Review of The Forgotten Soldier

[Rebecca De Figueiredo]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Forgotten Soldier" by Dr. Angelique Barbara.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Title: The Forgotten Soldier
Author: Angelique Barbara

The author, Angelique Barbara, granddaughter of Curtis Dagley, has written a good, solid, and emotional story that is based on actual facts. It is centred around unfortunate occurrences and how they affected young Curtis, both before he left America and when he was in Krakow, Poland. His reliance on the Soviet and American authorities was paramount, and their response was tortuously slow.

The book opens with 88-year-old Curtis receiving an important phone call, and from there, the reader is taken back to his youth and the events that have shaped this man's life.

Luckily, the warmth of his family and memories of his youth sometimes brought him through the tough times, with loving memories of his siblings, Doris, Jeanette, George, Clarissa, and Maria, as well as his girlfriend, Grace. Life was lovely back in Gloucester, and he looked forward to being back.

I love the way it's written. The story is presented in short chapters, each with small and nicely separated paragraphs. The prose is easy to read and contains no gore, extreme profanity, or graphic sex, so it is suitable for the young. I enjoyed the book and read it quickly.

There is a touch of the supernatural, which is interesting, as, in cases of extreme suffering, victims do hallucinate.

I am glad this book was written: we must not forget the men and women who risked everything and took part in the horrendous happenings of these bad times; they did it for us. Even though Curtis was there in the aftermath, it was still a dangerous mission.

Although I enjoyed it and on reading I found that the editing was perfect, and the inclusion of old black-and-white photos at the end was interesting, it did not have the depth of a perfect five-star book, so I will award it four stars out of five.

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The Forgotten Soldier
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[Kibet Hillary]

It is often sad that those who sacrifice the most seem not to be appreciated much. I am glad that this story was written to remind us of those who put their lives at risk; it is important that we learn to appreciate them. Many thanks, @Rebecca De Figueiredo, for the moving review.

[Onyemuwa-dave]

The effect of war is something that doesn't affect only the buildings, the economy, but affects the people the most. The novel highlighted this fact, and did a good job at representing the raw emotions they felt. Beautiful review indeed.