The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in Crazy Challenge Connection

Nov 01, 2011 Nancy rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019-books, 2010-books

3.5 stars. This was my second time reading this book as my book club picked it for this month. It was a 3.5 star rating for me nine years ago and it is the same today.

I liked learning/remembering little tidbits of the German occupation of the island of Guernsey during World War II and I think I would love to visit there some day but the story was just okay for me. I don’t care for the format of the whole book being told through letters. It felt flat.

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Apr 03, 2011 April rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club, fam-borrowed, historical-fiction, src-monthly-challenges, read-in-2012, hf-monthly-challenges, ccc-2012-yearly

At first I didn't like reading the letters for the story. Being a non-letter writer myself, it didn't work. But as I got into the story, I was able to let it go and found I loved the book. Want to visit now. ...more

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Jul 22, 2013 S.L. Berry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

There is not much to say bad about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The one thing I would point out is that unless you are from the British Isles, have a dictionary nearby. Still this does not take away from the book; it only made my android phone’s battery run down that much quicker.

A book of letters on first blush did not seem like it would carry the plot about the German Occupation of Guernsey in WWII. It did and more. Shaffer (and Barrows who got the book to print after her There is not much to say bad about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The one thing I would point out is that unless you are from the British Isles, have a dictionary nearby. Still this does not take away from the book; it only made my android phone’s battery run down that much quicker.

A book of letters on first blush did not seem like it would carry the plot about the German Occupation of Guernsey in WWII. It did and more. Shaffer (and Barrows who got the book to print after her aunt was no longer able to work on it and subsequently died) did a marvelous job of reenacting the life of the Guernsey inhabitants during WWII. It was a skillful portrayal of the interaction between the inhabitants, visitors (of which is Juliet, a visiting writer of the fictional book about the occupation, among others), German soldiers, imported Todt slave workers, Kit (the child born of Elizabeth, who later becomes a POW and sent off to a concentration camp), and a survivor (Remy) of the camp.

One of the letters (I believe from Juliet), spells out how atrocities committed in the camps just prior to liberation armies arriving and the conditions the liberating armies found on arrival were not easily talked about afterwards. This rang true for me. My father was part of the American forces that liberated Dachau.

Until my family (as part of a choir trip) visited Dachau in the early 90’s, I (and I believe my mother as well) had no idea that my father had been there before. Before our visit, he had never spoken about his experiences. He did not know if he could return to the camp, even more than 40 years later. To my knowledge, he never watched anything that contained a reference to concentration camps. Nevertheless, he did watch movies about WWI and WWII.

Another thing that I loved about Shaffer’s book is the number of good reading suggestions. The novel is set around the sudden invention of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society after several of the main characters are to be brought before the German Commandant to explain why they were violating curfew. Poof! The society comes into being as the explanation and then continued to meet for the duration of the war and afterwards. The letters tell about the formation of the society, the members and their eccentricities (some of which are quite humorous), the landing of the Germans, the battle of the islanders and occupiers alike to eke out a living when a lot of what you have to eat is potatoes, turnips, and the flour made of bird seed.

Humor abounds in the book. I have always wondered how Sheldon on Big Bang Theory got treed by a chicken. Well, one of the letter writers found themself in the same position. It is told in riotous detail. Then, there is the claustrophobic parrot who gets shut up in a building with a letter-stealing thief who attempted to abscond with letters written by Oscar Wilde. Another incident involved one of inhabitants, Isola. She taught herself how to read head bumps and then moved onto being a private detective. Almost getting the wrong person hitched (married) convinced her to search for another hobby. Thank goodness for fate intervening!

Check out The Guernesy Literary and Potato Peel Society for yourself. I am moving onto Daddy Long Legs, another book written via letters. ...more

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Sep 13, 2013 Mary Bronson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, women-fiction, historical-fiction, romance, books-about-books-and-booknerds, women-reads-2016

I thought this was a very interesting book I really enjoyed reading it. I thought the characters and plot were well written. Once I got started it was hard to put down. I loved that the format of the book was made up of entirely of letters, telegrams, and one diary entry. At first you would not think that this would flow so well, but it did. Each letter tied the story up nicely and made it flow. While reading this I wanted to be a part of the literary society and be surrounded by all those great ...more

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Aug 30, 2014 Allison Ann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed, library, src-fall14, bbtc-round-4

This book was recommended to me for years, gushingly, by various people. I tend to avoid recommendations - they generally don't live up to expectations. This book was written in epistolary form - which I generally don't enjoy and actually find tedious. This book is full of pointedly quirky characters - which generally make me roll my eyes and stop reading. I should have hated this book, but I loved it. I found it sweet and charming and thoroughly enjoyable. I won't bother recommending it, but if ...more

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Feb 14, 2016 Justme rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I found this book as part of the 2016 Reading Challenge, #13, a book loved/recommended by your favorite author. Well, I'm not sure I could pick a favorite author, so I just happened to look up one of my most read & see that she had only rated 8 books on Goodreads...I clicked on her 5* and then saw several other authors I enjoy had also rated it a 5* read.

Thus I came across & read a book I probably would not have otherwise, and what a delight it was!

At the end of the book, under Acknowledgements, ...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Elle rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary

This was my second book in a row on World War II. I had heard vaguely of the Guernsey occupation prior to reading this book, but I didn't realize how awful it really had been on the inhabitants of the island. I do have to say that this book wasn't really what I was expecting. I guess with the title I expected more of a comedic novel, but even though it didn't match my expectations I very much liked reading it. I enjoyed the fact that the entire story was told in letters. I think the approach all ...more

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Dec 05, 2011 Colleen rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, epistolary

Words like "charming" and "endearing" and "bucolic" come to mind when I think of this book. I enjoyed so much about it, even the somewhat trite plot about Mark and the underlying romantic twist.

The letter format was well done in the audio version, the voices set so well with the material. ...more

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