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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Summer bingo-With any season of the year in the title. This was simply a good story that took my mind off the cares of the world for awhile. I even shed a few tears at the end.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Some very charming characters, but often too many to keep track of. She has a very good writing style, in my opinion, but this story seemed to plod along in the middle third of the book, and I almost gave it up because it felt like it was a hundred pages of nothing happening...but the end was better developed, though sad, and ended on a strong note.
I'd give this a 4.5, not quite 5 stars because I don't think I can re-read this. It's beautifully written, descriptive, nostalgic. You become very investment in the characters, and I loved the story lines that went between young and old, rich and poor, and both men and women. It's interesting and maddening to read about social issues from the lense of the times. Very reminiscent of Downtown Abbey. There are some heavy, graphic parts which is to be expected of WWI historical fiction. But parts were both heart and guy wrenching. It's a great book and I'd definitely recommend it. I listened to the audio book and the narrator was excellent!
A small English town on the brink of WWI, a young woman newly on her own after the death of her beloved father, a young doctor who almost makes the wrong decision, a bittersweet ending - it sounds predictable as I write this, but it's not, or at least not too much. Simonson excels at showing us how it felt to be of a certain class and how women dealt with their limited options. The portrayal of Snout, the young gypsy boy, is absolutely heartbreaking. A very enjoyable read.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
UGH. I love this book so much. I just finished reading it for the second time and it was even better than I remembered--witty, emotional, and endearing.
The Summer Before the War follows the story of Beatrice Nash, a witty young Latin teacher and aspiring author, as she moves to the small town of Rye to take up a position as a Latin teacher after her father's death. The story also follows Hugh Grange, a newly certified surgeon whose beloved aunt and uncle reside in Rye. The story follows Beatrice and Hugh as well as a cast of fantastic characters--the clever and revolutionary Aunt Agatha Kent, Hugh's cousin and poet Daniel, Snout, a Gypsy boy with a penchant for Latin, Celeste, a beautiful Belgian refugee.
As World War I begins, Beatrice, Hugh, and the rest of our delightful cast think that the war will come and go quickly and many are caught up in the patriotic tide of excitement over the impending conflict. The war brings a group of Belgian refugees to the small town along with limited rations and growing prejudices. However, when Hugh and Daniel join the war and the world around them begins to change, they realize this war will be longer and harder than they ever imagined.
I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. The characters--especially Beatrice, Hugh, Agatha, and Snout--are so realistic and wonderful. The writing is both heart-wrenching and witty and the story realistically looks at what life was like during World War I, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes the writing drags a little, but the detail is what makes this story seem so realistic. I absolutely loved this novel and will definitely read it again.
The Summer Before the War follows the story of Beatrice Nash, a witty young Latin teacher and aspiring author, as she moves to the small town of Rye to take up a position as a Latin teacher after her father's death. The story also follows Hugh Grange, a newly certified surgeon whose beloved aunt and uncle reside in Rye. The story follows Beatrice and Hugh as well as a cast of fantastic characters--the clever and revolutionary Aunt Agatha Kent, Hugh's cousin and poet Daniel, Snout, a Gypsy boy with a penchant for Latin, Celeste, a beautiful Belgian refugee.
As World War I begins, Beatrice, Hugh, and the rest of our delightful cast think that the war will come and go quickly and many are caught up in the patriotic tide of excitement over the impending conflict. The war brings a group of Belgian refugees to the small town along with limited rations and growing prejudices. However, when Hugh and Daniel join the war and the world around them begins to change, they realize this war will be longer and harder than they ever imagined.
I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. The characters--especially Beatrice, Hugh, Agatha, and Snout--are so realistic and wonderful. The writing is both heart-wrenching and witty and the story realistically looks at what life was like during World War I, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes the writing drags a little, but the detail is what makes this story seem so realistic. I absolutely loved this novel and will definitely read it again.
This is not a fast paced war novel, but a good read nonetheless. It reminds me how easy it is to forget the poets of World War I, though we shouldn't.
emotional
funny
informative
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
A wonderful tale of a lost generation, the older folk stuck in an era and the young whose world will change over the course of the years to come.
The year is 1914, the setting the village of Rye, a costal village of England.
Beatrice Nash, a strong woman in a time where that was unladylike, comes to begin her life as a Latin teacher. Hugh Grange, a medical student, who has come on his usual summer escape from London, to visit his Aunt Agatha (another strong woman, though she conceals it beneath the guise of the perfect English lady).
It is the summer before the war and these 3 people and more make up a cast of characters facing the onslaught a war they mightily try to deny, even as a host of Belgian refugees are dropped at their doorstep.
Helen Simonson has the talent to draw you into her characters and you develop the love/hate relationships that a steady reader always seems to embrace with an excellent book.
Highly recommend for HF fans
The year is 1914, the setting the village of Rye, a costal village of England.
Beatrice Nash, a strong woman in a time where that was unladylike, comes to begin her life as a Latin teacher. Hugh Grange, a medical student, who has come on his usual summer escape from London, to visit his Aunt Agatha (another strong woman, though she conceals it beneath the guise of the perfect English lady).
It is the summer before the war and these 3 people and more make up a cast of characters facing the onslaught a war they mightily try to deny, even as a host of Belgian refugees are dropped at their doorstep.
Helen Simonson has the talent to draw you into her characters and you develop the love/hate relationships that a steady reader always seems to embrace with an excellent book.
Highly recommend for HF fans
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It starts off like an Angela Thirkell, but then shows its depths—stripping away the sense of a genteel portrait of village life to show the cruelty and wickedness of the class system, racist stereotypes, and purity culture in Edwardian England.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault