I am studying this book at the moment and have turned to this website to gain other peoples opinions as I was very disappointed. When I started to read the book I was gripped by the character of Stephen and his relationship with Isabelle, but the sex scenes became rather tedious and started to lose the passion a bit. As for the war part, I do agree that the descriptions are excellent especially when it comes to imagining the atmosphere, but I felt there wasn't enough content in terms of a gripping storyline.
I may be biased as I am comparing this book to Journey's End and am about to do a Drama degree, but I was left wanting more when the book ended so became disappointed overall.