No! So many excellent points! You said so many AWESOME things I wish I’d thought of saying myself. Also, I have not yet read Birdsong, but I do own a copy :S The reason is exactly it being on so many Best Of lists - best historical fiction, best WW1 novels, best books of the freaking 20th century. No review I ever read led me to suspect it adhered so closely to traditional models of masculinity and heroism, which is a bit wtf in itself.