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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
I loved this gentle novel of the small town of Rye in Sussex England at the outbreak of WWI. There is humor and sadness and many wonderful characters! I was a great fan of the author's first novel and while this novel shares the author's gentle humor and gift for making the reader care about the characters, it also adds a well researched historical element that makes for gripping reading. It is a long novel, but I wanted to go on for longer! Yay Beatrice and Hugh!
This book started out Jane Austen-esque but then ended up a sobering war story, which meant a rather drastic change in moods. But the writing was excellent and I really enjoyed it.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I have a lot of complicated feelings about this book. On the one hand I really liked it, but on the other hand it wasn't perfect by any means. Simonson is a great writer in many ways. She knows how to keep a scene moving with a light touch, and she's skilled at keeping a million plot balls in the air at the same time. (She reminded me of P.G. Wodehouse in that regard, although this book is certainly not on his exalted level of humor.) The novel was always very entertaining to read and kept me moving steadily along.
Simonson is attempting the Jane Austen move here. The unnamed narrator has a definite voice and opinion, separate from those of any of the characters. This is great when it works, but sometimes I felt the mask slipping, as the narratorial voice is not entirely consistent. Also, that voice at times comes off as cruel, even towards characters that the book clearly wants us to like. It seems that Simonson can't resist the urge for a witty takedown, even when it's not quite consistent with the narrator's intention.
As should be clear by now, this is the type of English village novel that has clear heroes and villains. I hope it's not too much of a spoiler to say that a lot of the villains that are due for a comeuppance never get it. Maybe this is part of Simonson's point, that the war came along and swept away all of the day-to-day conventions of life. However, this isn't very satisfying to the reader, and some of the villainous characters don't have a narrative payoff at all. (Mr. Poot comes to mind. He has one great scene, but I'm not really sure why he was around after that, and it might have been better for the book if he wasn't taking up time and space with his machinations.)
The reason for this is that the last part of the book switches scene to the battlefields of Europe, and we suddenly find that instead of Middlemarch, we're reading All Quiet on the Western Front. I'm not sure that Simonson is entirely qualified to write this part of the novel, and I sometimes felt that her idea of the life of a battlefield surgeon might have been taken entirely from reruns of M*A*S*H. It was rather a jarring conclusion, although at least we do get an epilogue telling us what happened to all of our village characters. Still, I'm not sure why Simonson decided the story needed to be told in this way.
In summation, I really enjoyed so much of this novel, and yet it was not entirely satisfying to me and left me wishing for more. Still, it was definitely worth my time, and I would not discourage anyone from reading it.
Simonson is attempting the Jane Austen move here. The unnamed narrator has a definite voice and opinion, separate from those of any of the characters. This is great when it works, but sometimes I felt the mask slipping, as the narratorial voice is not entirely consistent. Also, that voice at times comes off as cruel, even towards characters that the book clearly wants us to like. It seems that Simonson can't resist the urge for a witty takedown, even when it's not quite consistent with the narrator's intention.
As should be clear by now, this is the type of English village novel that has clear heroes and villains. I hope it's not too much of a spoiler to say that a lot of the villains that are due for a comeuppance never get it. Maybe this is part of Simonson's point, that the war came along and swept away all of the day-to-day conventions of life. However, this isn't very satisfying to the reader, and some of the villainous characters don't have a narrative payoff at all. (Mr. Poot comes to mind. He has one great scene, but I'm not really sure why he was around after that, and it might have been better for the book if he wasn't taking up time and space with his machinations.)
The reason for this is that the last part of the book switches scene to the battlefields of Europe, and we suddenly find that instead of Middlemarch, we're reading All Quiet on the Western Front. I'm not sure that Simonson is entirely qualified to write this part of the novel, and I sometimes felt that her idea of the life of a battlefield surgeon might have been taken entirely from reruns of M*A*S*H. It was rather a jarring conclusion, although at least we do get an epilogue telling us what happened to all of our village characters. Still, I'm not sure why Simonson decided the story needed to be told in this way.
In summation, I really enjoyed so much of this novel, and yet it was not entirely satisfying to me and left me wishing for more. Still, it was definitely worth my time, and I would not discourage anyone from reading it.
I received a review copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway, and loved it to bits. It‰ЫЄs a slow sort of book in the best possible way; quiet, funny, and heartbreaking, with not a boring moment in it. And beautifully written as well.
It started me thinking about a whole lot of things: upperclass Englishmen of pre-WWI times and their appalling smugness; how incredibly frustrating it must have been for intelligent women to be treated more or less as children; how people with no apparent redeeming features can change if they are dragged through a hot enough (metaphorical) fire.
One of the great delights of the book is the characters, some of whom are wonderfully awful while others are sympathetic - but all are deeply human. According to Simonson's biog, she grew up in an English village, and it shows. She knows the joys and horrors of that sort of close living all too well.
I loved 'Major Pettigrew's Last Stand', which is why I applied for this giveaway, but I think I loved this one even more. Simonson is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors.
It started me thinking about a whole lot of things: upperclass Englishmen of pre-WWI times and their appalling smugness; how incredibly frustrating it must have been for intelligent women to be treated more or less as children; how people with no apparent redeeming features can change if they are dragged through a hot enough (metaphorical) fire.
