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A review by kristensreadingnook
Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
5.0
Things We Didn't Say is an epistolary novel set in Minnesota during WWII. The book is a compilation of letters mostly between Johanna Berglund and her friend Peter Ito - a teacher at a training camp outside Minneapolis, but also includes articles written for the local paper among various other letters.
Jo is asked to leave school at the University of Minnesota to go back to her hometown of Ironside Lake to work as a translator and censor for letters written between the German POW's and their families/friends. She left her hometown without really wanting to return but is not given much choice about coming back when this job is presented to her. She must face her past and the citizens who are not happy about the POW camp. Jo attempts to show the town their prejudices which helps lead her into a scandal.
I am a huge fan of epistolary novels and this one was very well done. It has been compared to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is one of my favorites. I really liked how the author included rough drafts of letters that Jo wrote that were never sent or that she later edited. It was a great way of getting into Jo's head and hearing her spunky, unfiltered thoughts.
Jo is asked to leave school at the University of Minnesota to go back to her hometown of Ironside Lake to work as a translator and censor for letters written between the German POW's and their families/friends. She left her hometown without really wanting to return but is not given much choice about coming back when this job is presented to her. She must face her past and the citizens who are not happy about the POW camp. Jo attempts to show the town their prejudices which helps lead her into a scandal.
I am a huge fan of epistolary novels and this one was very well done. It has been compared to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is one of my favorites. I really liked how the author included rough drafts of letters that Jo wrote that were never sent or that she later edited. It was a great way of getting into Jo's head and hearing her spunky, unfiltered thoughts.