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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
slow-paced
This was our book club selection for January. Simonson tells the story of a small community in England the months leading up to WWI. We are reminded of the great differences in society where the gentry are given leadership positions and the poor become cannon fodder. We know of course that this was will be utterly devastating and that many will never return, no matter what their rank. It is a story well told for the most part and a memorable read. Another fine book that makes us question how a war could possibly resolve more issues than it creates. by the author of Major Pettigrew's last stand...
'The Summer Before the War' is the kind of book where every part of the body below the eyebrows is vulgar. The story takes place in East Sussex, England in 1914, but it could just as easily have been a great 1950's sitcom plot for the sterile family-values show 'Leave it to Beaver' with a few changes. However, even Walt Disney would have rejected this pablum on the grounds of too many banal clichés. If you, gentle reader, want a stupefyingly dull read where shallow characters perform a spotlessly clean puppet show of 'life', this is the novel for you.
This pseudo-Edwardian novel opens as our 23-year-old spinster heroine, recently bereaved Beatrice Nash, who thinks she is pluckily independent, arrives at the English town of Rye. Despite her constant suffering at the slightly sniffy polite behavior of everyone there treating her like the poor lower-class schoolteacher she now is, since her respected intellectual-writer father died, she tries to persevere. But her feelings are hurt all of the time by all of the middle-class and aristocratic stuffy small-minded social-climbing but polite cardboard cutouts of East Sussex - not because she isn't like that, but because she is, and they all understand she has slipped down a rung on the social ladder now. All of the characters, including Beatrice, worry about breathing too hard while being alive for 450 pages.
Meanwhile, some of the men realize WWI is starting. John and AgathaGrange Kent, who sponsored Beatrice for the job of Latin teacher, are stunned when nephews Hugh and his cousin Daniel enlist. Daniel's enlistment in particular surprises everyone because he writes poetry and he often demonstrates emotion. Beatrice rises above them all, though, because she actually has real sympathy for a young Belgian refugee, Celeste, who may have suffered an outrage before escaping Europe. While the entire village discusses putting the beautiful Celeste into a nunnery and putting the child far away someplace, but where, nobody in Rye has an idea, Beatrice hopes everything will be ok, because after all, she is the plucky heroine.
Eventually, the war becomes more real because there isn't any more sugar around for biscuits. Some of the men don't come back. Impoverished spinster Beatrice and outraged Celeste are saved by - well, I don't think I even need to finish saying it, do I, genteel reader? Ok, a hint.
https://youtu.be/w6RnirpFaZk
This pseudo-Edwardian novel opens as our 23-year-old spinster heroine, recently bereaved Beatrice Nash, who thinks she is pluckily independent, arrives at the English town of Rye. Despite her constant suffering at the slightly sniffy polite behavior of everyone there treating her like the poor lower-class schoolteacher she now is, since her respected intellectual-writer father died, she tries to persevere. But her feelings are hurt all of the time by all of the middle-class and aristocratic stuffy small-minded social-climbing but polite cardboard cutouts of East Sussex - not because she isn't like that, but because she is, and they all understand she has slipped down a rung on the social ladder now. All of the characters, including Beatrice, worry about breathing too hard while being alive for 450 pages.
Meanwhile, some of the men realize WWI is starting. John and Agatha
Eventually, the war becomes more real because there isn't any more sugar around for biscuits. Some of the men don't come back. Impoverished spinster Beatrice and outraged Celeste are saved by - well, I don't think I even need to finish saying it, do I, genteel reader? Ok, a hint.
Spoiler
Marriage.https://youtu.be/w6RnirpFaZk
I really enjoyed this story. I thought it would be a little more fluffy/love story like. However, great depth and another reminder of what people go through in regards to wars impact. Don't get me wrong some lovely comic relief 1920's British style. Loved the audio recording as I do enjoy accents.
Helen Simonson's latest novel, which takes place in Rye, Sussex England in the days before WWI, reminds us not only of the futility and stupidity of war, but also of its arrogance. In the waning days of the Edwardian era, social class, race, and gender conventions dictate one's life circumstances and future. Even though the title implies the novel takes place before the war starts, the last half of the novel occurs at the beginning of the war, when those in titled positions are tapped for officer roles, those of the lower classes are considered expendable, and the gentry's wives and other women are relegated to highly constrained roles of support and they must navigate the gender politics of the time. The backdrop of the war adds an element of tragedy and poignancy to the novel, yet Simonson takes on the ridiculous social conventions of the time with a wicked sense of humor.
3.5 stars. An engaging and melancholy historical piece, but I’m inclined to agree with my Mom that the ending felt like a bit of a narrative out.
Starts out charming, culminates in the agony of the front, resolves wistfully. Very well done.
Although initially impatient with the book, and deducing one part was entirely predictable, nevertheless the pace picks up towards the end. The ending is poignant and as with all WW1 novels, heartbreaking in places. Beatrice is a bit of a prickly character, but I cannot imagine having to beg for £10 of my own money in a time when women were thought to be unable to manage their own finances.
Well-written historical fiction. Fascinating look into a small English town on the cusp of change just before the onset of World War I.
I thought his book was a pleasant enough way to pass some time, but I didn't find it much different from all the World War pieces I have read. I liked the main characters, but some of the secondary ones seemed more like stereotypes than fully fleshed out people. So overall fine, but likely forgettable.