crawling through the mud, the fear of never seeing their mothers again. And their utter disillusionment in humanity. How anyone comes away sane is a mystery to me.

There is no end of books about war. Some merely use it as a time and place to tackle other themes, some view war from a historical perspective, some deal with the politics of war, while others tell the stories of civilians who live through the carnage. The very best novels set in wartime don’t deal just with battles and bloodshed, although they do these very well. Instead, they deal with the individual. What does it feel like, smell like, taste like, to stare down another man knowing it’s kill or be killed. What is it within us that allows for the possibility of death surrounded by a lush forest, a warm breeze, or even the arms of a handsome woman? It is through the lens of the individual, standing alone with his fear and his courage, that we feel the pain and the anguish that is war.

To write about war is to be a magician. Here are some of the best:

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque
Remarque, a Veteran of World War I, served in the German Army. The book details the extreme physical and mental stress suffered by German soldiers, as well as the feeling of detachment from the civilian lifestyle which the soldiers experienced upon returning from the war. The novel, alongside its sequel, The Road Back, were among the books prohibited in Nazi Germany. Many of them were burned in the 1930s during the Nazi book-burning campaign.

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
At 21, O’Brien was drafted and sent to Vietnam where he served in the infantry. Today, he is regarded as one of the best contemporary writers dealing with the subject. This book of linked stories are reflections on war, death, love, life, and story-telling. I dare you to read this book and not be moved beyond words.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Now a well-worn catch phrase, Catch-22 was at first a satirical novel on the absurdity of war. Yossarian is an unlikely hero, determined not to get killed. Set in Italy in WW2, he scrambles to get out of the dangerous missions he is committed to flying, but is trapped by the paradoxical rule from which the book takes its name: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of duty, this very act proves he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. A hilarious masterpiece.

Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Centered on the firebombing of Dresden in 1945, the novel sets its focus on the narrator’s experience as a POW during the bombing, an event which the author himself lived through. Having been tagged as “one of the most enduring anti-war novels of all time”, this science fiction-infused story portrays the ludicrousness of war.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Believed to be one of Hemingway’s greatest novels, it captures the story of an American who fought, loved, and died with the guerrillas in the mountains of Spain. Based on the author’s own experiences when he went to cover the Civil War in 1937. It is rich and complex and offers several points of view into tragic events, creating a multi-faceted picture of what war did to individuals. It is a profound novel on a grand scale - just as it should be. Several film treatments have been created from the novel. Do yourself a favour and read the book instead.

A Beckoning War by Matthew Murphy
It is September 1944 and Canadian infantry officer, Jim McFarlane, is coming apart at the seams. He desperately awaits letters from his wife while trying to command his combat company under enemy fire. Joining the army not out of some admirable patriotic sentiment, but because of his own failures and restlessness, he finds himself fighting a war that is far from glorious. Brilliantly captures the ambiguity of our relationship to war.

A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
Eighteen-year-old Willie Dunne leaves his home in Dublin in 1914 to fight against the Germans on the Western Front. Masterful, shocking, tragic, and poetic, Willie and his fellow soldiers struggle with the horrors of war while remaining beautifully, wonderfully human.
This beautiful line is reminiscent of Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried’: But everything, no matter what, no matter how vexing, ruinous, or cheering, could be brought into battle, with the rest of a soldier’s pack. It had to be; grief and sorrow could not be left behind. They folded to nothing and were carried like boulders.”

The Wars by Timothy Findley
Findley’s novel, which flows between traditional third-person narration and an unnamed modern researcher digging into a young Canadian lieutenant’s story, is filled with details of transport, combat, and filth act feel like eye-witness accounts. Novelist Guy Vanderhaeghe has said The Wars was where he discovered you could tell Canadian stories.

One of my favourite quotes on writing is taken from Tim O’Brien’s extraordinary book. It resonated with me as both a goal and an inspiration. It’s taped above my desk.
“And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It’s about sunlight. It’s about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It’s about love and memory. It’s about sorrow.”

I will always remember.
Stay safe my friends. And in the meantime, happy reading
Joni