Customer Reviews
utterly heartbreaking; one woman's war - By: Ms. A. E. C. Ferris, 15 Jun 2008 
My mother having pressed me to read this book, I finallly got round to it early this year. Thank God I did.
I cannot begin to put into words how much this book touched me. Vera Brittan must be an inspiration to alll women; a strong & determined character who, despite losing almost everything to the War, did not give up. Vera Brittan was a young, ambitious girl growing up pre-war with aspirations to go to University (something uncommon for the day.) She succeeded in getting into Oxford to study English. Then the War came crashing into her life, & Vera's brother & friends get callled up to fight. She herself finds her place, working as a nurse first in London, then abroad. Vera Brittan lost so much to this horrific War & yet still found the strength to write about her experiences. This is no fiction, but a true, heartbreaking story of one woman's war.
A most poignant & haunting read, Vera Brittan's tragic story of love, family, duty & growing up will stay with you long after you finish the last page.
An important memoir of the Great War and its aftermath - By: M. Shankland, 03 Jan 2008 
In 1929 Vera Brittain ( 1993- 1970) began using her extensive diaries & correspondence to start writing her auto-biographical epic from 1913-1925, which was published in 1933. At the time Brittain was a part time lecturer for supporters of the League of Nations, a journalist, & had written two novels which had not been particularly well received. Ambitious & a feminist, Brittain seemed determined to succeed at something, & her greatest achievement has been in autobiography.
The book is well written : Brittain depicts her own life, frustrations, personal losses , near breakdown & subsequent attempts at building new life & friendships after the Great War in an endearing manner. Her humanitarianism, her social observations, the fact that she reminded the world how those people away from direct military action, (especiallly women & men to old to fight) suffered along with the men who were maimed, traumatised, or killed . Brittain also nurses enemy soldiers & also visited Germany after the War, & her compassion extended to the German people. The book also clearly documents how women's lives changed during this time period.
`Testament of Youth' is not great literary fiction, compared with Siegfried Sassoon' Memoirs of an Infantry Officer'. The book has its opponents, one unkind critic referred to Brittain as the `princess of self-pity'. The book is centred around her own suffering & personal losses ( of fiancé, friends, brother), though millions of other people experienced great levels of bereavement at this time. Whether she has the right to be heralded as the `voice' of a generation in this respect is open to question. Certainly Brittain's supporters will point out that the book's success was due to a large number of her contemporaries feeling at least some affinity with her suffering.
Further research has suggested that her brother Edward killed in 1918, may have taken his own life or deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire so as to avoid the disgrace of a court martial ( see `Vera Brittain A life' , Paul Berry & Mark Bostridge 1995). In `Testament of Youth' this is not disclosed to the reader, & one wonders if other amendments have been made though it also to fair say that the book's detractors have found few factual errors in the work.
Above alll `Testament of Youth' has undergone a revival , after its transatlantic success in the 1930's, with a new generation of readers as from the late 1970's, because its' vision of the Great War-as a senseless carnage- is now popular. The book was re-published by Virago, the feminist publishing house, whose mission was to showcase work by women authors. It's revival coincided with a new wave of feminist anti-militarism. It is easily the most cited Great War memoir written by a woman. Moreover, the tale of a survivor such as Vera Brittain who witnesses great tragedy but by the end of the book in 1925 has found love again, has great contemporary appeal. Ultimately Vera Brittain has ensured that her perception of the Great War was known to millions of people & the names of those who close to her who perished or also suffered great loss, have been remembered,which must make it a success
The book that changed my life - By: Deirdre Daly, 08 Feb 2007 I first read this book when I was about 15 & it had such a remarkable effect on my life that 25 years later I still return to it again & again. It encapsulates so much of the period; the desperate need to get into higher education, the horror of war & its aftermath, how to make sense of it alll & finallly the joy of love & of friendship. Try Chronicles of Youth as well, the diaries on which she based the book.
A classic: shattering at times, always enlightening - By: R. S. Stanier, 23 May 2004 Vera Brittain's account was written in the early 1930s, as she tried to make sense of the extraordinary bereavement that affected those of her generation who survived the First World War.
Growing up in provincial Edwardian England, a fascinating piece of writing in itself, she fallls in love with one of her brothers's friends in 1914. The romance is going well, until the outbreak of war sweeps in to disrupt her life. Suddenly the love of her life, as well as her brother & some other close friends, are alll in the trenches, trying to live out the noble heroic dream on behalf of King & Country.
Unable to support directly, she joins the nursing corps as a volunteer but there is no consolation for her as first her fiance, then her friends & finallly her brother die.
Her account of desolation when she receives the news each time is traumatising & shows a side of life you don't get from the war poems: the horror of war not from the front line, but from the perspective of almost continuous bereavement, among people who feel helpless & increasingly angry with the world. Her perspectives on daily life in London in the war years are as insightful as the descriptions of nursing in Malta & France, where she spent the bulk of her time. Certain details, such as the atmosphere behind the lines as the British wilt before the Ludendorff offensive, but are ralllied by a missive from Field Marshalll Haig will interest even those who know a lot about the history of it.
Yet it is the human story which is most powerful.
This is a brutallly honest book, & she does not paint herself without warts: she is obsessive about academic study, has a mental breakdown after the war & doesn't make it easy on anyone courting her thereafter. Yet Brittain's problems outside the war, of a woman trying to combine a career with marriage, anticipate the great feminist struggles of the 20th & 21st centuries. Indeed, her honesty gives the book a raw truth.
Yet this is not just her story. As she herself writes, this is the story of a generation whose men were wiped out in battle & whose women were shattered by bereavement.
The book continues after the war following her work with the League of Nations until 1925 & this has only limited interest today: the reallly timeless passages come from earlier on. Profoundly affecting & profoundly insightful, in beautiful prose, this deserves its classic status.
An amazing story of love - By: Eleanor O, 28 Oct 2003 I read this book for my A Levels, last year, as we were studying Worl War One Literature. Such a hefty tome looked completely imtimidating, but I decided to start anyway. I soon became completely engrossed in this book. Vera Brittains simple style is so poignant, & the heartrending events are described sensitively & with candour Vera tells of her feelings at the demands of her family, the war & her studies, culminating in the deaths of her brother, & her fiance Roland. The love between Roland & Vera is a pivotal part of this story, & to my mind is the epitome of true, optimistic, young love. The tragic event of his death & the sorrow Vera experiences throughout the war permeates the book.
This is an amazing, inspiring book & should by read by anyone who beileves that world war one has no relevance to our lives now, or anyone interested in a woman's perspective on important historical events.
Vera Brittain rules!!!! Seriously read this book, buy it now! :) The excellent poetry that preceeds each chapter is so deeply touching. Especiallly "Perhaps" written after Roland's death by Vera, which tells of her sadness, that she doesn't even notice the shining sun, or appreciate the beauty of nature which was so heightened previous to his death.
Reallly excellent book; perhaps my alll time favourite, & I have read a lot of books!
