The Birthday Boys

Rating:
Summary: What Antarctica must have felt like...
Review: Bainbridge does a fine job dramatizing the deaths of the five doomed members of Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic Polar Expedition, in five separate chapters, each written in the voice of a different one of the five men. Bainbridge is obviously well-versed in the details of the true story, and the book hews closely to the facts of the case.

She's at her best in articulating the sort of self-absorbed England-forever attitude of the officers, but her depiction of ordinary seaman Edgar "Taff" Evans falls short; he speaks with almost the same Oxbridge vocabulary as his captain.

Despite this weaker one-fifth of the book, the book overall is quite appealing in the way it conveys a strong sense of the physical place, Antarctica. You can just imagine the sharp intake of frozen air into your lungs as you fall down a crevasse to the end of your harness, waiting for your companions to pull you back to safety.

Rating:
Summary: The novel leaves you wanting more!
Review: Bainbridge takes the tragic 1912 South Pole journey of Robert Scott and his men, and tells the tale from each of the five perspectives. Her talent is that the voice of each man sounds distinct from the others, and the story slowly draws you in to its inevitable, tragic conclusion. It helps to know more about the actual journey; reading this novel, although fabulous, is like seeing a picture through a keyhole.

Rating:
Summary: Tragedy's hubris
Review: Bainbridge's hair-raising fictionalized account of Captain Robert Scott's doomed1912 venture to the South Pole begins with the glory and giddiness of their send off and ends with disappointment and slow death. Five men reached the pole and Bainbridge chooses these five to narrate, in turn, a section of their journey - during which each has a birthday, his last.

Taff Evans, the only non-officer, opens the book with his account of drunken parties and celebrity treatment. His hero-worship of Scott and glory tales of previous adventures contrasts with the bitter fears of a wife chary of being left destitute with children in a grimy slum. Taff is gritty and honest, roaring with life and humor.

Too bad Bainbridge's officers didn't have a little more of that rough and ready ebullience. Subsequent narratives - of the ocean crossing, setting up advance camps, scientific side trips, the numerous setbacks, disasters, equipment failures and human endurance - are all told by men with stiff upper lips.

Their idea of rousing good fun is a drunken scrimmage which ends with them all half naked. They avoid coming to terms with poor preparation and the disastrous equipment choices by blaming bad luck and admiring each other's bravery and fortitude in the face of each new disaster.

Bainbridge is a marvelous writer who brings the horrifics of cold and inadequate preparation vividly to life. Her point is to show the human waste engendered by the British code of honor and this she does. Yet, because of Capt. Scott's voluminous notes, recovered after his death, this is a story that's been often told. Nothing beats the nonfiction version for sheer excitement and heart break.

Rating:
Summary: facinating, if not factual
Review: I would give this book infinite stars when it comes to storytelling, but only one or two when it comes to facts. That aside, this is a great book, humourous, witty, and insightful. This book gives one itimate knowlage of the characters, which is rarely accomplished by other books of this genre. I very much enjoyed the first chapter, narrated by Taff Evans, finding it very well writen and in character. What I liked most about this story was its sense of voice. As the author swiched between characters, the reader recieved an excellent retelling of the facts from one of five very different points of view. Ultimately a very fulfilling read.

Rating:
Summary: Bainbridge is amazing (again!)
Review: The Scott Expedition of 1912 is documented by dozens if not hundreds of books. So why would a writer bother to take on the topic as Historical Fiction? In this case she had much more in mind that merely sharing the hypothetical viewpoints of Scott and 4 others who narrate their experiences. She uses the narrators sequentially as opposed to having them recount their opinions of the same event. There is some redundancy in opinions, but I really liked the way the narrative was a continual thread, and not a series of viewpoints on a redundant topic.

Ms. Bainbridge uses this tragedy of Scott to illustrate a turning point in History, a change in the fundamental beliefs and manner of approaching problems. The Scott Expedition serves as an example of the great changes during the very early 20th Century. The fact that Scott and his men failed to be the first, and that they all died, is either tragic or negligent when the fact that this was his second time out to plant the flag at the pole is considered. Not only is he beaten to his goal, his philosophies are proved to be the reason for his failure.

As with mountaineering these other attempts at, "firsts" were the domain of, "Class", and not necessarily ability. Those who lead, like Officers who had bought their Commissions were not necessarily qualified, and were often inept at that which they attempted foolishly and were risking their death and that of their men.

"Courage", was what would see a task through. A leaking ship before even leaving its berth was just a preview to the lack of planning and leadership that killed them all. Scott would not use dogs it must be a march. In this he was almost Victorian in his thinking. But then he brought motorized machines that not only were useless and in total opposition to his other ideas, it was also an indicator of how indecisive he was. His men followed him blindly as millions of others would follow, leaping out of trenches in WWI and charging the enemy. Forget the machine gun, for this was how it had always, "been done".

