"Review of The Battle by Patrick Rumbaud" Topic

One of you suggested this as a good period novel.. I've reviewed it here

link

Thank you

I've read it myself and though the writing is certainly good, there are so many strange details, you get the idea he is completely inventing…
At one point voltigeurs are shooting from inside a strong building (granary?), and he says that they kneel down to recharge. I'm not saying it's impossible, but why should one do that, with a musket, when the building already offers cover? It looks like a Western movie, really. At another point he says it took them 6 minutes to recharge… maybe I didn't get that right. Also it seems like there are thousands of voltigeurs, all banded together.
And before a charge, the evil cuirassier is said to be in the 6th rank, so he can't see anything. So they're charging in column, in an open field? Why would they do that?
Also, when Napoleon tells the officer on the tree, with telescope, "watch the masses, not the individuals", I take it this is actually intended for the reader, because what else would an officer care for when watching a battle, if not flags and masses?
And last, do I remember well? One character attributes to Achilles something that was done by Ulysses… I mean didn't the writer get a proofreader? Or is that done on purpose, to show the character is not so cultivated, after all? Same for Stendhal's probable syphilis, described as a mild annoyment…

I have to agree, having read this a fair few years ago – extremely well written but some details seemed a bit odd

I read this first in French, then in English and, as they say, quite a bit was lost and muddled in translation.

Agree with regard to the occasional oddities as they concern some of the battle scenes, especially on the larger scale; the down-and-dirty wasn't so bad, but perhaps because the author could picture them better.

Rimbaud [not Rumbaud] was positively fanciful in his portrayals of Massena and Lannes in particular, but I suppose we all need a good laugh in the middle of a battle that's not going especially well.