and Cyril Bagger considers himself lucky,
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
Pages: 283 Genre: horror, historical fiction
Rating: 5 Star
Private Cyril Bagger has survived the Great War so far on wits and deception. And it's working well, until him and four other unimpressive recruits are sent on a deadly mission into No Man's Land. Instead of another soldier, they end up rescuing a fallen angel struck down by combat. They have to get the angel out safely, but war continues to rage around them, and they're all battling their inner demons.
I read this book because it won the Pulitzer Prize and I was curious about the unique structure. I didn't know anything about the plot going in, and I was instantly nervous because I'm not a huge fan of war novels. But I stuck with it, and I'm so glad I did. I remember thinking outright, more than once, "Oh, THIS is why it won the Pulitzer." I found it to be stunning and exciting and heartbreaking and beautiful and brilliantly unique.
This book is written as a sentence, where each paragraph is started by "and." This was the one thing I knew about the book before I started reading, but it still caught me a little off guard at the opening. You jump in running and never really stop. This was an amazing choice. It makes the story much more immersive and engaging. You could tell that a lot of care and intention went into writing this book, which I really appreciated.
I also found myself really drawn to the characters. Bagger himself was a great main character. In many ways, he's the People's Protagonist. A very realistic man that is incredibly complex. But I felt like every character was a fully realized person. The author understands humanity and people in a very tangible way that was proven through all of the soldiers that Bagger has to work with. My favorite way Arno, which was both intentional from the author and will be unsurprising to anyone who knows me.
I just loved everything this book had to say. Trying to put it into words, without spoilers, is difficult. This is a book that knows what it wants to say and how it wants to say it and commits unapologetically. I'll be thinking about it for a long time.
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