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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-summer-before-war.html
3 1/2* I received a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley, and I enjoyed reading it. The central characters are well developed, and the author has created a strong sense of place in her descriptions of a small village in England and the people who live there. We follow their lives from the summer prior to World War I through the aftermath of the war. Reading this book is rather like watching a good Masterpiece Theater production.
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
A really unique book. Starts out almost reminding me of a Jane Austen book: slow but interesting, lots of character development & random events. But then the 2nd half was a little less like that but still hard to describe. Very slow burn romance, odd storylines for some of the characters, but overall it just worked & was good!
you know that thing where you used to really enjoy this type of book but then the years passed and you became old and weary and now as soon as you started the book you were like, David is going to die so you checked the end to see if you were right and you were totally right and you're too old for this shit. if people's close family members are going to die, I am tired of reading about it in this specific time-and-place setting.
I LOVED this book! Quite possibly my favorite that I've read this year. I felt like I was visiting this town. I got to know the characters and just fell in love. I'm off to read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand!
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It's the summer of 1914 in the town of Rye, UK along the English Channel coast. Beatrice, considered a spinster in her mid to late 20s, has just arrived for a confirmation interview for the job as Latin instructor at the local school, a controversial post as women were never hired to teach Latin, but candidates were few and far between. Beatrice's writer father, to whom she served as secretary, editor, and housekeeper, had died a year earlier, leaving her without the means for independence, but subject to a trust overseen by her cold disapproving aristocratic aunt. Talk is of war and the possible invasion of Belgium by the Kaiser and whether England will join the fight, but it's somewhat distant, with Rye more concerned with its parochial politics and social conventions. Of course, war comes to Rye albeit gradually via shortages, fundraisers, Belgian refugees, and, ultimately, its young men going to war.
This book is a gem. It's full of humor and pathos, portraying the innocence that WWI ultimately destroyed, the loss of a world, but done with great colorful characters and plenty of heartbreak. Multiple story lines occur side by side but it doesn't overwhelm because of course the link is Rye and its people. The author also portrays the limitations imposed on women, the betrayals of those men who are vested with their nurturing and protection. The revelations that come late in the book are not surprising because the author has laid out the clues so gently and fluidly that you wonder why some of the characters didn't figure it out sooner. Of course, one never sees what's right in front of one's eyes.
This book is a gem. It's full of humor and pathos, portraying the innocence that WWI ultimately destroyed, the loss of a world, but done with great colorful characters and plenty of heartbreak. Multiple story lines occur side by side but it doesn't overwhelm because of course the link is Rye and its people. The author also portrays the limitations imposed on women, the betrayals of those men who are vested with their nurturing and protection. The revelations that come late in the book are not surprising because the author has laid out the clues so gently and fluidly that you wonder why some of the characters didn't figure it out sooner. Of course, one never sees what's right in front of one's eyes.
I found it pretty boring and the main character Beatrice was irritating. Nothing seemed to be happening.
A 2016 staff favorite highly recommended by Ellen and Jane.
Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Ssummer%20before%20the%20war%20simonson__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Ssummer%20before%20the%20war%20simonson__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold