The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.35 You Save: $15.65 (71%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.14 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Book Review: An unexpected delight
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a truly delightful book. I worried before it arrived that an amusing and whimsical title might have persuaded me to request something which would turn out not to be very good, but I was wholly wrong. I enjoyed it immensely; it is witty, erudite without being smug, interesting, laugh-out-loud funny in places and very moving in others.
The novel is set in 1946 and is in the form of letters, mainly to and from the central character, Juliet Ashton, a successful writer who becomes, wholly coincidentally, involved with a group of people on Guernsey who lived through the wartime German Occupation. The characters are thoroughly engaging and Mary Ann Shaffer (although born in the USA) manages to capture the English voice of the time beautifully: the prose is a pleasure to read.
It is very hard to summarise any of the developing stories without giving away more than I'd have wanted to know in advance, so I won't try, but the book has something to say about all kinds of things. Among them are friendship, suffering, forgiveness, goodness and wickedness, the resilience of humanity in desperate circumstances, how reading may influence us and the history of the Channel Islanders during the war. All this makes it sound a bit worthy and turgid, but it's neither - anything but, in fact. I never felt that I was being lectured, the history forms a really interesting and beautifully evoked backdrop to a thoroughly involving story and the observations on other things are either implicit in the doings of characters I really cared about or made directly with wit and flair. And there's a really tense will-they-won't-they love story which Jane Austen would have been proud of and which kept me in nail-biting suspense right up to the last page.
One theme in the book is the impact of reading on hitherto unliterary characters, which carries a risk of being patronising or sentimental. Shaffer has a sure feel, though, and avoids both. She does, naturally, use the device to give her views on some of her favourite authors, but it's very wittily and sometimes touchingly done. For example, one of her characters says of Wilfred Owen, "...he knew what was what and called it by its right name. I was there, too, at Passchendaele, and I knew what he knew but I could never put it into words for myself." As a definition of poetry, I think you could do a lot worse than that. And in the same letter there is a paragraph about Yeats's omission of Great War poetry from his Oxford Book of Modern Verse which made me smile and brought a great lump to my throat at the same time.
Another of Shaffer's characters writes, "Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books." That's a very dangerous thing to write in a novel lest it be turned against you, but there is no chance of that here. This is a very good book indeed and I kept wanting to get back to reading it. I was completely carried along by it and when it ended I was very sorry that there was no more. I urge you to read it. I loved it and I'm sure others will too.
Book Review: Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely loved this book and will be encouraging everyone i know to read it. It's written as a series of short letters, mainly to and from then main character Juliet Ashton, who is a 33 yr old single writer living in London after the war.
Whilst searching for inspiration for a new book, she receives a letter from a man in Guernsey who has bought a old copy of a Charles Lamb book with her address in the cover. She gets to know this man and is gradually introduced to the other members of the Literacy and Potato Peel Pie Society and learn how it came to be.
She decides to write about the society and their experiences during the German occupation of Guernsey. The Characters are quirky and eccentric and we learn how each of these unlikely readers have been enlightened or inspired by widely different pieces of literature.
It has inspired me to read and re-read various literary works. The little details of how people kept their spirits up during the occupation and the tricks that they learned to make life bearable are wonderful to read and I couldn't put this book down.
Great find and I will definitely be looking out for more by this author.
Book Review: Warm read which doesn't shy away from pain
Summary: 4 Stars
Told in epistolary form this is a genuinely heart-warming, funny, painful novel that recreates a world of harshness that is yet permeated by love, friendship, and fellowship. I know that sounds a bit soppy (and I'm usually far more cynical than that!) but this is a truly heart-warming novel that creates a world that I really enjoyed inhabiting as a retreat from a much harsher world.
Set in 1946 just after the end of the war, Juliet is a 30 year old writer who has written a column for the Spectator taking a humorous view of London during the Blitz but is now searching for her next subject. She receives a letter from a farmer in Guernsey who has found a book with her name and address on the fly-leaf and so begins a correspondence that takes in the Nazi occupation of Guernsey, Charles Lamb , stolen pigs and much more. The contrast between Juliet's London life of dinners at the Ritz and her wooing by a rich and handsome American publisher, is set against her growing friendship with the quirky characters who write to her from Guernsey until she is enticed to visit them for herself.
This is a cleverly-written book by someone with a fine turn of witty phrase who yet knows that a story has to be permeated with character and emotion. The story of the Nazi occupation of Guernsey is the setting for the bizarrely humorous, the oddly and tragically romantic, and the sheer painfulness of war.
This is a really good read that negotiates the balance between genres, between comedy and tragedy with a sure confidence. It dropped a star (half a star really) because the voices of the characters merged a little too much and given the fact that the Guernsey people were usually farmers, labourers etc they seemed perhaps a little too literate, but that's a tiny quibble in a really enjoyable read. Highly recommnded.
Book Review: Gorgeous Guernsey!!
Summary: 5 Stars
What a delightful, lovely book this is. It is brimming with such great characters, and has a storyline that just draws you in. It makes you want to go to Guernsey and see it for yourself! It tells the tale of Juliet, a writer who lives in London, after the war and the occupation of the Channel Islands by the Germans. She receives a 'fan letter' from Dawsey, who lives on the island of Guernsey,and they find that they have liking for Charles Lamb in common. One thing leads to another, and Juliet goes to visit Guernsey, both to meet the islanders that she has come to know through her correspondence, and also as research for a book she wants to write. She is captivated by the island and the islanders, and soon becomes integrated into their way of life.She finds many friends there, and before she knows it, she finds that she cannot leave and return to her everyday life in London, as she is so happy in Guernsey. Throw in a little Oscar Wilde into the mix, a french girl, Remy, who survived Ravensbruck concentration camp, and Elizabeth McKenna, who is central to everything, and you have a beautiful story. It is told in the form of letters to various people, so it is easy to read, never dull, and just SO lovely. It deals with war, love, loss, happiness, sadness, personal discovery, and although it doesn't go into too much detail, it never trivialises the effect that the occupation had on the Channel Islands, nor the impact
that the war had in general. This is a great read, enjoyable, and well worth re-reading. I have no hesitation in recommending it to all. Thoroughly engrossing, chatty and oddly innocent, I just loved it.
Book Review: A little bit of everything in an enchanting read
Summary: 4 Stars
Don't be put off by the rather clumsy title! This is a gem of book, warmly written, well-characterised, exciting, moving, amusing and informative. The story is told in a series of letters, telegrams and diary entries between high-spirited journalist Juliet Ashton and the penfriends she makes on the island of Guernsey, shortly after the Second World War.
Juliet sets up correspondence with several islanders when she hears about the ubiquitous Society and discovers new friends, tragedy and romance, along with a great dollop of Austenesque humour.
I really, really enjoyed this book. I didn't expect to because the title was reminiscent of fluffy chicklit, but the author is canny, witty and talented. I felt as if I had become a friend of the islanders as much as Juliet. I've cut 1 star because the character of Elizabeth was for me too perfect and I find it hard to warm to people who are universally loved and adored. But maybe that says more about me than it does about the book!
The historical story of the novel is also interesting (I would like to read the acknowledgements to discover if the identity of the cat-letter-writer is based in fact!) and told me a lot about a subject of which I was unaware prior to reading the novel.
I'll be buying this for friends and suggest you do, too.