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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I wasn't sure I wanted to read another book about war. I think that is how I start every book about war, but of course I was drawn in by the beautiful writing, much like The Nightingale and The Light Between Oceans. I really loved the characters and the story but I got to the point where I wondered just what else could happen to this couple. I'm glad there was a somewhat happy, if anti-climactic ending.
Beautifully written story of how a handful of ordinary Londoners are changed through the start of WWII.
Another WWII novel with an angle that was fresh to me (how did I not know about Malta?). Since my mother-in-law lived in London during the Blitz, I felt like I got a better understanding what that was like for her.
Soapy and sentimental, but kept me hooked with the sassy, sparky characters. Just the kind of easy page-turner I needed for a difficult week.
Loved the complexity of the characters whether clinging to the familiar or hoping for a changing future. A good view of people under unbearable pressure who simply go In as best they can.
Although at times harrowing, I love this book,; one cares about the characters and one cringes at their mistakes. It only didn't get five stars as for me, the last six or seven pages just "missed", but that's me being very pernickety. Loved it.
2.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this free readers edition. In exchange I am providing an honest review.
Loosely inspired by his grandfather's story, Cleave crafts a story about the start of World War II in London.
While the story focuses mostly on three characters, it is Mary who I felt like the story was really being told through. Even when it was focused on Alastair and his voice, I still felt Mary weaved in.
In 1939 England entered into the war that was growing in Europe. Mary, young and eager to do more than attend a boarding school and learn how to be a hostess, registers to help in war efforts without informing anyone in her life. But instead of rolling bandages and cooling off the foreheads of soldiers as she imagined, Mary is assigned to teach at a school. Unhappy, at first, with this assignment Mary quickly takes to the children before London ships them off to the countrysides for safety. Except disabled and colored children are kept in London so she begs and pleads with Tom, the man in charge, to keep teaching those children. Tom complies - mostly because of his growing affection for Mary. Tom's roommate, Alastair, reacted much the same way Mary did to the start of war. He jumped at the opportunity to be part of the effort and enlisted, much to Tom's dismay. Off Alastair went and was quickly introduced to the harsh realities of war and the behaviors and bullying it can foster. As war progresses, much to the surprise of England and then the world, Mary becomes entrenched deeper in the efforts to help with the aftermath of the nightly bombings that are taking place in London and the children who have been left behind. War is no respecter of persons and Mary's privileged life doesn't matter. Alastair, stuck on an island - literally - fighting the war - barely - is trying to keep his men together while wondering if he can ever have a normal and real life when this war business is finished. Tom, not willing to engage with the idea of war, tolerates Mary's involvement and longs for the day it will cease and life can be as it is again. Round and round they all go and where they stop nobody knows.
Cleave, who hit a home run with Little Bee, has authored other titles before releasing this one. I've only read Little Bee and now this title. They are vastly different stories and so to compare them in any way is unfair to Cleave and to the books themselves. However, I remember reading Little Bee and being so moved along by the story that I didn't want to put it down. This title I put down on purpose every so often because I was bored at times. It just didn't engage me as I expected it would have, as I think it should have. While Cleave spent time developing the characters, Mary still felt especially empty and flat to me. Perhaps that was the intention, she was after all a entitled, spoiled young woman at the start of the war. There was nothing special enough about the story to keep me thinking about it after I would close it. All in all I am glad to have read it but I don't think I will be able to recall much about it down the road should someone ask.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this free readers edition. In exchange I am providing an honest review.
Loosely inspired by his grandfather's story, Cleave crafts a story about the start of World War II in London.
While the story focuses mostly on three characters, it is Mary who I felt like the story was really being told through. Even when it was focused on Alastair and his voice, I still felt Mary weaved in.
In 1939 England entered into the war that was growing in Europe. Mary, young and eager to do more than attend a boarding school and learn how to be a hostess, registers to help in war efforts without informing anyone in her life. But instead of rolling bandages and cooling off the foreheads of soldiers as she imagined, Mary is assigned to teach at a school. Unhappy, at first, with this assignment Mary quickly takes to the children before London ships them off to the countrysides for safety. Except disabled and colored children are kept in London so she begs and pleads with Tom, the man in charge, to keep teaching those children. Tom complies - mostly because of his growing affection for Mary. Tom's roommate, Alastair, reacted much the same way Mary did to the start of war. He jumped at the opportunity to be part of the effort and enlisted, much to Tom's dismay. Off Alastair went and was quickly introduced to the harsh realities of war and the behaviors and bullying it can foster. As war progresses, much to the surprise of England and then the world, Mary becomes entrenched deeper in the efforts to help with the aftermath of the nightly bombings that are taking place in London and the children who have been left behind. War is no respecter of persons and Mary's privileged life doesn't matter. Alastair, stuck on an island - literally - fighting the war - barely - is trying to keep his men together while wondering if he can ever have a normal and real life when this war business is finished. Tom, not willing to engage with the idea of war, tolerates Mary's involvement and longs for the day it will cease and life can be as it is again. Round and round they all go and where they stop nobody knows.
Cleave, who hit a home run with Little Bee, has authored other titles before releasing this one. I've only read Little Bee and now this title. They are vastly different stories and so to compare them in any way is unfair to Cleave and to the books themselves. However, I remember reading Little Bee and being so moved along by the story that I didn't want to put it down. This title I put down on purpose every so often because I was bored at times. It just didn't engage me as I expected it would have, as I think it should have. While Cleave spent time developing the characters, Mary still felt especially empty and flat to me. Perhaps that was the intention, she was after all a entitled, spoiled young woman at the start of the war. There was nothing special enough about the story to keep me thinking about it after I would close it. All in all I am glad to have read it but I don't think I will be able to recall much about it down the road should someone ask.
Read my review on my blog: Diversions and Distractions for the History Lover.
https://historyloverdiversions.com/2016/08/01/the-world-the-young-folks-wish-for-and-the-world-that-is-everyone-brave-is-forgiven/
https://historyloverdiversions.com/2016/08/01/the-world-the-young-folks-wish-for-and-the-world-that-is-everyone-brave-is-forgiven/
This was so good. One of those that the writing is just spot on. A WW2 story with characters that you won't forget.