What do you think?
Rate this book
A Beckoning War
2016 Foreword Reviews INDIES, Silver, War & Military (Adult Fiction)
Captain Jim McFarlane, a Canadian infantry officer, is coming apart at the seams. It’s September 1944, in Italy, and the allied armies are closing in on the retreating Axis powers. Exhausted and lost, Jim tries to command his combat company under fire, while waiting desperately for letters from his wife Marianne. Joining the army not out of some admirable patriotic sentiments but rather because of his own failings and restlessness, he finds himself fighting in a war that is far from glorious. In this story of love and war, Murphy brilliantly captures our ambiguous relationship to war.
334 pages, Paperback
First published January 13, 2014
673 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Murphy
1 book28 followersMatthew Murphy was born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario, and currently lives in Montreal. A Beckoning War (Baraka Books, 2016) has been published to growing critical acclaim.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Read
December 28, 2019Other authors cheat and give their books 5 stars, so why can’t I?
December 15, 2014
A little bit clunky in places, as you'd expect from a first book, but that actually suits the story very well. Others have suggested that this book would make a good film, but I feel that the strongest writing is inside the characters' heads. Murphy's style makes the reader empathise deeply with the characters, without being excessively emotional or sentimental. A slight anachronism, Murphy has the characters discuss certain topics that would probably have been considered taboo by that generation, but that makes the story all the more intimate in a way that a contemporary account never could be. I feel enriched by having read this book and I look forward to see what the author comes up with next.
July 31, 2019
A novel on the Second World War in 2018 may seem a little anachronistic—hasn't everything worth saying been said about this war? To his credit, author Matthew Murphy does offer a new take on this oft-told story. And not just by focusing on the lesser-known Canadian contribution to the campaign in Italy but also by providing convincing insights into the motivations and thinking of men and women of the war-time generation. Most importantly, he pulls off the universalism in soldiering, with all the human frailties that go with it.
Read full review in the Ottawa Review of Books at https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/s...
Read full review in the Ottawa Review of Books at https://www.ottawareviewofbooks.com/s...
June 29, 2020
I took A Beckoning War on a weekend summer getaway. Not your standard beach read, but I tore through it and it was one of those books I was sorry to finish. The writing is dense and eloquent, moving from being hard, gritty and tough to soft and emotional and touching. As is the story. A story of love, desire, torment and need. It is a clear eyed look at the bleary eyed pull and confusion of life, set in a time and place of great terror and need. The history is amazing, the research that must have been involved, blows my mind. I will recommend to my friends and family.
January 10, 2025
By no means am I a regular reader of war fiction. I picked up this book to stretch myself, and I am glad I did. The lyrical prose is descriptive and poetic: full of dazzling passages that bring war scenes vividly and clearly to life.
Highly recommended to fans of Stephen Cranes "The Red Badge of Courage."
Highly recommended to fans of Stephen Cranes "The Red Badge of Courage."
November 27, 2017
This is a war story for those who don't think they like war stories! a great read
December 13, 2015
Captain James McFarlane of Canada’s ‘A’ Company, 1st Irish is on the brink. It is September, 1944, the eve of a great battle, he has not heard from his wife, and he is physically and mentally exhausted; noticeably losing his grip.
In Matthew Murphy’s debut novel, McFarlane’s story of disintegration is rendered in beautifully poetic prose. Utilizing various literary devices, Murphy meticulously constructs an empathetic yet flawed character as real as any in literature. At first blush McFarlane seems normal enough. “He is happy that he is in a situation where he can test himself to his physical, mental, emotional and spiritual limits…” (8) He jokes with fellow soldiers, and seems well-liked by fellow officers and his men. But piece by intricate piece his motivations and fragile psyche are revealed. Tiny sips from a flask grows into a major drinking problem that leads him to strike an enlisted man, miss an important pre-battle inspection, and ultimately send his assistant in search of rum in the midst of a fire fight. Through dreams, flashbacks, and letters we learn that his decision to join the army was more out of inadequacy and restlessness than patriotism, and this decision to voluntarily leave his new bride Marianne dealt a severe blow to his marriage. While exploring McFarlane’s inner landscape, Murphy does an excellent job of conveying the realities of war from the ruined Italian countryside to the mixture of boredom and anxiety haunting the soldiers. And all is done in exquisite style incorporating a plethora of literary devices to place the reader squarely amidst the action. “Here and there, flash by flash, are illumined trees, houses, hills, recoiling guns and men in action, captured in flared snapshots, yellow and orange flicker, red glow, a purple bruise of clouds.” (201) Throughout Murphy employs stream of consciousness, but come the dénouement the stream explodes into a rolling sea breaking on the various shores of McFarlane's inner and outer realities, summing up his life, choices, and delirium.
A wonderful first novel for anyone who wants to read the first installment of what should prove a great literary career.
In Matthew Murphy’s debut novel, McFarlane’s story of disintegration is rendered in beautifully poetic prose. Utilizing various literary devices, Murphy meticulously constructs an empathetic yet flawed character as real as any in literature. At first blush McFarlane seems normal enough. “He is happy that he is in a situation where he can test himself to his physical, mental, emotional and spiritual limits…” (8) He jokes with fellow soldiers, and seems well-liked by fellow officers and his men. But piece by intricate piece his motivations and fragile psyche are revealed. Tiny sips from a flask grows into a major drinking problem that leads him to strike an enlisted man, miss an important pre-battle inspection, and ultimately send his assistant in search of rum in the midst of a fire fight. Through dreams, flashbacks, and letters we learn that his decision to join the army was more out of inadequacy and restlessness than patriotism, and this decision to voluntarily leave his new bride Marianne dealt a severe blow to his marriage. While exploring McFarlane’s inner landscape, Murphy does an excellent job of conveying the realities of war from the ruined Italian countryside to the mixture of boredom and anxiety haunting the soldiers. And all is done in exquisite style incorporating a plethora of literary devices to place the reader squarely amidst the action. “Here and there, flash by flash, are illumined trees, houses, hills, recoiling guns and men in action, captured in flared snapshots, yellow and orange flicker, red glow, a purple bruise of clouds.” (201) Throughout Murphy employs stream of consciousness, but come the dénouement the stream explodes into a rolling sea breaking on the various shores of McFarlane's inner and outer realities, summing up his life, choices, and delirium.
A wonderful first novel for anyone who wants to read the first installment of what should prove a great literary career.
December 29, 2017
The war has just begun and the young newly-married Jim leaves his wife to do his patriotic duty, enlisting in a Canadian Army regiment. He promises his wife he will be posted locally and they will still be together at times. Before long, though, he is fighting the Germans in bloody, horrendously violent battles for small towns along the spine of Italy. As the war drags on and the Normandy invasion siphons away supplies and reinforcements, he gets the inevitable letter from Marianne. Angry that he has chosen the army and patriotic duty, she is leaving their marriage. And that is the crux of the story.
Murphy has a great facility for using language. Vocabulary is always exactly right, and the moment to moment horror, terror, and excitement, and unquestioned orders coming down from Command, make it hard to look away as foot by foot, the regiment moves forward, taking a destroyed church, a badly damaged house, a town square, a blasted basement tunnel full of Nazi troops.
What I didn't get in this very internalized narrative was the deep motivations that must have pushed Jim to enlist, leaving his love behind. His father was badly injured in the First World War, and yet pushed Jim to fight. Jim's patriotism, these simple sentiments, are, in our modern age of doubt and uncertain purpose, hard to identify with, or even explain. But it was a different age, where young people hadn't been jaded by images of other more recent wars that now seem to serve no moral purpose, or are totally immoral.
It has to be said that World War II was the last, and maybe even the first, just war. It was probably the most destructive war of all time. Then, good could be seen to be demonstrably battling evil, despite all the undercurrents of allies in competition with one another for the spoils to follow.
And the young died, and were maimed, to achieve victory. Jim is one young man, a boy really, representing thousands and millions who did their duty and together gave what they needed to deliver peace. And lost so much. An important story, well told. (less)
updated Jul 31, 2017 07:46PM
Murphy has a great facility for using language. Vocabulary is always exactly right, and the moment to moment horror, terror, and excitement, and unquestioned orders coming down from Command, make it hard to look away as foot by foot, the regiment moves forward, taking a destroyed church, a badly damaged house, a town square, a blasted basement tunnel full of Nazi troops.
What I didn't get in this very internalized narrative was the deep motivations that must have pushed Jim to enlist, leaving his love behind. His father was badly injured in the First World War, and yet pushed Jim to fight. Jim's patriotism, these simple sentiments, are, in our modern age of doubt and uncertain purpose, hard to identify with, or even explain. But it was a different age, where young people hadn't been jaded by images of other more recent wars that now seem to serve no moral purpose, or are totally immoral.
It has to be said that World War II was the last, and maybe even the first, just war. It was probably the most destructive war of all time. Then, good could be seen to be demonstrably battling evil, despite all the undercurrents of allies in competition with one another for the spoils to follow.
And the young died, and were maimed, to achieve victory. Jim is one young man, a boy really, representing thousands and millions who did their duty and together gave what they needed to deliver peace. And lost so much. An important story, well told. (less)
updated Jul 31, 2017 07:46PM
February 9, 2016
This book, due to be released in April 2016, should be on the 'to read' list of those who find the struggle of fighting the 'enemy within' of interest. For me, reading A Beckoning War was reminiscent of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim in this respect: a lone man who must deal with the consequences, seen and unseen of his actions. While it has WWII as the background, it could easily be a different war, or a lucrative job a long distance away, causing a separation of two persons in a relationship, leading to various challenges and life changes.
Baraka Books has what I consider a genuine winner on their hands with A Beckoning War and I sincerely hope this novel (and the author) receive the national recognition they deserve.
Baraka Books has what I consider a genuine winner on their hands with A Beckoning War and I sincerely hope this novel (and the author) receive the national recognition they deserve.
Want to Read
November 11, 2016I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews