Now All Roads Lead to France

A Life of Edward Thomas

By: Matthew Hollis

Narrated by: Joanne Giaquinta

Edward Thomas was perhaps the most beguiling and influential of the First World War poets. Now All Roads Lead to France is an account of his final five years, centered on his extraordinary friendship with Robert Frost and Thomas’s fateful decision to fight in the war. The book evokes an astonishingly creative moment in English literature: a generation that included W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, and Rupert Brooke.

These larger-than-life characters surround Thomas, who is tormented by his work and his marriage. Ultimately the decision to fight in the war costs Thomas his life, and it is the roads taken - and those not taken - that are at the heart of this remarkable book.

©2011 Matthew Hollis (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Brilliantly written book, timely topic (for 2014)

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The poetry loses something in the transfer to audiobook format; visual line breaks are important. That said, I completed the book weeks earlier than I would have by reading only.

What other book might you compare Now All Roads Lead to France to and why?

None I can think of

What does Joanne Giaquinta bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I am grateful that audible secured a reader and produced this version of a book that has sold in only small numbers. The narration was good, but the narrator's inability to articulate such words as "certain" and "Britain" was a little distracting.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Any additional comments?

From my review of the kindle version on Amazon: With his account of the final years of Edward Thomas's life, Hollis takes readers on a tour of the literary world, and, to a lesser extent, the world at large, at a time that everything must have seemed in turmoil to those who lived through it. Literary revolutions. Social revolutions. Wars fought by machines as much as they were fought by people. With Hollis's book (and bibliography) as a starting point, even someone who knows the era quite well could take a fresh look. Of especial interest is the effect Thomas had on other writers, most notably Robert Frost (and Frost on Thomas).If still unsure, search for Robert Macfarlane's review of the book in The (Manchester) Guardian; the review does Hollis justice far better than I could hope to.

Very disappointing

This is a biography, primarily of Edward Thomas) a highly unlikeable character. Based on this book, I found Thomas to be petulent, nasty, neglectful, selfish, critical, unpredictable, maudlin, distant, weak, and misguided. His good friend, Robert Frost, doesn't fare much better.

The storytelling fell flat for me. I don't have any clearer picture in my mind about the Poetry Bookshop than I did before I read this book. One of Thomas' daughters has a very unusual name that was spoken repeatedly in the book, and I still couldn't tell you what it is. The various other poets (aside from Ezra Pound and Robert Frost) are undeveloped and completely unmemorable and yet the author feels the need to return to them in summary in the final chapter. I couldn't remember one story about how they befriended, interacted with, or were hurt by Edward Thomas by that point in the slog. I can honestly say there was not one character in this entire NF book that I cared about.

The audiobook recording was all wrong. The reader, Joanna Giaquinta, has a strong American accent and at times, it sounds like she is sucking on a hardcandy while reading. Worse, is that she reads the entire book with a singsong. This is the story of a poor and depressive Welsh poet who struggles in every aspect of his British life and eventually finds fulfillment in the potential of dying for England in the War. To have a cheery and breathy American woman reading it was so completely wrong. Then when she read the poems, she read them with very odd and confusing emphasis. I'm sure the ghost of Edward Thomas was horrified as he eavesdropped. I've audiobooked other non-fiction books loaded with quotes. I've even audiobooked artbooks that have plates that show the artwork the writer references (usually included as an accompanying PDF). This book had no PDF of poems. Ms Giaquinta did not change inflection or voice between the narrative and the poems the writer used to emphasize a point. Thus, there were numerous points when I had no idea if we had drifted into a poem or if a poem had ended. The audiobook experience was probably one of the worst I've ever had, including computer-generated voices.

I did not DNF this book because I really wanted the information the book should have contained. I hoped that by finishing it I would at least appreciate his war poetry. Once Giaquinta's voice fades from memory I will revisit his poems in print. But from this book, they did not strike me as powerful, insightful, vividly drawn, nor moving.

There were a few things I did gain from reading this book. I have a better understanding about the English process of becoming a WWI soldier and how unlikely and unlucky it was to actually be sent to the action. I thought I knew about Robert Frost but in truth, I really was ignorant of his time, life and personality. This means I'll need to read a biography of Robert Frost. Also what I heard about The Poetry Bookshop has further intrigued me and I would like to read something else but a different author about it. It gets one star for all that. But sadly I do not recommend this audiobook at all.