One of the great delights of the book is the characters, some of whom are wonderfully awful while others are sympathetic - but all are deeply human. According to Simonson's biog, she grew up in an English village, and it shows. She knows the joys and horrors of that sort of close living all too well.
I loved 'Major Pettigrew's Last Stand', which is why I applied for this giveaway, but I think I loved this one even more. Simonson is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors.
Although this started slowly (felt like it would take weeks to read), I soon found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading. This is a story that goes into war and you know that there will be deaths......the questions are Who? When? How? I was heartbroken over a couple of them. It did not get as gruesome as it could have in the war descriptions, in fact, it was very tame. During the chapters about the war, I found it interesting that Simonson chose to totally separate those in France and those 'back home' and not just for a single chapter. I found myself wondering why the others were doing, how they were coping. The style reminded me of Bronte.
Somehow, this book was even more perfect the second time around. The first half to two-thirds of the book focuses on the innocence, rigidity, and smallness of life up until the summer before WWI and it is a slower read that works to characterize the small town of Rye and it’s occupants. However, the payoff is so worth the wait, as the second half of the book is riveting, bittersweet, and powerful. I look forward to reading this again someday and will continue to recommend it!
***
This book was everything I didn't know I wanted to read this month, and I loved every minute I spent with it. The Summer Before the War is certainly a novel of manners, but it's also much more than that. It's a novel about lost innocence, the growing pains of social change, friendship, the strength of family ties, and, of course, like all proper country novels, romantic love.
Helen Simonson writes her characters with clarity and humor, and while some of them may be a little more modern in their thinking than their environment would suggest, I truly did not care; I never wanted to stop reading about them. (In fact, I think I appreciated the novel more for its timeliness in addressing gender roles and refugee crises, during WWI.)
Simonson's dialogue is very clever and often cuts right to the truth of the matter. There is a bit of a honeysuckle glaze over the novel, but I never lost focus of the sobering fact that WWI and all of its unimaginable horrors were approaching swiftly and steadily. When it arrives, it’s horrible, breathtaking, and powerful.
Some Favorite quotes:
“'I avoid the papers altogether,' said Daniel. 'I'm pretty sure wars would be shorter if we weren't all so eager to read about them.'”
"He did not think the present company would welcome a debate on such questions--for he had no doubt that spirited debate was the first casualty of any war."
“Compounding lack of funds with intelligence, she makes herself unmarriageable.”
“…Beatrice recognized the slow steps and bent back of the fishmonger’s wife, whose son had been among those lost in the first battles of the Expeditionary Force… [H]ow much excited interest and respect the town had showered upon them in the earliest weeks… Now the woman seemed to have aged many years, and business was slower in the shop as many townspeople gave in to the callow instinct to avoid the grieving parents.”
***
This book was everything I didn't know I wanted to read this month, and I loved every minute I spent with it. The Summer Before the War is certainly a novel of manners, but it's also much more than that. It's a novel about lost innocence, the growing pains of social change, friendship, the strength of family ties, and, of course, like all proper country novels, romantic love.
Helen Simonson writes her characters with clarity and humor, and while some of them may be a little more modern in their thinking than their environment would suggest, I truly did not care; I never wanted to stop reading about them. (In fact, I think I appreciated the novel more for its timeliness in addressing gender roles and refugee crises, during WWI.)
Simonson's dialogue is very clever and often cuts right to the truth of the matter. There is a bit of a honeysuckle glaze over the novel, but I never lost focus of the sobering fact that WWI and all of its unimaginable horrors were approaching swiftly and steadily.
Spoiler
I certainly felt Agatha's crushing fear and sense of powerlessness in sending her two nephews off to war.Some Favorite quotes:
“'I avoid the papers altogether,' said Daniel. 'I'm pretty sure wars would be shorter if we weren't all so eager to read about them.'”
"He did not think the present company would welcome a debate on such questions--for he had no doubt that spirited debate was the first casualty of any war."
“Compounding lack of funds with intelligence, she makes herself unmarriageable.”
“…Beatrice recognized the slow steps and bent back of the fishmonger’s wife, whose son had been among those lost in the first battles of the Expeditionary Force… [H]ow much excited interest and respect the town had showered upon them in the earliest weeks… Now the woman seemed to have aged many years, and business was slower in the shop as many townspeople gave in to the callow instinct to avoid the grieving parents.”
4.5 ⭐️
Se avete amato la serie TV “Downtown Abbey” amerete le vicende, la tranquillità e la prosa di questo romanzo.
“L’estate prima della guerra” è un libro che va sorseggiato come una tazza di tè, contemplando e immaginando la campagna del Sussex, vivida e bucolica.
Se avete amato la serie TV “Downtown Abbey” amerete le vicende, la tranquillità e la prosa di questo romanzo.
“L’estate prima della guerra” è un libro che va sorseggiato come una tazza di tè, contemplando e immaginando la campagna del Sussex, vivida e bucolica.
Really enjoyed this book much more than I expected. Not what I would typically read but couldn't stop I got into it. Beginning is a little slow, but give it some time.
3.5 stars. Listened to this one, and I had a hard time getting into it at first. It starts somewhat light and gets heavier. A couple of situations that were neatly handled according to the prevailing thought of the time were just tragic.