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wentingthings's review
2.0
i think this book failed at empathy and relied instead on melodrama, but i only think this as while i know i've read this book, i can barely remember the details.
bec_97's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
riversong222's review
5.0
I will admit straight out that the only reason I listened to this book was because my Boyfriend Dan Stevens narrated it.
What I wasn't expecting, except the creamy caramel of his voice, was that it would be a good book. Not just a good book, but a really good book.
Louise Young knows how to write, and some of her sentences actually made me stop cold, rewind, and listen again.
This is a lovely tale of Post WWI in England. You don't need to have read the first book (as I didn't even know this was the second book until I put it in my Goodreads account).
Just a lovely, lovely story.
What I wasn't expecting, except the creamy caramel of his voice, was that it would be a good book. Not just a good book, but a really good book.
Louise Young knows how to write, and some of her sentences actually made me stop cold, rewind, and listen again.
This is a lovely tale of Post WWI in England. You don't need to have read the first book (as I didn't even know this was the second book until I put it in my Goodreads account).
Just a lovely, lovely story.
girlwithherheadinabook's review against another edition
2.0
Recently, I pulled My Dear I Wanted To Tell You from the To Be Read pile, not least because the wonderful people of Goodreads were sending me a copy of the sequel. The sequel arrived, I read it. Here we are. Louisa Young appears to be following in the footsteps of Elizabeth Jane Howard in chronicling a family moving through the twentieth century and there is a definite suggestion of more to come. I have mentioned feeling slightly underwhelmed by the first in the series; it dealt with the topic of facial disfigurements and the pioneering work in plastic surgery which took place as a result of the First World War but somehow lacked emotional resonance. It invited comparisons to Atonement in its subject matter but rather failed to live up to them. Nevertheless, Louisa Young's personal passion for the period came across vividly and I approached The Heroes' Welcome with interest.
The title obviously comes from David Lloyd George's speech telling the nation to make Britain a country 'fit for heroes to live'. Cue twenty years of economic instability and another world war. In focussing on the aftermath for the survivors rather than the tragic lost generation, Louisa Young takes an innovative approach. Still, as I began the novel, it was with a sense of irritation that the apparent positive conclusion to My Dear I Wanted To Tell You was an apparent false hope. Riley and Nadine tramp off on their honeymoon feeling too awkward to touch each other let alone consummate, Peter returns to drinking and Julia goes back to fussing around trying to make Peter love her and being hopeless with her child. Rose sits in the background and looks underused.
For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/review-heroes-welcome-louisa-young.html
The title obviously comes from David Lloyd George's speech telling the nation to make Britain a country 'fit for heroes to live'. Cue twenty years of economic instability and another world war. In focussing on the aftermath for the survivors rather than the tragic lost generation, Louisa Young takes an innovative approach. Still, as I began the novel, it was with a sense of irritation that the apparent positive conclusion to My Dear I Wanted To Tell You was an apparent false hope. Riley and Nadine tramp off on their honeymoon feeling too awkward to touch each other let alone consummate, Peter returns to drinking and Julia goes back to fussing around trying to make Peter love her and being hopeless with her child. Rose sits in the background and looks underused.
For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/review-heroes-welcome-louisa-young.html
susanscribs's review against another edition
4.0
Well-written but very somber short novel about the characters from My Dear I Wanted to Tell You as they recover from the First World War. Don't know why I am so fascinated with this time period - maybe because it is now a full century since this war that devastated much of Europe yet that most Americans know little about. The titular "heroes welcome" is meant ironically; the two male characters find support in the ways that they need it most - either financially or emotionally. Riley is fortunate to have his beloved Nadine, but that famous British "stiff upper lip" reticence means that they are afraid to be honest about their feelings at first. Peter has not suffered physically as much as Riley but he experiences what we would now label as full-blown PTSD, which his beautiful self-centered wife is unprepared to handle. Some characters are able to move on while others are not, and the next generation will feel the impact of the war well into the next decade of fragile peace.
Looking forward to Devotion, Louisa Young's final book in the trilogy about these characters. Their lives haven't been easy but I have grown to care about them all.
Looking forward to Devotion, Louisa Young's final book in the trilogy about these characters. Their lives haven't been easy but I have grown to care about them all.
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