I have thought of many questions about Robert Ross as a character. I don't quite understand him, what is it about him that makes him different from everyone else? There are no certain characteristics I have found about him that makes him strange, but he is different from the others his age (that he meets in the military). He tries to fit in, he does what the others do, but he is still different. When you think about the way he acted with his first girlfriend, he seems very nervous and not romantic at all. He doesn't seem to be attracted to any girls, and the only one we know for sure that he has ever really cared about is his sister.
The descriptions of world war 1 and 2 in this book are very good, and I wonder how Timothy Findley has gotten such a clear image of the wars? Has he talked to old veterans or has he been in a war himself? I checked his date of birth, and he is born in Ontario in 1930. Growing up during the second world war must have affected him, but how close was he actually to it when he lived in Canada? The fights weren't going on here, they were all located in Europe. So my guess is that he has talked to many people involved in the war.
You bring up an interesting point, it never occurred to me as to how Timothy Findley could write such vivid and descriptive details of the war zones or even the transportation. Considering, there wasn't Google back then, your hypothesis on him talking to war veterans seems the most plausible. Perhaps, he referred to some other writings on the previous war to write his novel as well.
ReplyDelete