I Wish This War Were over

by Diana O'Hehir

Nineteen-year-old Helen Reynolds, journeying cross-country by train as America enters World War II, meets and is bewitched by John O'Connell, a former suitor of her mother, the sad, beautiful, alcoholic Selma

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Literary Fiction, World War II, Historical Fiction

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Diana Farnham O'Hehir is a poet and writer of prose from northern California. She was born in Berkeley in 1929. She taught from 1961 to 1992 at Mills College in Oakland where she is Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor Emerita of American Literature. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, writer Mel Fiske.

Series:
* Carla Day

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is set during WWII. The narrator and protagonist, 19 year old Helen, sets out on a cross-country train trip to try to save her alcoholic mother from herself. Along the way, Helen meets and begins an affair with John O'Connell, a married soldier and union organizer who was once involved with her mother. Helen at times seems aimless, confused, and occasionally reckless. Nonetheless, she always remains a very sympathetic character. I particularly liked the way that Helen and O'Connell's feelings for each other seemed to sneak up on them - what appeared to be a casual and perhaps strange affair became love.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written in 1985 and was a Pulitzer finalist. It takes place in 1944. Written in the first person voice of a 19 year old girl, never my favorite form. The story is old fashioned but was compelling enough to keep reading because the writing was so good. The author was a creative writing professor and poet and eventually took up writing mysteries, which seems odd to me. Good on setting and description, less good, less believable on dialogue. A bunch of immature people of all ages making bad decisions and drinking too much! I thought the book was mainly set on a train ride, and there were a few of those, and that's probably what attracted me to the book, wherever I read about it.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very catcher in the rye esque

[Sara]

85 finalist-pulitzer prize