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A review by shrrawat
No Better Time by Sheila Williams
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
After having a phase in which I consumed every piece of WW2-based historical media I could get my hands on, I have kind of gotten over most historical fiction set in that era. They tend to settle into three camps, a story about civilians in Europe hiding/smuggling Jews from the Nazis, civilians in London surviving the Blitz, or American soldiers in the European campaign. I had hoped that with its focus on a postal directory battalion, "No Better Time" would offer something more unique and valuable to these narratives. Unfortunately, I was disappointed that regard.
The book itself is fine, and tells the story of the African American WACs developed by Ms. Bethune, responsible for supporting efforts during the war such as hospital help and postal management. However, the pacing for the book is a bit off, and as a result, the "postal directory" portion of the story comes 150 pages into a 225 page book. So, there is very little opportunity to develop and underline the importance of this work.
Furthermore, the author tends to juggle a lot of characters that is hard to keep track of. Ostensibly, there are two main characters that we see closely, Dorothy and Leila, but we get pop ins of other characters that get very little backstory yet are essential to the plot/emotional heart of the story. I found myself going back and having to read who these characters were supposed to be, often denigrating them as "the musical one" or "the one that was a waitress," since that was all the description they were introduced with.
Had the author opted to flesh out this book by a couple hundred pages, had focused more on the two characters involved, or had spent more time expanding the postal work aspect and shortening the basic training or miscellaneous other duties section, I could have seen myself enjoying this book more. As it was, I did not exactly hate this book, but I also can't see myself classifying it as a memorable read among all the other WW2 historical fiction out there.
The book itself is fine, and tells the story of the African American WACs developed by Ms. Bethune, responsible for supporting efforts during the war such as hospital help and postal management. However, the pacing for the book is a bit off, and as a result, the "postal directory" portion of the story comes 150 pages into a 225 page book. So, there is very little opportunity to develop and underline the importance of this work.
Furthermore, the author tends to juggle a lot of characters that is hard to keep track of. Ostensibly, there are two main characters that we see closely, Dorothy and Leila, but we get pop ins of other characters that get very little backstory yet are essential to the plot/emotional heart of the story. I found myself going back and having to read who these characters were supposed to be, often denigrating them as "the musical one" or "the one that was a waitress," since that was all the description they were introduced with.
Had the author opted to flesh out this book by a couple hundred pages, had focused more on the two characters involved, or had spent more time expanding the postal work aspect and shortening the basic training or miscellaneous other duties section, I could have seen myself enjoying this book more. As it was, I did not exactly hate this book, but I also can't see myself classifying it as a memorable read among all the other WW2 historical fiction out there.