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what will remain: A harrowing and captivating war novel born out of the author's experiences of serving in Afghanistan
What Will Remain is a war novel born out of the author’s own experiences of serving with the Royal Marines in Afghanistan. It consists of a series of distinct but closely interwoven stories told against the backdrop of the conflict: fragments of memory, sorrow and hope that build like impressionistic brushstrokes upon a canvas to create a profound and essential tableau of modern war and its place in society. Steeped vividly in the sun, sweat and sand of the Helmand front line but centred firmly within the treacherous battlefield of the human heart, What Will Remain is a harrowing and utterly captivating account from a richly talented début author.
- GenresWar
230 pages, Paperback
Published May 10, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 22, 2016
Things this book has:
1) A powerful message
2) Some marvellous, and at times very funny, writing ("She kept her dinner table free of even tertiary greyshade profanity: jeez, frick, frig, feck, freak, fudge, fetch, beggar, shoot, dang, heck and hell.")
3) Reams of punctuation-free text in italics
Things this book doesn't have:
1) Quotation marks around any direct speech
2) A story
3) Much of a recommendation from me
1) A powerful message
2) Some marvellous, and at times very funny, writing ("She kept her dinner table free of even tertiary greyshade profanity: jeez, frick, frig, feck, freak, fudge, fetch, beggar, shoot, dang, heck and hell.")
3) Reams of punctuation-free text in italics
Things this book doesn't have:
1) Quotation marks around any direct speech
2) A story
3) Much of a recommendation from me
September 2, 2016
What Will Remain, by Dan Clements, is ‘a war novel born out of the author’s own experiences of serving with the Royal Marines in Afghanistan’. It is visceral writing. The opening pages left me feeling punched in the gut, as I did watching the opening sequence of the film Saving Private Ryan. It is uncompromising and stunningly portrayed.
Told in the first person, the book consists of a series of vignettes which bring to life the daily challenges faced by foot soldiers serving on the front line of a battlefield far from all they have previously known. The men are on patrol, under attack, holed up in camps, coping with the death and disfigurement of comrades. There is fear, exhaustion, boredom and necessary camaraderie. This is no boy’s own flavour of war. Life on both sides of the conflict is debased.
Soldiers are trained to follow orders over instinct. Their mindsets must be altered to overcome primordial, life preserving fear. Once this has been achieved it is little wonder that they return home damaged. To move on they may need to put those they experienced such hell with aside. The shared memories can bring back unbearable pain.
“there are only these pieces left to me, scattered and disordered and incomplete, troubled orphan memories that find no solace in the grand old stories.”
The foot soldiers are directed by officers, disparaged by many for their remove from deadly action. When an act of heroism is picked out as worthy of honour, discomfort is felt. The hollow proclamations of the world mean little beside “every small and careful and honest thing that truly was accomplished, and at such awful cost.” If a soldier accepts a public honour must he also accept authorship of the rest?
Mention is made of how the Afghans treat their women, expecting them to stay at home to serve their husband and family. Afghan men have no qualms about claiming the right to beat their wives. I found it ironic that the soldiers valued their pornography and gifted each other posters of topless women with large breasts. They too regarded females as objects existing for their gratification.
Yet how can we who have never been made to experience war judge how those on the front line should behave? If their actions appear degenerate is it them or what they are forced to endure? By the end of the book the protagonist has returned to England, first to recuperate from injury and then to rejoin society. These later stories demonstrate how hard such adjustments can be.
The war poets express the futility of such conflicts. This tale brings home the mental as well as physical damage caused to individuals who chose to fight for their country, perhaps not understanding what soldiering would entail. Families who took pride in their partner or offspring’s achievements struggle to deal with them once returned. To cope the soldiers must try to forget.
“As a child you know nothing. As an adolescent you know everything. And the rest of your life is that slow, difficult process of unlearning all those things you once thought you knew.”
A searing depiction of war that challenges the popular notion of bravery. This is a challenging and captivating read.
Told in the first person, the book consists of a series of vignettes which bring to life the daily challenges faced by foot soldiers serving on the front line of a battlefield far from all they have previously known. The men are on patrol, under attack, holed up in camps, coping with the death and disfigurement of comrades. There is fear, exhaustion, boredom and necessary camaraderie. This is no boy’s own flavour of war. Life on both sides of the conflict is debased.
Soldiers are trained to follow orders over instinct. Their mindsets must be altered to overcome primordial, life preserving fear. Once this has been achieved it is little wonder that they return home damaged. To move on they may need to put those they experienced such hell with aside. The shared memories can bring back unbearable pain.
“there are only these pieces left to me, scattered and disordered and incomplete, troubled orphan memories that find no solace in the grand old stories.”
The foot soldiers are directed by officers, disparaged by many for their remove from deadly action. When an act of heroism is picked out as worthy of honour, discomfort is felt. The hollow proclamations of the world mean little beside “every small and careful and honest thing that truly was accomplished, and at such awful cost.” If a soldier accepts a public honour must he also accept authorship of the rest?
Mention is made of how the Afghans treat their women, expecting them to stay at home to serve their husband and family. Afghan men have no qualms about claiming the right to beat their wives. I found it ironic that the soldiers valued their pornography and gifted each other posters of topless women with large breasts. They too regarded females as objects existing for their gratification.
Yet how can we who have never been made to experience war judge how those on the front line should behave? If their actions appear degenerate is it them or what they are forced to endure? By the end of the book the protagonist has returned to England, first to recuperate from injury and then to rejoin society. These later stories demonstrate how hard such adjustments can be.
The war poets express the futility of such conflicts. This tale brings home the mental as well as physical damage caused to individuals who chose to fight for their country, perhaps not understanding what soldiering would entail. Families who took pride in their partner or offspring’s achievements struggle to deal with them once returned. To cope the soldiers must try to forget.
“As a child you know nothing. As an adolescent you know everything. And the rest of your life is that slow, difficult process of unlearning all those things you once thought you knew.”
A searing depiction of war that challenges the popular notion of bravery. This is a challenging and captivating read.
June 28, 2018
Mr Hemingway goes to Afghanistan. At its best anyway. Terse, funny prose. Men being men. Filled with honesty, but perhaps not with momentum. A collection of autobiographic essays about war, through the eyes of people there. A book of our times, but perhaps nothing more.
June 17, 2017
I love a war novel it has to be said but generally not one written by ex British soldiers as they tend to be a bit thick and jingoistic.
This was a cracker though, not so much a story as a selection of incidents and observations by the protagonist.
Anyone looking for a story here will be disappointed but for anyone looking for the harsh and at most times mundane realities of modern war this is a must.
This was a cracker though, not so much a story as a selection of incidents and observations by the protagonist.
Anyone looking for a story here will be disappointed but for anyone looking for the harsh and at most times mundane realities of modern war this is a must.
September 26, 2016
What will remain is remarkably different than the first three nominees for the Not the Booker prize (I wrote about the other three here: https://medium.com/@JosephSurtees/not...). Not a novel, instead Dan Clements’s book is a series of interlinked, but separate, short stories dealing with the moment-to-moment of British troops in Afghanistan.
Battle is the focus of most stories in the collection, how soldiers react to sustained fire and to IEDs, but there are also stories about political missions and stories about the how wounded servicemen recover from their experiences. This gives a broad insight into the conflict and the often horrendous psychological toll that combat exacts from combatants. Each story has a ring of authenticity, due no doubt to the author having served in Afghanistan.
The scope also serves to illustrate the different viewpoints on the fighting of the different ranks. Again, this helps give the collection depth, making clear that the lower ranks are more constrained, both in uniform and out of it, although at times the characters seemed to shade into caricature — the posh commanding officer, the secretly vulnerable veteran.
As with many short story collections the quality of the stories is variable. For me, where the writer reached the right emotional pitch they were at their best. The last few stories seemed particularly personal, dealing with how wounded servicemen react when recovering back in the UK, and they are the strongest in the collection. One can feel the emotional impact, the long term damage, caused by the brutal injuries discussed unflinchingly.
Conversely, the battle stories, although more traditionally “exciting” feel less personal and therefore less engaging. This is not helped by the author’s refusal to provide adequate explanation of military tactics and procedures, throwing in terminology seemingly at random, which leads to bewilderment. Perhaps this was deliberate, mirroring the “fog of war”, but in these sections it does make the reading experience less enjoyable.
There are other problems with the collection. Unlike the last nominated book I reviewed (The summer that melted everything by Tiffany McDaniel) the writing of What will remain lacks lyricism and a distinctive rhythm. It reads like the work of a writer still unable to find his voice, grasping for the right words and failing to find them. In many places I found it clunky and amateurish. In his review Sam Jordison highlights the way in which the author seeks to imitate Hemingway. To me a more apt comparison was Cormac McCarthy but either way Clement’s own lack of style is apparent.
