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The War Artist
When Brigadier James Phelan returns from Afghanistan with the body of a young soldier killed under his command, he is traumatised by the tragedy. An encounter with young Sydney tattoo artist Kira leaves him with a permanent tribute to the soldier, but it is a meeting that will change the course of his life. What he isn’t expecting is a campaign of retribution from the soldiers who blame him for the ambush and threaten his career. With his marriage also on the brink, his life spirals out of control. Years later, Phelan is surprised when Kira re-enters his life seeking refuge from her own troubles and with a young son in tow. She finds a way to help him make peace with his past, but she is still on the run from her own. The War Artist is a timely and compelling novel about the legacy of war, the power of art and the possibility of redemption.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
About the author
Simon Cleary
12 books16 followersSimon Cleary is the author of three novels, including The Comfort of Figs (2008), which was published after the manuscript was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. His second novel, Closer to Stone (2012), was inspired by his experiences in North Africa at the commencement of the Algerian civil war in the 1990s. It went on to win the Queensland Literary Awards People’s Choice Award in 2012. Simon’s third novel, The War Artist, was published in 2019. He lives in Brisbane.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 10, 2019
Brisbane author Simon Cleary’s previous novels The Comfort of Figs and Closer to Stone are fine works, but I think his latest release The War Artist (UQP 2019) might be his most accomplished yet. This story had me gripped from beginning to end. I’m not sure what I expected (a war story?) but my expectations were upturned and exceeded with this tale of love, betrayal, sacrifice, forgiveness and trauma.
The War Artist is ostensibly about the crippling psychological effects of PTSD, particularly as associated with soldiers returning from the war in Afghanistan. Brigadier James Phelan witnesses the shocking death of a young soldier and accompanies the man’s body home to his family. Traumatised and unmoored, he visits tattoo artist, Kira, on a whim, to have the man’s name permanently marked on his body. His encounter with Kira leaves him confused and unsettled. He returns to Brisbane not as a hero, but to a barrage of blame for the young soldier’s death, and a campaign of retaliation by the other surviving soldiers from his unit. With his career threatened, and his marriage to wife Penny strained by the stress, his life unravels into a knotty mess. And when, years later, Kira (along with her young son) seeks him out to ask for his help as she flees from her own troubles, Phelan is forced – finally – to confront the demons of his past, to atone for his actions and to assuage his guilt.
I suppose I expected this book to be about war – and in many ways, it is: it’s about the terrible damage inflicted on young minds forced to fight brutal and often incomprehensible battles; it’s about group mentality and survivor guilt and pack behaviour; it explores the horrific effects of PTSD and the mental anguish suffered by many returned servicemen and women; it doesn’t shy away from the physical scars of war – the damaged bodies and amputated limbs; it examines the bureaucracy and government of war; it emphasises the unbreakable bond that returned soldiers share after a deployment.
But this book is about so much more than that. This is an incredible love story – James and Penny, unable to have children, much of their life dedicated to service – are strained almost to breaking point by the effects of his war experience, and yet they survive, and this book is homage to that kind of love, to that inner strength and complete respect and responsibility for the person that is your life partner. Conflict, mental health problems, infidelity and ego all plague this couple; watching their lives hang together by the thinnest of threads through it all is a compelling journey.
The novel explores other kinds of love, the love of friendship and mutual grief, the love of a parent for a child, the love of comrades with whom the most intimate experiences have been shared.
This is also a book about art. Tattooing is a special kind of remembrance, a permanent mark of respect or love or possessiveness or memory or achievement. The psychology behind tattoos and their meanings is at the heart of this novel, and the way tattooing is used in the second half of the story – to commemorate, to honour – is such a beautiful and mesmerising process. Pain delivers relief. Memory vanquishes distress.
The research into people and places that has gone into the book is obvious. The characters are all finely-drawn, the complicated dynamics between them explored with sensitivity and grace. The examination of setting – the landscape and environment of both Queensland and Afghanistan – is done with a keen eye for small details, and a true feeling for place. And out of all of this rises the plot, sharp as a knife-edge. Uncertainty looms large – we are never sure what is going to happen to these characters, or how, or when. Cleary very cleverly allows the reader to know (or to suspect) secrets that some of the characters themselves don’t know, and this engages us in a deliciously complicit waiting game of suspense and tension. Especially towards the end of the book, there are several possible bad outcomes – any of which could happen – and we are drawn inexorably along to the edge of the cliff, unable to stop or turn away, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. The ending is ambiguous enough to keep us thinking but satisfying enough to allow us to take a well-earned breath. This is great fiction indeed, the kind that feels authentic, transporting and true.
The War Artist is ostensibly about the crippling psychological effects of PTSD, particularly as associated with soldiers returning from the war in Afghanistan. Brigadier James Phelan witnesses the shocking death of a young soldier and accompanies the man’s body home to his family. Traumatised and unmoored, he visits tattoo artist, Kira, on a whim, to have the man’s name permanently marked on his body. His encounter with Kira leaves him confused and unsettled. He returns to Brisbane not as a hero, but to a barrage of blame for the young soldier’s death, and a campaign of retaliation by the other surviving soldiers from his unit. With his career threatened, and his marriage to wife Penny strained by the stress, his life unravels into a knotty mess. And when, years later, Kira (along with her young son) seeks him out to ask for his help as she flees from her own troubles, Phelan is forced – finally – to confront the demons of his past, to atone for his actions and to assuage his guilt.
I suppose I expected this book to be about war – and in many ways, it is: it’s about the terrible damage inflicted on young minds forced to fight brutal and often incomprehensible battles; it’s about group mentality and survivor guilt and pack behaviour; it explores the horrific effects of PTSD and the mental anguish suffered by many returned servicemen and women; it doesn’t shy away from the physical scars of war – the damaged bodies and amputated limbs; it examines the bureaucracy and government of war; it emphasises the unbreakable bond that returned soldiers share after a deployment.
But this book is about so much more than that. This is an incredible love story – James and Penny, unable to have children, much of their life dedicated to service – are strained almost to breaking point by the effects of his war experience, and yet they survive, and this book is homage to that kind of love, to that inner strength and complete respect and responsibility for the person that is your life partner. Conflict, mental health problems, infidelity and ego all plague this couple; watching their lives hang together by the thinnest of threads through it all is a compelling journey.
The novel explores other kinds of love, the love of friendship and mutual grief, the love of a parent for a child, the love of comrades with whom the most intimate experiences have been shared.
This is also a book about art. Tattooing is a special kind of remembrance, a permanent mark of respect or love or possessiveness or memory or achievement. The psychology behind tattoos and their meanings is at the heart of this novel, and the way tattooing is used in the second half of the story – to commemorate, to honour – is such a beautiful and mesmerising process. Pain delivers relief. Memory vanquishes distress.
The research into people and places that has gone into the book is obvious. The characters are all finely-drawn, the complicated dynamics between them explored with sensitivity and grace. The examination of setting – the landscape and environment of both Queensland and Afghanistan – is done with a keen eye for small details, and a true feeling for place. And out of all of this rises the plot, sharp as a knife-edge. Uncertainty looms large – we are never sure what is going to happen to these characters, or how, or when. Cleary very cleverly allows the reader to know (or to suspect) secrets that some of the characters themselves don’t know, and this engages us in a deliciously complicit waiting game of suspense and tension. Especially towards the end of the book, there are several possible bad outcomes – any of which could happen – and we are drawn inexorably along to the edge of the cliff, unable to stop or turn away, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. The ending is ambiguous enough to keep us thinking but satisfying enough to allow us to take a well-earned breath. This is great fiction indeed, the kind that feels authentic, transporting and true.
May 1, 2020
The War Artist
by Simon Cleary is a truly fine novel which captivated me from beginning to end. It is a novel full of wisdom, gorgeous language and a range of outstanding characters whose responses to a series of traumatic events are complex, riveting and at times completely unexpected.
Also unexpected were the allusions to Homer’s Iliad that Cleary wove so inventively into the novel. I was delighted to recognise these references to the Greek classics as I am a devotee of works like Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles and Circe and Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls which are based on various parts of the Homeric legend.
There is so much more to admire about The War Artist and I know that my first Simon Cleary novel won’t be my last.
Highly recommended.
Also unexpected were the allusions to Homer’s Iliad that Cleary wove so inventively into the novel. I was delighted to recognise these references to the Greek classics as I am a devotee of works like Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles and Circe and Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls which are based on various parts of the Homeric legend.
There is so much more to admire about The War Artist and I know that my first Simon Cleary novel won’t be my last.
Highly recommended.
March 9, 2019
The War Artist is Simon Cleary's third novel, and it is magnificent. It is, as Rodney Hall says, at last, a novel that tackles the legacy of the Afghanistan war and the crippling psychological damage of PTSD. But the novel also lays bare the fissures of modern life forged on Australian soil, and the pressing problem of violence against women. Painfully, it shows us the limits of sacrifice and redemption. It is intense reading.
This is the blurb:
Entirely by coincidence, I read this novel contemporaneously with Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier which is also about a soldier with what we now call post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both novels explore the impact on those who must deal with a damaged soul, but The War Artist penetrates more deeply into the minds of those who cannot leave the traumatic past behind.
Through Phelan and the flashbacks which lurch unbidden into his life as a civilian, the reader sees the events that haunt him. It reminded me a little of Mark Dapin's fine novel Spirit House which showed how an horrific past can bleed uncontrollably into the present. As I wrote in my review of that book:
For Phelan, his memory of Beckett's death is inexorable. He feels — and is accused of being — responsible for Beckett's death, and footage from the body camera gives the patrol ammunition to judge him harshly. Whereas Rebecca West had no need to describe the slaughter of WW1 for it to be ubiquitous in The Return of the Soldier, military deaths are so rare in modern warfare, especially in Australian deployments, that each death has an individuality denied to the overwhelming numbers of the Fallen of WW1. Their names cover vast stone memorials in our cities, capitals and towns, yet the tattoo-artist Kira can memorialise the casualties of the Australia's Afghan War on the torso of just one man.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/03/10/t...
This is the blurb:
When Brigadier James Phelan returns from Afghanistan with the body of a young soldier killed under his command, he is traumatised by the tragedy. An encounter with young Sydney tattoo artist Kira leaves him with a permanent tribute to the soldier, but it is a meeting that will change the course of his life. What he isn’t expecting is a campaign of retribution from the soldiers who blame him for the ambush and threaten his career. With his marriage also on the brink, his life spirals out of control. Years later, Phelan is surprised when Kira re-enters his life seeking refuge from her own troubles and with a young son in tow. She finds a way to help him make peace with his past, but she is still on the run from her own. The War Artist is a timely and compelling novel about the legacy of war, the power of art and the possibility of redemption.
Entirely by coincidence, I read this novel contemporaneously with Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier which is also about a soldier with what we now call post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both novels explore the impact on those who must deal with a damaged soul, but The War Artist penetrates more deeply into the minds of those who cannot leave the traumatic past behind.
Through Phelan and the flashbacks which lurch unbidden into his life as a civilian, the reader sees the events that haunt him. It reminded me a little of Mark Dapin's fine novel Spirit House which showed how an horrific past can bleed uncontrollably into the present. As I wrote in my review of that book:
Sensate memory, etched deeply into the brain by trauma or torture, can be triggered by simple everyday things. A scent, a sound, or an even a fleeting part of an image that was also present during the trauma can provoke bizarre and often distressing behaviour when that memory surfaces into everyday life far removed from the initial experience.
For Phelan, his memory of Beckett's death is inexorable. He feels — and is accused of being — responsible for Beckett's death, and footage from the body camera gives the patrol ammunition to judge him harshly. Whereas Rebecca West had no need to describe the slaughter of WW1 for it to be ubiquitous in The Return of the Soldier, military deaths are so rare in modern warfare, especially in Australian deployments, that each death has an individuality denied to the overwhelming numbers of the Fallen of WW1. Their names cover vast stone memorials in our cities, capitals and towns, yet the tattoo-artist Kira can memorialise the casualties of the Australia's Afghan War on the torso of just one man.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/03/10/t...
May 21, 2019
Best aspect of this book is the way it explores PTSD . In this case it's an Australian brigadier in Afghanistan. I think we should be grateful for this. There may be a lot of other soldiers in our midst affected, in the many singularly different ways this syndrome can occur. Myself, I ask heartless questions like what do soldiers expect? Why should a single death create such mayhem, when I have a clear grasp of how my grandfathers went through years and years of massive death tolls in WW1? It is different now. People matter, individuals matter. I have to accept that. Apart from that, this book has themes of how extremely hard it is to forgive yourself, of the transformative power of art, of love, who we love and why. I predict this novel will be in the running for prizes. It's beautifully written, complex in its development of ideas that figure importantly in or society. Powerfully affecting reading.
From Goldfields library.
From Goldfields library.
July 29, 2019
I thought the main three characters in the story were so well portrayed and developed that you lived each ones life. Deserving 4 stars.
April 1, 2019
As I did with his 2 previous novels, I really loved this story. The novel follows James Phelan, soldier, whose experience in battle impacts him so profoundly that he can not return. We follow his journey dealing with his grief and destructive behaviours, and how those that love him do so despite their own personal battles. That love is his saving grace, and indeed their own. Simon's style of writing simply transports you, and you can't help but be in the moment with his story. The beautiful detail in the writing lets you smell the wet streets of Surry Hills, hear the birds sing in the trees in the country, and see the depths colour in Kira's tattoos. Simon's insight into the traumas that are suffered by the characters is astonishing, and one may almost believe they are his sufferings as well, so honestly but sympathetically does he treat them. But, love is the heart of the story. This is not a story about the war itself, but the different types of war that we all wage one way or another - for and with our country, our bodies, our relationships and indeed ourselves - and how kindness, patience, courage and love can overcome. This is a story with substance and heart, and like the tattoos Kira leaves on her patrons, this story will imprint on the reader profoundly.
July 10, 2019
This book started strong but then veered into self consciousness. It almost seemed like a short story & I thought I can't read a whole book in this vein but then in some ways it was a dream like experience for the characters, one that would have long repercussions.
The middle bit dragged & I did get sick of Phelan's pain, wanted to shake him & stop him thinking about Beckett all the time but then I realised he was irritating me because he reminded me of me- well, I've just (finally) been diagnosed with PTSD. It's a hard thing, an illness borne of experience & reading about it was confronting, especially how unwell he became but how easily it's explained away by being in war. Why keep sending them then? The book skirts around this issue but doesn't address it fully, usually I would be reading about the protesters or the refugees so it's interesting to get another perspective even if it seems soldiers think politics doesn't concern them. Anyway, the book is about Phelan retiring to the countryside, ostracised from the army.
The last part is the best written & all it come together nicely although Kira's story was a bit 21 jump street at first. I mean the woman's voice wasn't as clear as the man's, basically.
All in all, a good read, if a bit heavy handed.
The middle bit dragged & I did get sick of Phelan's pain, wanted to shake him & stop him thinking about Beckett all the time but then I realised he was irritating me because he reminded me of me- well, I've just (finally) been diagnosed with PTSD. It's a hard thing, an illness borne of experience & reading about it was confronting, especially how unwell he became but how easily it's explained away by being in war. Why keep sending them then? The book skirts around this issue but doesn't address it fully, usually I would be reading about the protesters or the refugees so it's interesting to get another perspective even if it seems soldiers think politics doesn't concern them. Anyway, the book is about Phelan retiring to the countryside, ostracised from the army.
The last part is the best written & all it come together nicely although Kira's story was a bit 21 jump street at first. I mean the woman's voice wasn't as clear as the man's, basically.
All in all, a good read, if a bit heavy handed.
October 21, 2023
Set in the Afghanistan war, this book of fiction brings home the enormous impact war has on those sent to fight and those left behind at home. The effect on Jim Phelan of feeling responsible for just one death highlights the guilt and despair of officers and soldiers alike. Add to this the guilt of a passionate one-night affair before returning to his faithful and patient wife who has battled with breast cancer in his absence. Unable to have children of their own, their world changes when Kira, the tattooist, with whom he had the affair, turns up on his doorstep with her young son, seeking help after fleeing her violent partner. The intensity of Phelan's PTSD is probably over-laboured but the love story with his wife and the tattooist are powerful page turners. Phelan's survival at the end of the book is unclear.
July 27, 2020
I could not wade beyond half way through this book but I think I ventured into it at the wrong time. I found I wanted the story to move along better and in the early chapters I really developed a dislike for the main character and couldn't shake it off. It's a great story about how we don't care for our vets on their return to normality and that is a given, they are expected to be warriors and then just return to a banal existence when they come home. I have first hand experience of the challenges. Having said that, we don't have compulsory service so I do feel like reminding people joining Defence forces is a choice and it gets real, something I feel should be clearer for potential recruits.
November 14, 2020
Superb story of the sequelae of war
This is a superb story of one man’s struggle with the sequelae of war and the impact on those he loves. The title seems to reflect the many aspects of war from the planning of sites and the training of combatants, to the aftermath. All these combine in the story of the tattoo artist and her clients who seek escape from their trauma experiences in rising above the pain of being tattooed. Cleary’s use of language is also part of the artistry. His characters are well-drawn portraits, come to life on the pages. Highly recommended read!
This is a superb story of one man’s struggle with the sequelae of war and the impact on those he loves. The title seems to reflect the many aspects of war from the planning of sites and the training of combatants, to the aftermath. All these combine in the story of the tattoo artist and her clients who seek escape from their trauma experiences in rising above the pain of being tattooed. Cleary’s use of language is also part of the artistry. His characters are well-drawn portraits, come to life on the pages. Highly recommended read!
June 11, 2019
When this book was suggested to me I want terribly interested - a war book was my initial thought. But I loved it - I was hooked from the beginning and sad (like I'd lost a friend kind of sad) when I read the last page. A brilliant tale of love, betrayal, sacrifice, forgiveness, trauma and life.
June 16, 2019
I read this out of loyalty to a local author, not expecting a lot, but found myself engrossed from the first few pages. A really interesting and topical story about PTSD, love and loyalty and domestic violence.
April 17, 2020
It's paradoxical to describe a book about war trauma and after effects of combat (PTSD) as beautiful, but this really is a beautiful, deeply contemplative book that asks questions about the role of art in the aftermath of war and its role in processing trauma.
February 18, 2022
I didn't really warm to the Brigadier, the main character, and despite the interesting subject (trauma of war, relationships, middle age angst etc) couldn't maintain any interest in what happened to the protagonists.
January 22, 2023
3.8 * A powerful portrayal of PTSD and its impact on not only the bearer but all those around them. Also the healing power of art through an empathic and kind tatoo artist . Well worth the read. Unputdownable in the last half of the book.
July 9, 2019
The writing is beautiful with lots of imagery. Quite poetic. I’m still not quite sure if I liked the ending or not but plenty for the reader to think about in this novel.
June 12, 2023
3.5 stars
September 19, 2023
The War Artist deserves at least 7 stars.
May 25, 2019
Excellent read and an important story to be told about the effects of war and ptsd
October 3, 2019
Awesome book. Insight in to PTSD. The ending was unclear.... annoyong
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews