The Sojourn

by Alan Cumyn

By the award-winning author of Burridge Unbound, a finalist for the Giller Prize
A Globe and Mail Notable Book of the Year

Highly praised as one of the best novels of the First World War, Alan Cumyn’s The Sojourn tells the story of a young Canadian soldier’s emotional journey through duty, fear, and love. From the front lines at Ypres to the seductive streets of London to memories of a West Coast childhood, we follow Ramsay Crome, a private with the 7th Canadian Pioneers who has volunteered against his father’s wishes. After a particularly horrible assault, Ramsay is granted a ten-day leave to London. It is here that he meets his cousin Margaret, a fervent objector to the war and the woman who will determine his fate in unexpected ways. As Ramsay tumbles into the suffocating embrace of family and the whirl of city life, he is forced to defend his honour and confront his own doubts and terror about the war, knowing that he must ultimately return to the Front. The Sojourn is a powerful yet intimate story about the passions of ordinary people caught in the tide of war.

Genres: Historical Fiction, World War I, Canada

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Rilayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very stirring book. The realistic portrayal of a soldier trying to do the right things for the right reasons really resonated with me. The heartbreak of the sojurn, the hell that was the trench war, the futility but the strong brotherhood, all are well written.

[Norman Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book of a pair (the other is "The Famished Lover") and it certainly seems like an unfinished story. Unfortunately for me, I read them out of sequence which I do not recommend.

The author writes well and his description of life at the front and on leave in 1916 (before the Battle of the Somme) certainly seems extremely well-researched. If you want to understand the miserable conditions under which these soldiers lived, the opening and closing sections certainly do that.

The middle section is the sojourn of the title. The protagonist, Ramsay Crome, gets leave to spend about a week in London and spends it with his uncle's family, including Aunt Harriet but more importantly cousins Margaret and Emily.

The sojourn seems very credible and realistic but the critical relationships among the cousins never really took off for me. Crome always seemed to be on the edge of a breakthrough with Margaret but then would go off on a bender. This might have be a realistic description of the behaviour of a man on leave in 1916 but it isn't very satisfying in a novel.

This is a book I enjoyed reading but I expected to enjoy it more. If you have not read any of Cumyn's books, I am not sure that this would be a good one to start with. And definitely don't read "The Famished Lover" before.

[Sooz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read Andrew Krivak's 'The Sojourn' because I loved his novel The Bear but got this one. A little confusion -and over enthusiasm- on my part when my sister added Cumyn's 'The Sojourn to her Goodreads list, led me to this novel of the same name, and coincidently both about WWI. Luckily,that is a favourite historical period for me and Cumyn is a fine writer. He has a good sense of WWI trench life and some good descriptions ..... like:

an approaching commanding officer as 'the clomp-clomp of investigation feet'
the never-ending, dirty, mindless trench work as 'troglodyte sweat' and the 'black slurp of soil'
planes overhead as 'carving noisy paths through the sky

[Sheri Hathaway · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it. I prefer books divided into chapters, and this more than 300 page book divided into 3 sections was one challenge more than was necessary. If the writing had been more engaging, I would have figured out a way to get through it. After covering the first few pages, I skipped to the end and tried that. Nope. Still incomprehensible and not grabbing me. No satisfying ending. I also prefer books written in past tense and the present tense only served to annoy me in addition to the vague writing style. A disappointment when it covered a topic I was interested in.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the finest WWI novels I have ever read. If anything, I thought it was doing such amazing work on the homefront that I was disappointed to be taken back to the trenches. A genuninely evocative, emotional read. Not quite up there with Timothy Findley's "The Wars"...but to be fair, it wasn't trying to emulate that monumental earlier work.

[Harve Lemelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book deserves the ratings. It is a fine depiction of the First World War and the trials and tribulations of one Canadian soldier, during the early periods of the, during a brief interval, and then returning to the war. The author uses little known battles to depict the struggles and challenges of the war. A fine, fine, read.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprised by how much I did like this book. Would definitely recommend.