This problem was exacerbated by a device used by the author of opening each story with a long stream of consciousness overview of the situation — an un-punctuated outpouring of jumbled background, emotion and opinion. These italicised sections were ambitious but simply did not work, leaving the reader unsure about what was going on. After I while I simply skipped them.
The often poor writing is what ultimately lets the book down. While it is a brave effort, with a lot to say, at most around half of What will remain is worth reading. The rest is a difficult slog through overwritten sentences, strange descriptions and forced metaphor.
However, with more time to develop a unique style, and the latter half of the book hints this is happening, one feels that the author may become a powerful voice for those soldiers who served in Afghanistan.
Battle is the focus of most stories in the collection, how soldiers react to sustained fire and to IEDs, but there are also stories about political missions and stories about the how wounded servicemen recover from their experiences. This gives a broad insight into the conflict and the often horrendous psychological toll that combat exacts from combatants. Each story has a ring of authenticity, due no doubt to the author having served in Afghanistan.
The scope also serves to illustrate the different viewpoints on the fighting of the different ranks. Again, this helps give the collection depth, making clear that the lower ranks are more constrained, both in uniform and out of it, although at times the characters seemed to shade into caricature — the posh commanding officer, the secretly vulnerable veteran.
As with many short story collections the quality of the stories is variable. For me, where the writer reached the right emotional pitch they were at their best. The last few stories seemed particularly personal, dealing with how wounded servicemen react when recovering back in the UK, and they are the strongest in the collection. One can feel the emotional impact, the long term damage, caused by the brutal injuries discussed unflinchingly.
Conversely, the battle stories, although more traditionally “exciting” feel less personal and therefore less engaging. This is not helped by the author’s refusal to provide adequate explanation of military tactics and procedures, throwing in terminology seemingly at random, which leads to bewilderment. Perhaps this was deliberate, mirroring the “fog of war”, but in these sections it does make the reading experience less enjoyable.
There are other problems with the collection. Unlike the last nominated book I reviewed (The summer that melted everything by Tiffany McDaniel) the writing of What will remain lacks lyricism and a distinctive rhythm. It reads like the work of a writer still unable to find his voice, grasping for the right words and failing to find them. In many places I found it clunky and amateurish. In his review Sam Jordison highlights the way in which the author seeks to imitate Hemingway. To me a more apt comparison was Cormac McCarthy but either way Clement’s own lack of style is apparent.
This problem was exacerbated by a device used by the author of opening each story with a long stream of consciousness overview of the situation — an un-punctuated outpouring of jumbled background, emotion and opinion. These italicised sections were ambitious but simply did not work, leaving the reader unsure about what was going on. After I while I simply skipped them.
The often poor writing is what ultimately lets the book down. While it is a brave effort, with a lot to say, at most around half of What will remain is worth reading. The rest is a difficult slog through overwritten sentences, strange descriptions and forced metaphor.
However, with more time to develop a unique style, and the latter half of the book hints this is happening, one feels that the author may become a powerful voice for those soldiers who served in Afghanistan.
September 22, 2016
This book is on the Guardian's "Not the Booker" shortlist. However, I'm far from convinced it would qualify for the main Booker prize. "What will Remain" is a series of stories about military life in Afghanistan and how servicemen cope with rehabilitation and returning home. Whilst I think it's important to appreciate the work done by the armed forces, this book just seems to be excessive amounts of "grunt-speak" linked together by passages printed in italics of stream of consciousness ramblings. I didn't identify with any of the main characters. However, the writing is very vivid.
At the risk of being over-pedantic, the edition I had was peppered with printer's errors which lessened my enjoyment of the book.
At the risk of being over-pedantic, the edition I had was peppered with printer's errors which lessened my enjoyment of the book.
September 9, 2016
A memorable first novel with devastating insight into intimate and personal experiences of modern warfare, and the ripple effects on humans and society. The strengths of this novel for me were the way the author gives you insight into the cold brutality of the battle and then shows you how real people create their own safety nets for recovery in the real world, both self-destructive and healing.
September 29, 2016
Remarkable exploration of war, friendship and the mind
Remarkable exploration of war, friendship and the mind. The disjointed narrative makes it hard to get into. But ultimately it rewards the reader with insights into the impact of war on people and places.
Remarkable exploration of war, friendship and the mind. The disjointed narrative makes it hard to get into. But ultimately it rewards the reader with insights into the impact of war on people and places.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews