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megancortez's review
5.0
This is a simple story of a young girl who continues to live, even as so many (so, so many) of those around her die; a young girl who grows into a modern woman. She works to endure a horrible war as a nurse and is made to feel, viscerally, the impacts of this new violence, and grapple with a life so different than the one her upbringing had promised her.
This memoir evaluates the lacking solidity of reason of "heroism in the abstract" and the dissolution of chivalric values at the slaughter and cannibalism of the old world which was the First, the Great World War. It posits that this "modern war['s] only result must be the long reaping in sorrow of that which was sown in pride."
(Goodreads refreshed while I was typing up a really lovely, poignant review, and I hate my life because I lost it. I'll try and remember what I wrote and come back to edit this.)
This memoir evaluates the lacking solidity of reason of "heroism in the abstract" and the dissolution of chivalric values at the slaughter and cannibalism of the old world which was the First, the Great World War. It posits that this "modern war['s] only result must be the long reaping in sorrow of that which was sown in pride."
(Goodreads refreshed while I was typing up a really lovely, poignant review, and I hate my life because I lost it. I'll try and remember what I wrote and come back to edit this.)
dilchh's review against another edition
3.0
This was definitely a roller coaster ride for me, and I have never actually came to that conclusion when it comes to reading a biography/memoir; it’s hard to think that these events were anything but a real-life events, not because it seems like a fabricated truth, but because Vera Brittain wrote it in words that were weaved with love, pain, and struggle that you can’t help but feel those emotions streaming through the words. At times the story can feel like it’s moving in an alarming speed but then at times, Vera seems to stall something as if she herself feels like the longer she holds the climax, the lesser the pain it brings.
I think it was a good decision for me to read this book at 27, because everything that seems to be the struggle of Vera and her contemporaries were still relevant to this day, even though this was something that people went through years ago. Without trying to sound pretentious or obnoxious, there are more than one time that I actually feels like that whatever it is that Vera seems to go through in her life, I felt it too.
One thing that made this book seems hard to enjoyed in the beginning was the language and the structure of the sentences; as this book was written sometime ago, it was hard to grasp the nature of Vera’s voice when you are a millennial, but after a few chapters it became easier and next thing you know, you’re accustomed to it already. Other things that caught my attention was that it was hard for me to sympathise with Vera in the first part of the book, as she seems to value herself too high that at times it seems like she’s an arrogant woman; I remember thinking to myself that had this book was written and published today, she would have been labeled as a first world problem complainer. Thankfully, this changed as she met Roland; I don’t like to think that she changed merely because she met a man in his life, but Roland definitely had a huge impact on her in seeing the current life in the UK at the time.
What is so beautiful with this book, more than anything, was Vera and Edward’s relationship. How a sibling relationship grew stronger during the war and how badly it affects Vera as Edward part away with the world that Vera was left behind in. It was also thanks to Vera’s words that you felt like you knew all her contemporaries personally; how, along with Vera, I wished that Edward would have survived the war because you felt a close kinship with his persona throughout the book.
This would definitely be a good book for those who consider themselves as going through a quarter life crisis, or anyone who is going through a big major change in life. Imagine, one day you are about to embark to school only to have a war breaking out before your eyes and it seems like the war would never end and all it does is taking away all the raging fire of youths along with its destruction; surely it would put your life in a brighter perspective.
I think it was a good decision for me to read this book at 27, because everything that seems to be the struggle of Vera and her contemporaries were still relevant to this day, even though this was something that people went through years ago. Without trying to sound pretentious or obnoxious, there are more than one time that I actually feels like that whatever it is that Vera seems to go through in her life, I felt it too.
One thing that made this book seems hard to enjoyed in the beginning was the language and the structure of the sentences; as this book was written sometime ago, it was hard to grasp the nature of Vera’s voice when you are a millennial, but after a few chapters it became easier and next thing you know, you’re accustomed to it already. Other things that caught my attention was that it was hard for me to sympathise with Vera in the first part of the book, as she seems to value herself too high that at times it seems like she’s an arrogant woman; I remember thinking to myself that had this book was written and published today, she would have been labeled as a first world problem complainer. Thankfully, this changed as she met Roland; I don’t like to think that she changed merely because she met a man in his life, but Roland definitely had a huge impact on her in seeing the current life in the UK at the time.
What is so beautiful with this book, more than anything, was Vera and Edward’s relationship. How a sibling relationship grew stronger during the war and how badly it affects Vera as Edward part away with the world that Vera was left behind in. It was also thanks to Vera’s words that you felt like you knew all her contemporaries personally; how, along with Vera, I wished that Edward would have survived the war because you felt a close kinship with his persona throughout the book.
