Review: Great Novella on WWI & a Forgotten Disease.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 27, 2013
Lethargica is an excellent and well-written short story set during World War One. The story is told from the perspective of a soldier; you never learn his name and in fact, apart from a doctor and maybe a couple more characters, nobody is really named. The story awesomely depicts the drudgery of warfare; the long lulls between battles, the pointlessness of war.The main character is an American who volunteered to join the war leaving behind the woman he loves. As I just mentioned, the book describes the drudgery of war very well, the soldier who signed up because he believed in the cause, and the woman he left behind. As the story progresses, the soldier wonders why his love has stopped writing and he decides to enact a plan that will ensure that he will be sent home.Once he is home he discovers that his love is bedridden and unresponsive. The story then takes a turn and describes a disease that had afflicted many people. This story was very surprising and sad - I had no idea that this had even happened or had heard of encephalitis lethargica.