Suzanne's Reviews > The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
My rating:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer
by Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer
This was a fun and uplifting book written in an epistolery style (a series of letters between characters rather than narrative) I thought I would be put off by the format, instead I was charmed.
The story takes place primarily on the English Channel island of Guernsey, 30 miles off the coast of France and 100 miles from England. It is about half the size of Washington DC and close to the size of Martha's Vineyard.
Guernsey, Jersey and the other Channel Islands were occupied by the Germans from 1940-1945, the only British territory to be occupied by the Nazis. Germans fortified the islands and cut the wire to England, ending all communication with the outside world. Under Nazi occupation the Islanders endured extraordinary deprivation with food, petrol and general supply shortages resulting in starvation and illness. Children were evacuated to England at the last minute and many families were separated for years. Without outside communication the Islanders as a community grew closer together and that is the basic premise of this novel.
The story takes place in 1946, a year after the Occupation ceased. The main character, Juliet, is a 32 year old British writer who serendipitously finds herself drawn to Guernsey and the story of its people during the War. How this all plays out is done in a series of letters between Juliet and a delightful and entertaining cast of characters.
That said the correspondence often has a far-fetched quality to it that tests the reader's patience. If this was e-mail correspondence in 2009 it would be more believable. But somehow Shaffer asks us to accept the possibility that multiple letters can be mailed, received and responded to, on a daily basis. We are also expected to accept that the Islanders totally embraced this writer as one of them, which could have been possible I guess, after their years of isolation and hunger for communication with the outside world. But it is a stretch.
The novel succeeds when, in the course of letter writing, the experience of the occupation is conveyed to the reader. It fails when it becomes a love story, however cute, it has a Harlequin Romance (remember those?) quality. The perky girl, the strong, silent guy...you get the picture.
Nonetheless it is a fun read and made me one to travel to Guernsey.
The story takes place primarily on the English Channel island of Guernsey, 30 miles off the coast of France and 100 miles from England. It is about half the size of Washington DC and close to the size of Martha's Vineyard.
Guernsey, Jersey and the other Channel Islands were occupied by the Germans from 1940-1945, the only British territory to be occupied by the Nazis. Germans fortified the islands and cut the wire to England, ending all communication with the outside world. Under Nazi occupation the Islanders endured extraordinary deprivation with food, petrol and general supply shortages resulting in starvation and illness. Children were evacuated to England at the last minute and many families were separated for years. Without outside communication the Islanders as a community grew closer together and that is the basic premise of this novel.
The story takes place in 1946, a year after the Occupation ceased. The main character, Juliet, is a 32 year old British writer who serendipitously finds herself drawn to Guernsey and the story of its people during the War. How this all plays out is done in a series of letters between Juliet and a delightful and entertaining cast of characters.
That said the correspondence often has a far-fetched quality to it that tests the reader's patience. If this was e-mail correspondence in 2009 it would be more believable. But somehow Shaffer asks us to accept the possibility that multiple letters can be mailed, received and responded to, on a daily basis. We are also expected to accept that the Islanders totally embraced this writer as one of them, which could have been possible I guess, after their years of isolation and hunger for communication with the outside world. But it is a stretch.
The novel succeeds when, in the course of letter writing, the experience of the occupation is conveyed to the reader. It fails when it becomes a love story, however cute, it has a Harlequin Romance (remember those?) quality. The perky girl, the strong, silent guy...you get the picture.
Nonetheless it is a fun read and made me one to travel to Guernsey.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
sign in »
Quotes Suzanne Liked
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.”
― Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
― Mary Ann Shaffer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Reading Progress
| 04/07/2009 | page 210 |
|
76.64% | "Excellent!" 2 comments |
Comments (showing 1-7 of 7) (7 new)
date
newest »
newest »
I'm about 2/3 of the way through this book and it's just wonderful. Judging from other books you've enjoyed, I think you'll like this.
I never thought about the hard to believe things while reading this. It was just fun. I'm glad you had fun with it, too.
I'm about halfway through this book and while I'm enjoying it, I do have to agree about some of the correspondences. I found this particularly bothersome with Juliet and Mark. I get that she doesn't own a telephone, but at the same time, reading their back and forth letters about having dinner that night at 8 or going here or there kind of took me out of it. The back and forth felt more like emailing or texting than actual letters that could believably go back and forth. I kept getting images of some poor person who had to run back and forth with these letters all day.Despite that, however, I am still enjoying the read.
I agree with you. It just seemed unlikely that there could be that kind of quick mail service in the 1940's. In Edith Whartons' time the servants brought messages between households. I cannot imagine it in postwar Britain.
I finished the book late last night/early this morning and it's become that, really, the only things I didn't like about it all had to do with Mark. From the letters to his characterization... I just didn't like that part. But overall, I enjoyed this book.