Money could get you on the ship just as a fee could get you guided up Mount Everest in 1996. The results were in some cases the same. Optimism and the willingness to risk one's life were based not on known competence in the leader and the soundness of the plan, rather whether people liked one another. The fact that a Scott team member was effectively blind did not mean he should be excluded. The climber on Everest who became blind for a time as the result of a cornea operation that reacted poorly to the low pressure of Everest was an eerie parallel.

When the story is placed in its Historical context the work is very well done. If it is read without a thought to the time during which the expedition took place, I can see why some would be less than thrilled with the book. However when read in perspective it is a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: amazing hardship and valor in the pre-gortex age
Review: this is a haunting,sad and frightening book about the (mis)adventures of robert f scott and his crew on their attempt to get to the south pole in 1911. it is told through the eyes of four crew members and scott himself, all of whom perished on their way back from the pole. after two years of rigor they found that amundsen, clearly better prepared and with dogs instead of the (lamentable decision, this) ponies that scott had brought, had gotten there first. the men are perfect examples of the sort of late-victorian optimistic adventurers who helped make england the wellspring of 19th/early 20th century adventuring and scientific discovery. sadly, their "for king and country" fortitude could not compensate for the antarctic conditions and the terrible facts and misjudgments of the journey itself. most interesting is that, although a weird literary device -- a tale told through the eyes of those who are in fact not alive to tell the tale --it works on all levels. it is a compelling read and especially in apposition to "into thin air," in all of its high-tech failure. read this, and then tackle scott's own journals, which were found with his body several years after his death a mere 11 miles from safety.

Rating:
Summary: More of the Brilliant Beryl
Review: This woman is one of my favorite writers. I have just finished her "Watson's Apology" and found it wonderful as well. But I always use a caveat with Ms. Bainbridge, as I do with Ian McEwan: she is an acquired taste. "The Birthday Boys" is no exception to the rule.

To begin with, as with many of Ms. Bainbridge's novels, this is based on true events. In this case the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott expedition to the South Pole in 1912. Scott and four of his crew died on their way back from the Pole itself which had already been reached by the intrepid Roald Amundsen two weeks prior. What Bainbriddge does is invite herself and us into the minds of the five men who died, and each of the interior glimpses and monologues takes place on the event of each one's own birthday, and reviews various aspects of his life including how he is feeling that day. Scott, who died last we must suppose, is saved for last.

It is a bold and marvelous literary concoction of fact, fantasy, and intellectual probing coupled with an almost uncanny peek into the hearts and minds of the men who cannot, of course, be interviewed and what they truly thought can never be truly known. Yet I have accepted these portraits as actual "interviews." Each of the men is given a full literary treatment, a complete characterization. It takes a lot of courage to do what Bainbridge does (she does it in "Watson's Apology" as well): she tells us things she cannot possibly know for sure and leaves it at that. Many people try to do that today, they pretend they are writing history when in fact, they are writing fantasy. Bainbridge doesn't pretend to be doing anything but writing about people and what she thinks or imagines they might have been thinking at any one time. She is the best at this conceit that I have ever read.

I had the advantage of already having read Cherry-Garrard's rather lengthy tomb: The Worst Journey In The World, so I was aware of the characters, of who they really were and what their various jobs were. That may or may not be essential. I will have to let the reader figure that out. They may stand on their own as literary concoctions, fanciful imaginaries floating at the margins of consciousness, or, as in my own case, rock-solid portrayals of real people I had already read about extensively.

She's a bold writer, and, I think, it might require a bold reader to take this on. But it's wonderful if you just go with it and accept what's there.

Four Stars from me is the same as Five Stars. I always save that fifth star for something I have yet to see. So consider this a Big Pick from yours truly.

Rating:
Summary: This got me hooked ..
Review: Written from the (fictional) voices of the five men who set out to conquer Antarctica in 1912, The Birthday Boys is skilfully
constructed, razor-sharp and chillingly clear. Under the leadership of Captain Robert "Falcon" Scott, the individuals reveal their personal experiences and troubles as they fight against faulty equipment, insufficient rations and sub-human conditions to eventually perish in that unforgiving landscape.

Beginning with the rebellious Edgar Evans who celebrates his final night ashore by getting blind drunk and nearly losing the
national flag on top of a tram, Bainbridge demonstrates to the reader just how much mastery and supremacy Scott held over his
charges. Amongst the disputes, personal doubt and hidden communal fear, each crew member set aside their grievances and
allowed the inspirational leader to fill their damaged souls with new-found confidence and hope.

Bainbridge specialises in creating commentaries from the minds of historical figures, whether they are tragic or comic, in peril on
the war-torn fields of Crimea (Master Georgie) or staying until the bitter end aboard a dying ship (Every Man for Himself). Her
style and panache in creating such memoirs is a vigorous step into the future of fiction, stepping away from the creative minds of others and creating a voice for the voiceless, the displaced, the dead.