Human Traces

My favourite Faulks by far. He portrayal of his character's commitment to their careers and to humanity, is inspirational and has indeed inspired me to change my career path. His characterisation of women is superb and my empathy with Sonia is testimony to this. It is epic in it proportions and spans a fascinating period of social/ medical and political history. I wept at the end.

Only traces of humanity (0/0 people found this helpful)

I yield to no-one in my admiration of Faulks. His ability to convey human emotion without becoming excessively sentimental is remarkable as is his ability to create narratives that read easily in a style that never intrudes.Is it heresy to say that all his books are flawed? Even Birdsong - for my money his greatest work - suffers from an opening and ending which are contrived and weak. But that doesn't stop it being a great book.

But Human Traces seems to me a work where a wise editor should have intervened. Faulks' remarkable intelligence is focussed on the history of the science we now call psychology to such an extent that he neglects the observation of human qualities for which he is rightly feted. Uniquely amongst his works Human Traces is a hard slog to read and its characters are soon forgotten. Anyone who enjoys good writing should try Faulks; just don't start with this one.

Faulks does it again (1/1 people found this helpful)

This is one of the worst novels I've ever read - forced to do so by my book club. After a decent first chapter, it becomes some 600 pages of pseudo-scientific waffle, with no concern for characterisation, plot, style, description or - well, life itself. But it makes no difference what Faulks writes, supported as he is by a degenerate bookselling industry (cue Waterstone's) with zero concern for quality, literary or otherwise. Like so many others, Faulks passes all the filtering mechanisms novel after dreadful novel only because there are no filtering mechanisms except the ugly sieve of cash profit. The just punishment for those many who buy this particular effort (I've seen them) is excruciating boredom - even if they skip the grisly twenty-page lectures.

Flawed and frustrating but eminently readable (2/2 people found this helpful)

First things first, if you're expecting another Birdsong here, read something else. This is a far more ambitious, difficult, challenging and yes lengthy book than it's illustrious predecessor, dealing with mental illness and the search for what makes us truly human.

Clearly Faulks has invested a great deal of time, effort and research into this topic and the natrrative is often peppered with lengthy and complicated narratives on the the history, nature and psychology of mental illness, Sadly however, the book although beautifully written and well crafted, cannot bear the weight of its lofty ambitions and does not really deliver a believable, coherent or cogent storyline when it matters most. The ending feels rushed and unsatisfactory and the way he shoehorns in battle scenes from Daniel fighting in WW1 is contrived, pointless and irrevelant to the rest of the storyline.

Despite these major complaints however, i never found the book less than gripping, wholly interesting and although deeply flawed, is a testament (ending notwithstanding) to Faulks ingenuity, scope and skills as a consummate modern novelist.

Captivating... (1/1 people found this helpful)

If like me you have a strange combination of interests, including neuroscience and paleontology, this is a charming read.

Sebastian Faulks

Reader Reviews:

If you're fascinated by humanity read this. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Only traces of humanity (0/0 people found this helpful)

Faulks does it again (1/1 people found this helpful)

Flawed and frustrating but eminently readable (2/2 people found this helpful)

Captivating... (1/1 people found this helpful)

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