Winter Soldier was a joy to read. The storytelling is top-notch, and the character-building is phenomenal.
The protagonist is a young medical student from a privileged background, Lucius, from Vienna. At the outbreak of WW1, he ended up stationed in a field hospital in the Carpathian mountains. There he meets a mysterious Sister Margarete, a nurse who will help him understand the limitations of his training and a cast of soldier characters all suffering from strange psychological conditions brought on by war (later to be defined as PTSD).
Mason is a psychiatrist, so it was especially interesting to read Lucius's self-reflections concerning his medical practice. Lucius is aware that his training, still largely consisting of Victorian procedures, does not satisfy the needs of his patients. And in one particular case, he makes a mistake that makes it hard for him to forgive himself.
And Margarete, what a great female character. I thought all the female characters in the novel were exceptional, no matter how small.
The relationship he develops with Margarete remains a major force in the novel, but this book never sinks into sappy romanticism. The vignettes of pre-war and wartime Vienna and the realities of life in the province are depicted with great style. Mason says a lot with few words and for a relatively short novel does a great job of transporting the reader into the setting. This book felt timeless to me, a true classic. And what a great story with a phenomenal ending.
4.5 stars rounded up. ( )

Novel of WWI ( )

Way too gory and slow moving at the beginning, but I kept going and finally really liked it.

A well-written WWI Austria-Hungarian medical love story that smells a little like a condensed Dr. Zhivago. From my point of view it benefits greatly from the author being a physician. ( )

Lucius Krzelewski was the only child of wealthy, aristocratic Polish parents who lived in Vienna in the 1930s. His father had served in the Lancers and had romantic views of war. His mother ran the family's businesses and had strong opinions. He always felt awkward as a child and preferred studying to socializing. To his mother's disappointment, he enrolled in medical school. To his amazement, he was an excellent student and even made a couple of friends who liked to study as much as he did. Even as a third year medical student, however, there was very little interaction with patients, and, when World War I began joining the military seemed like an excellent way to get some first-hand experience.

Lucius is deployed to a village in the Carpathian Mountains, where he expects to find a small hospital and some senior doctors to guide him. Instead he finds a church with a huge hole in the roof where a shell had fallen through, a single nurse, and many, many soldiers with horrible wounds he had never seen before, never mind treated. The sturdy, imperturbable nurse, Margarete, guides him through his first months and he finds himself falling in love. But when a severely shell-shocked patient is accused of malingering by a passing officer, their comradery is tested.

I loved the descriptions of socially awkward Lucius and his passion for medicine, the scenes of winter in the remote mountains, and the early impressions of shell-shock and how to treat it. Daniel Mason is a doctor and professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, and his expertise informs his writing, but he is also an excellent writer. The plot propelled my reading, but the descriptions slowed it down so I could savor them. Recommended for historical fiction buffs and those who enjoy doctor-authors. ( )