Authors : Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Review :
Ever wonder if a book can make you smile and cry at the same time ?? Well, if you are looking for one, here is your pick !! The book is set post World War II when people are just recovering from the aftermath of the trauma and coming to terms that they can finally lead a peaceful life. Today, I am writing this review after reading a book, sitting in front of my laptop. We have blogs, social media , websites where we can share our opinions and experiences and connect to people. Reporters and columnists still travel to places in search of stories and technology comes in aid for them to keep people up to date.
In this digital world, what we lack is the charm of a pen and a paper to write on , the smell of a book which you hold in your hands to read. Where has it gone? This novel brings out the appeal of the age old correspondence so beautifully and effortlessly.
Though set after the World war II, the entire book is a series of letters between different individuals narrating the events of the war itself .A columnist and an author, Juliet Ashton, gets a letter from a mysterious man, Dawsey Adams, who claims himself as one of the members of ' The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society', requesting her for a book from a certain author, Charles Lamb. Intrigued by the name, she decides to probe further into this topic and writes back to him enquiring on the details about this society. Dawnsey elaborates further that this society is a book club.It was accidentally formed when they had to escape a curfew in the night hours during the German occupation to Guernsey.Those were the days when all the communication was cut from Guernsey. People were in shortage of food and had to grow their own crops to eat. They had to give away all their meat to the Germans. The book club would meet up once in a while and after intense discussions, they would wind it up with a treat. As the staple diet was potatoes, they decided to make a fancy dish with a Potato pie and potato peels as the "icing" on the pie. Hence the name ' The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'.
Juliet begins to fall in love with this whole idea of the society and how it was formed and asks Dawsey if she can know further about the society members. Dawsey passes on the buck to the other members of the society, the most prominent being Amelia, Isola, Eben and Will Thisbee . Dawsey is a pig farmer, Eben a post master, Isola a potion maker and Will, the baker and the creator of the potato pie. They all start writing to her about their experiences during the war and how they resorted to books to keep themselves sane. Over a period of time, she starts getting letters from those who were not regular in the meetings but were forced to attend them because their friends wanted them to. One wins over a hand of a widow because he can recite better poetry where as one loves a certain poet because he described his plight better than the words he could ever conjure himself. Few of them have faced the brunt of the German torture where as few think they are not all that bad. Somewhere in the dull, gloomy,unconnected world they lived in, books gave them hope, a reason to live, a reason to bond and make merry.
But hell breaks loose when one of the closest members of the society, the upright and flamboyant Elizabeth McKenna is arrested and taken away to Germany. She has left behind her child, who is being taken care of by the society as their own daughter. The society is still looking out for Elizabeth.
Juliet begins to fall in love with this people and decides to visit them. She convinces her publisher, a very agreeable Sidney Stark, to go to Guernsey for a promising story. What she does not know and she will figure out soon is that this is going to be the story of her own life. When she reaches there, she begins to find a soulful connection with each and every member of that society, that she forgets that she ever belonged to London !!
There are many pages in the book which describe the German torture and the concentration camps in detail. We have read many of the WW II books, but everytime you read one, it still moves you into tears. Leon Uris's Exodus is the first book I had read which described the plight of the Jews during the war. Uris has such power in his writing, that book still sends chills down my spine even to this day.Such is the atrocity of the war.
This book also makes you smile, because it ends with a happy Jane Austen ending. And as the authors themselves mention, it doesn't matter where Elizabeth finds Darcy , as long as they find each other. It is also very heartwarming to see how Juliet works on her relationships with each and every member of the society. Amelia is initially very skeptical on Juliet's intentions about the society. So Juliet actually makes two people, one who dotes her like a daughter and the other who hates her to the core, write to Amelia. This is done so that Amelia knows both sides of Juliet's character.
Those little things make you wander if such integrity exists today. If yes, where??
I did watch the movie as well, it is a beautiful movie if it has to stand by itself. But it falls very short in front of the book . I felt the movie more romantic and feel-good. It failed to bring out the pain of the war or the subtleness of the relationships between characters. One thing I hated about the movie is Juliet barging into Guernsey without telling anyone. She looked more like Anne Hathway in Princess Diaries doing all the wrong things, uncertain about herself. Where as on the contrary, in the book ,Juliet is very careful not to hurt anyone. She builds the relationships slow and steady. And the day, she steps into Guernsey, everyone has already fallen in love with her.
To summarize, as few of my friends said, the book is both heart breaking and heart warming at the same time. If I may request, please buy a paper copy of the book. As I said earlier, In this digital world, what we lack is the charm of a pen and a paper to write on and the smell of a book which you hold in your hands to read. This book is a jewel which will adorn your book-shelf , and any day you look at the cover, I bet the smile will come flashing on your face. Enjoy the book and relish the tender moments !!
Recommended :👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
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