The Valley of Bones - Anthony Powell

A different feel in this instalment of A Dance to the Music of Time, in which Jenkins leaves his normal milieu and joins an obscure Welsh regiment for the opening stage of WWII.

I'm not sure I have ever read a book with a more passive narrator. Jenkins persistently takes a minor role in events, and his dialogue is almost always written as reported speech.

I usually try and avoid quoting blurbs on this blog, but this from Simon Raven in The Observer nails it:

"The Valley of Bones" is sheer delight. It is immaculate in period and military detail; it praises duty while at the same time making educated play of its absurdities; it recognises heroism but is swift to prick pretension; it evokes a wry poetry from drabness and boredom; and it is exceedingly funny throughout.

What he said.