Goodbye to All ThatGoodbye to All That
Score Classic
What it's about
Robert Graves, later the author of I, Claudius, tells his life up to the age of thirty-three: an unhappy time at an English public school, then the First World War, where he served as an officer in the trenches, was wounded so badly at the Somme that his family was told he was dead, and befriended the poet Siegfried Sassoon. Then comes his troubled return to England, and his leaving it for good.
Why it's worth reading
It's on both the Modern Library and Guardian lists of the best nonfiction of all time. It's one of the great First World War memoirs, darkly funny and unsentimental.
You'll love it if you liked
Testament of Youth: One Woman's Haunting Record of the First World War
I, Claudius
DispatchesGood to know
Graves revised it in 1957, and editions differ. Sassoon disputed parts of it.
By the numbers
- Readers34 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics80 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller6 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #185 of the 290 memoirs and biographies we rank
- #377 of the 762 classics we rank
- #1287 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
True story, Dark
More by Robert Graves
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Quick answers
Is Goodbye to All That worth reading?
Yes. It's on both the Modern Library and Guardian lists of the best nonfiction of all time. It ranks #1,287 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 70.1 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Goodbye to All That about?
Robert Graves, later the author of I, Claudius, tells his life up to the age of thirty-three: an unhappy time at an English public school, then the First World War, where he served as an officer in the trenches, was wounded so badly at the Somme that his family was told he was dead, and befriended the poet Siegfried Sassoon. Then comes his troubled return to England, and his leaving it for good.
How long does it take to read Goodbye to All That?
About 7 hours (282 pages), or about 2 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after Goodbye to All That?
If you liked it, try Testament of Youth: One Woman's Haunting Record of the First World War by Vera Brittain, I, Claudius by Robert Graves or Dispatches by Michael Herr.