This would definitely be a good book for those who consider themselves as going through a quarter life crisis, or anyone who is going through a big major change in life. Imagine, one day you are about to embark to school only to have a war breaking out before your eyes and it seems like the war would never end and all it does is taking away all the raging fire of youths along with its destruction; surely it would put your life in a brighter perspective.
katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
Powerful and effecting memoir, a timely feminist read
My mum has been persuading me to read this for at least twenty years. For some reason, I never did. I knew the story, and saw the recent film last year, and decided it was time, with the commemorations for the 100 years since the end of the First World War, to pick this up.
Though I decided that the style of this would suit an audio-read, and downloaded the Audible (24 hour) version. Though this did take me nearly a fortnight to listen to, I was engrossed in the early 1900s world of Brittain's youth.
It's just heart-breaking, listening to Vera as a mature adult look back at the world of 1914, at her own diaries, letters and poems from the time the world changed forever.
Knowing what was going to happen, it didn't lessen the pain I felt for Vera as each death occurs, seeing her continue to live, seeing her as typifying the experience of so many others.
Testament of Youth takes us from Vera's middle class adolescence as she grew up amidst the years of Women's Suffrage and struggled to earn a place at Oxford to the years of the War and beyond.
The experiences are so vivid, Vera's time nursing, with honest appraisals of the systems, people and behaviours. Quite eye-opening, seeing as Florence Nightingale had revolutionised nursing not too long before.
I cried a few times, there are such moving letters between brother and sister, an incredible relationship kept up even in a war. And I really felt for the young Vera and the naïve outlook that her older counterpart looks back on with a world-weary air. This is very-well conveyed as an audiobook with the narrator giving the Vera of 1914-18 a different voice and air to that of the older woman. The style of writing suits an audiobook perfectly as well, as the writer is addressing her reader directly making it very easy to follow aurally.
Enjoyed the 'post' war parts slightly less than Vera's WWI experiences, but I did like seeing her views on the suffrage movement and how women's rights and treatment in society altered after 1918.
A very important book, written for the ages, will not fail to impress itself upon you.
My mum has been persuading me to read this for at least twenty years. For some reason, I never did. I knew the story, and saw the recent film last year, and decided it was time, with the commemorations for the 100 years since the end of the First World War, to pick this up.
Though I decided that the style of this would suit an audio-read, and downloaded the Audible (24 hour) version. Though this did take me nearly a fortnight to listen to, I was engrossed in the early 1900s world of Brittain's youth.
It's just heart-breaking, listening to Vera as a mature adult look back at the world of 1914, at her own diaries, letters and poems from the time the world changed forever.
Knowing what was going to happen, it didn't lessen the pain I felt for Vera as each death occurs, seeing her continue to live, seeing her as typifying the experience of so many others.
Testament of Youth takes us from Vera's middle class adolescence as she grew up amidst the years of Women's Suffrage and struggled to earn a place at Oxford to the years of the War and beyond.
The experiences are so vivid, Vera's time nursing, with honest appraisals of the systems, people and behaviours. Quite eye-opening, seeing as Florence Nightingale had revolutionised nursing not too long before.
I cried a few times, there are such moving letters between brother and sister, an incredible relationship kept up even in a war. And I really felt for the young Vera and the naïve outlook that her older counterpart looks back on with a world-weary air. This is very-well conveyed as an audiobook with the narrator giving the Vera of 1914-18 a different voice and air to that of the older woman. The style of writing suits an audiobook perfectly as well, as the writer is addressing her reader directly making it very easy to follow aurally.
Enjoyed the 'post' war parts slightly less than Vera's WWI experiences, but I did like seeing her views on the suffrage movement and how women's rights and treatment in society altered after 1918.
A very important book, written for the ages, will not fail to impress itself upon you.
maddie_kasia's review
so slow and she has such a complex about herself, she looks down on all other women (and even her family) around her
soupy_twist's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.75
hewlettelaine's review against another edition
4.0
A very poignant and heartbreaking memoir of Brittain's WW1 experiences
shosh's review
5.0
Poignant, heart-wrenching, reflective, but above all one of the most raw depictions of the impact of the Great War on ordinary lives. Though Brittain's young romance plays a large part in the book, this is not a love story. It's also not a war story. It's coming of age in an entirely unprecedented era. I think what makes this most unique is that it's a woman's voice. That's a rarity in the war memoir genre as it is, but it's especially interesting in this war, as women's roles in education, society, and wartime efforts is in transition.
kimoleary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
agapsch's review
5.0
For all her self effacement throughout this book, Vera Brittain certainly knows how to craft a memoir. Testament of Youth was emotional, riveting, moving, and introspective.
Beginning with the author’s childhood and stretching to her marriage in 1925, this memoir accurately sketches out the experiences of a member of the so called ‘Lost Generation’— the individuals that came of age during WWI. Brittain was a VAD nurse during the war and served on multiple different fronts before returning to Oxford to complete her studies after the war ended. However despite surviving physically, she did not remain unscathed— she lost her brother, fiancé, and two other close friends during the war. (Apologies if you think this is a spoiler, but most editions include this information with the book’s blurb). It is obvious that the soldiers of WWI suffered, but Brittain’s account also illustrates the discomforts and heartaches nurses, VADs, and women faced during the war. However I found it interesting how she always noted that her struggles were easier to bear than her brother’s and fiancé’s, and that “doing it for them” was how she worked through the hardship.
Measuring more than 650 pages, this book incorporates letters, diary entries, flyers, poems, and various other scraps of writing. By including both contemporary poems and classics, as well as detailed, beautiful language, Testament of Youth truly is a literary work. Brittain’s honesty and personal anecdotes do much to immerse the reader in her life. I found myself caring more about the fate of her loved ones than the minutiae of battles and war politics. At times it could be hard to understand what colloquialism she was referring to (for example, he brother requested she send him a “funny cat”, which I think means a postcard with a cat on it), especially if one knows little about this period, but the important sentiments of this work are obvious.
Brittain was clearly a feminist and pacifist, as well as a scholar and journalist. She denounced the war, at once point arguing that her generation was “hoodwinked” by tales of glory to urge them to go to war. Brittain later described her pacifist work as similar to war work, but with the outcome being much more positive. Other topics throughout the book include international affairs, degrees for women, and women’s suffrage. Most interestingly, Brittain also commented on the double standard arising as more women were joining the professional work force— women were expected to balance work and family, while men were allowed to pursue whichever career they so wished without having to consider their home life as greatly. For this reason Brittain certainly appeared ahead of her time.
As the memoir progressed I found it difficult to stay engaged in the last 200 pages or so. At this point the war had ended and Brittain was detailing her involvement in politics and international affairs over the years 1920-1925 or so. I understand why she included these years in her novel, as her experience during the war obviously directly influenced her view of politics. However I personally do not have much interest in British politics of almost a century ago, so this was a less engaging part of the book for me.
Despite my interest waning towards the end, I still maintain my high rating of this book. Brittain’s memoir is so important because it is unique from other war memoirs. This is one of the few (if only) female-voiced memoirs of this period. Brittain stayed in constant touch with her brother, fiancé and male friends throughout the war, and included the various letters they exchanged. Thus this memoir is an honest, multi-faceted, and holistic take on WWI.
Beginning with the author’s childhood and stretching to her marriage in 1925, this memoir accurately sketches out the experiences of a member of the so called ‘Lost Generation’— the individuals that came of age during WWI. Brittain was a VAD nurse during the war and served on multiple different fronts before returning to Oxford to complete her studies after the war ended. However despite surviving physically, she did not remain unscathed— she lost her brother, fiancé, and two other close friends during the war. (Apologies if you think this is a spoiler, but most editions include this information with the book’s blurb). It is obvious that the soldiers of WWI suffered, but Brittain’s account also illustrates the discomforts and heartaches nurses, VADs, and women faced during the war. However I found it interesting how she always noted that her struggles were easier to bear than her brother’s and fiancé’s, and that “doing it for them” was how she worked through the hardship.
Measuring more than 650 pages, this book incorporates letters, diary entries, flyers, poems, and various other scraps of writing. By including both contemporary poems and classics, as well as detailed, beautiful language, Testament of Youth truly is a literary work. Brittain’s honesty and personal anecdotes do much to immerse the reader in her life. I found myself caring more about the fate of her loved ones than the minutiae of battles and war politics. At times it could be hard to understand what colloquialism she was referring to (for example, he brother requested she send him a “funny cat”, which I think means a postcard with a cat on it), especially if one knows little about this period, but the important sentiments of this work are obvious.
Brittain was clearly a feminist and pacifist, as well as a scholar and journalist. She denounced the war, at once point arguing that her generation was “hoodwinked” by tales of glory to urge them to go to war. Brittain later described her pacifist work as similar to war work, but with the outcome being much more positive. Other topics throughout the book include international affairs, degrees for women, and women’s suffrage. Most interestingly, Brittain also commented on the double standard arising as more women were joining the professional work force— women were expected to balance work and family, while men were allowed to pursue whichever career they so wished without having to consider their home life as greatly. For this reason Brittain certainly appeared ahead of her time.
As the memoir progressed I found it difficult to stay engaged in the last 200 pages or so. At this point the war had ended and Brittain was detailing her involvement in politics and international affairs over the years 1920-1925 or so. I understand why she included these years in her novel, as her experience during the war obviously directly influenced her view of politics. However I personally do not have much interest in British politics of almost a century ago, so this was a less engaging part of the book for me.
Despite my interest waning towards the end, I still maintain my high rating of this book. Brittain’s memoir is so important because it is unique from other war memoirs. This is one of the few (if only) female-voiced memoirs of this period. Brittain stayed in constant touch with her brother, fiancé and male friends throughout the war, and included the various letters they exchanged. Thus this memoir is an honest, multi-faceted, and holistic take on WWI.