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A review by laurenmichellebrock
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer
5.0
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is the story of Juliet Ashton who receives a letter from Dawsey Adams inquiring about a book that has somehow made its way to the island of Guernsey, and bears the address of Juliet's residence. From this letter arises a series of conversations between Dawsey and Juliet that leads to her writing an article, then researching for a book, on the Potato Peel Pie Society founded, quite by accident, during the German Occupation. Through these letters, Juliet makes a cast of charming friends she will come to cherish for the rest of her life, and who will impress upon its readers a taste for Guernsey long after the last page.
This is a marvelous book, and reads just like a classic novel. Shaffer and Barrows did such a wonderful job on the book, and I easily decided it was going on my favorites list before I was even halfway done reading it. Books written in the format of letters between the characters can be very tricky, but these ladies formatted the scenes seamlessly and pulled it off without a hitch! Juliet Ashton is a woman after my own heart; I felt myself relating to her on so many different levels - she envelops that childlike demeanor that is so important to hold onto once you become an adult, and she never loses sight of who she is. What I found admirable about Juliet was her determination not to settle in a marriage in a time where that was common. She was a woman who knew what she wanted, and even if she faltered every now and then, she always righted herself before falling over completely.
The moment I put this book down, I wanted to pick it right back up and start reading it all over again (and I still haven't decided if I'm just going to leave it sitting on my dresser or if I'm going to actually go through with a back-to-back-er). Through Juliet's letters with the islanders of Guernsey I felt her same pull to visit the people there. Even though they're wholly of the author's imagination, they feel so enchantingly real. It feels like one of those stories that you want to read back-to-back just so you can relive and better understand everything that's going on.
As I read, and especially when I turned the last page, I felt taken with the way Shaffer and Barrow wove this simple, yet intricate, plot. This was a heavily character-driven book, though, but for this story it worked. This story wouldn't have worked, actually, if the characters weren't so endearing. And I especially liked being able to relate to Juliet on an authorial level, being that she was researching to write a book, which is something I'm doing now, too. I almost wish that Barrows would write the book of Guernsey characters and publish it as Juliet writing. That would be a treat!
This is a marvelous book, and reads just like a classic novel. Shaffer and Barrows did such a wonderful job on the book, and I easily decided it was going on my favorites list before I was even halfway done reading it. Books written in the format of letters between the characters can be very tricky, but these ladies formatted the scenes seamlessly and pulled it off without a hitch! Juliet Ashton is a woman after my own heart; I felt myself relating to her on so many different levels - she envelops that childlike demeanor that is so important to hold onto once you become an adult, and she never loses sight of who she is. What I found admirable about Juliet was her determination not to settle in a marriage in a time where that was common. She was a woman who knew what she wanted, and even if she faltered every now and then, she always righted herself before falling over completely.
The moment I put this book down, I wanted to pick it right back up and start reading it all over again (and I still haven't decided if I'm just going to leave it sitting on my dresser or if I'm going to actually go through with a back-to-back-er). Through Juliet's letters with the islanders of Guernsey I felt her same pull to visit the people there. Even though they're wholly of the author's imagination, they feel so enchantingly real. It feels like one of those stories that you want to read back-to-back just so you can relive and better understand everything that's going on.
As I read, and especially when I turned the last page, I felt taken with the way Shaffer and Barrow wove this simple, yet intricate, plot. This was a heavily character-driven book, though, but for this story it worked. This story wouldn't have worked, actually, if the characters weren't so endearing. And I especially liked being able to relate to Juliet on an authorial level, being that she was researching to write a book, which is something I'm doing now, too. I almost wish that Barrows would write the book of Guernsey characters and publish it as Juliet writing. That would be a treat!