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Beautifully written. The characters were very well done. A book you'd read more than once.
You really feel at home with this book.3. If you are a skeptic (I was), here are a few reasons to read this book:1. You will learn more about WWII and the lives of those who lived through the ghastliness of war.4. The "collection of letters" as a novel generally irritates me, but this book has inspired me to rethink snail mail.these notes are that charming.2. Each character is someone I grew to love. It's a book that you can safely (no, eagerly) recommend to your mother-in-law and maybe even get credit for having done something right.5. Number 4 alone should be enough.Happy reading.it's a real joy.
The books ends with her writing to friend Sidney that he must come back to Guernsey to give her away. She's a self made woman who refuses to be a yes lady. She had planned to marry Dawsey, a quiet introverted man and the complete opposite of Juliet. The act was done by an evil man for gifts from the Germans.
Juliet Ashton is a successful writer and journalist who has become bored with her London life and her success. This is a chic lit book and an easy book to read as it is composed of only letters. She receives a letter from a man living on Guernsey and decides to write a book about Guersney and how the natives survived World War II because this book takes place not long after the war. Because of the depravation members of the literary society become closer and more caring of each other.
She, apparently, didn't know what to be when she grew up. So she unceremoniouly dumps him. And away to Guernsey she goes. Her best friend the person she writes to the most and receives most of her mail from is Sidney, a gay man, and an older brother to her. The books' name is different and its' title will attract purchasers attention.
Many even learned they liked to read even the classics. One lady, Isola, kept jumping from one interest to another. Then there was heroine Elizabeth who Juliet met through the islanders talk about her and what a wonderful and caring person she was and how she would go to bat for others during this terrible time. She was betrayed and sent to a German concentration camp where she died. The reader meets the letter writers only through their letters. She is dating a handsome, rich American who she knows will try to dominate her if she marries him. She left a little daughter, Kit, who the islanders adored, took care of and doted on.
The book is composed of characters writing and receiving mail to and from each other and there are many characters. Then the plot becomes darker as the islanders write of the terrors of German occupation, the brutality, the separation from family members, starvation and having to do with little. Childless Juliet decided she wanted to adopt the child, live and work on Guernsey and get away from the mad rush of London. THE END
WWII sems like yesterday, and I remember a great deal of it. However, I had never heard of the German occupation of the Guernsey Islands; this is very interesting. We were up to date in social studies classes and current events classes. (Do they still do this). History blends with the sweet relationships of many characters. The letter-format is a change.
So "Guernsey," for me, was a very pleasant read, but it paled in comparison to the three other books I'd just read. As with most things in life, I now find myself running across references to Guernsey--an introduction I read to "Les Miserables" points out in the first paragraph that Victor Hugo wrote it while in exile there, and when I skimmed the book jacket of an Elizabeth George mystery, it mentioned that the action takes place on that island. Everybody was reading it before me, and raving about it, everybody was telling me it was "just the best." Well, right before I picked this book up, I read "The Book Thief" (which I personally think is "just the best") and I read "What is the What." about the Lost Boys of the Sudan, and then I (belatedly) caught up with Toni Morrison's classic "Beloved," which did live up to all the hype I've heard over these many years. I have the same problem with "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" as I do with movies that everybody goes to see and tells you are the "greatest ever." By the time you get to the theater belatedly, not even "Gone With the Wind" or "Casablanca" would be able to meet your expectations. "Guernsey's" characters are interesting enough, but not deeply enough drawn, and you can see the foreshadowing from miles away as far as the "plot." Still, I would recommend it, as a really nice summer read, and because I appreciate the fact that one of the authors (Mary Ann Shaffer) fulfilled a lifelong ambition to write a book before she died. (Corelli's Mandolin, War and Peace, Cold Mountain, A Very Long Engagement, A Widow of the South.I could list these books all day.).
I always appreciate reading books about how war and the decisions of leaders end up affecting so many innocent people.
I found the other three haunted me for their treatment of serious issues and horrific times.
One thing I did like is the letter format.
So, it is with me and this book.
I will now be especially attuned to any reference to the Channel Islands.
"Guernsey" deals with World War II and its aftermath, but in a much lighter tone.
I did learn about the occupation of the Channel Islands during the war, a matter which had somehow never really registered with me.
It reminded me of "84 Charing Cross," which is a favorite book of mine, and a far better one about books and the post war period in Britain.
I think that should be an inspiration to all of us would-be anythings--it's never too late.
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