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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Started a little slow but was so good. Hope someone makes it into a movie, I want to see the motorcycle scene.
First half very slow going, but the second half was much better. Two and half stars.
Firstly I want to thank Goodreads for providing me with a giveaway copy of the book. I received the book about 6 months ago but unfortunately I struggled with completing the book. I picked it up several times but I was unable to finish the book. I was really looking forward to reading the book as I I found Helen Simonson's previous book, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, very enjoyable. I found this book rambled and I lost concentration while reading it.
Easily one of the best written books I’ve read in quite a long time. It’s the kind of delicious book that absolutely inspires the writer in me. Well laid out, fantastic characters in an ensemble cast that absolutely brings the town of Rye to life and never leaves the reader confused even for a second. Beautiful prose and a striking timeliness only added to the experience for me. My only hesitation lies in the hasty ending that was strung together in part four that almost felt like a sore thumb in an otherwise well crafted piece about the fringes of war without smacking the reader about the face with its atrocities. While this left the ending feeling a little rushed and manufactured, the epilogue still made a profound impact and left me feeling satisfied.
While I liked the book overall, it felt like a bit of a slog. Too long and too many characters lacking distinguishing traits or actions. A strong editor could have made this a much better book, which is unfortunate because the arc of the story, from prewar giddiness to the brutal truth about war was generally pretty good.
Audio version: Very well read and enjoyable.
While I never like reading about mostly-good people treating each other badly, it wasn't written to be mean or base... more of a "how it was" commentary. I did enjoy following the characters through the story though and my heart was torn apart along with them... well written I think, and worth a read.
While I never like reading about mostly-good people treating each other badly, it wasn't written to be mean or base... more of a "how it was" commentary. I did enjoy following the characters through the story though and my heart was torn apart along with them... well written I think, and worth a read.
This is not the fastest paced WWI historical fiction. It is filled with details, reminiscent of Anne of Green Gables or such. The storyline tracks the upper English gentry as they blindly enter into a new type of warfare. It tells of class life, womens' rights or lack thereof and the brutality of war. I enjoyed it but it did seem to drag on at times, but maybe that was the author's intent. The characters were likeable or detestable as needed be. If you enjoy a good historical fiction, you will like it. If you don't, definitely don't start with this one.
Those who know me are aware that I'm not the greatest fan of fiction set in or around war, but I enjoyed The Summer Before War even if it was all terribly predictable. I'd say there were a lot more "during the war parts" than "before war" parts, and astonishingly I liked the former ones better. Even though I ended up crying during a particularly sad and touching good-bye scene on France's battlefields (clearly designed to have the readers in tears).
Helen Simonson's second novel is not as charming and delightful as Major Pettigrew was, but the characters of Rye grew on me (once I got over the fact that it read like a "Downton Abbey" shtick with upstairs/downstairs clichés in rural England), but what I particularly loved was a literary visit to Rye itself, a gorgeous town in East Sussex that I visited a number of times when I was working further along the coast, but I've not been to for over ten years now. Such a picturesque place, and I could easily visualise Beatrice Nash on her bicycle and Hugh Grange walking down the high street.
Helen Simonson's second novel is not as charming and delightful as Major Pettigrew was, but the characters of Rye grew on me (once I got over the fact that it read like a "Downton Abbey" shtick with upstairs/downstairs clichés in rural England), but what I particularly loved was a literary visit to Rye itself, a gorgeous town in East Sussex that I visited a number of times when I was working further along the coast, but I've not been to for over ten years now. Such a picturesque place, and I could easily visualise Beatrice Nash on her bicycle and Hugh Grange walking down the high street.
Yet again, Helen Simonson had my attention from the first paragraph to the last. Her historical fiction is sharp and witty, laced with details and observations, and filled with characters I can't help but love. The hardest thing about reading this book was knowing that it would end. It's the breakout of WWI in England, and women's rights, refugees, social class, "polite society", medical practice, and the arts are all explored in this setting. From reading this book and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Helen Simonson now has me anxiously awaiting her next book.