The Missing of the Somme | Geoff Dyer

Certainly an original take on understanding the war (and at times human psychology in general) through literature and art, written in Dyer's characteristically interesting prose. But as a book, it veers toward a collection of close reading exercises à la undergraduate English essays, without the contextual information or control of scope necessitated by academic writing. It is a roaming elegy with many motifs and no central through line (much like the Great War, I suppose). His analysis of the sources I knew well I found fascinating, but the rest of it felt like reading a famous critic's review on the seventh season of TV show I've never watched: I can appreciate the significance of the point, but most of the time I just don't get it.

6/10