“The Good Shepherd” by CS Forester – The Heroic Convoy July 24, 2020 – Posted in: Books, Movie theater, Magazine – Tags: book review, history, movie theater, magazine

his bibliography Chrysostomou Bobaridis for issue 9 of the historical magazine All about history,

The convoys of merchant ships from American ports bound for long-suffering England during the early years of World War II are one of its lesser-known events.
The undertaking gradually developed into a difficult operation, as German submarines dominated the Atlantic and with their torpedoes sank ships carrying valuable goods and weapons to belligerent England. The American government after the German successes accompanied the specific missions with warships that sought to hinder and prevent German aggression. This unique World War II "war front" is the inspiration for CS Forester's novel. Through the eyes of the head of the convoy and commander of a warship escorting it, every moment of this long and difficult journey is recorded in detail.

One of the key components that distinguish the novel is the choice of an escalating intensity of descriptions, as in this way it keeps pace with the course of the enterprise. In particular, there are moments of great tension, where densely written pages describing the maneuvers of avoiding an underwater torpedo, locating a submarine and sinking it accompany moments of rest and reflection. The charm of the text lies in the author's choice to stylistically keep pace with these different circumstances. Finally, what stands out is the sketch of the central hero, who experiences the various shifts of the mission with aplomb and having a high sense of duty. The latter is also the dominant feature of his personality, which to a large extent justifies the introversion and emotional self-restraint he exhibits, but at the same time his deepest sensitivity emerges suggestively. It is a novel that contains the most characteristic features of post-war American literature.

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