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alexisdpatt 's review for:

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
2.5
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

“The Summer Before the War” by Helen Simonson ⭐️⭐️.5

“The Summer Before the War” follows the story of a small village in Essex during the summer of 1914. 

For me, this novel is meh. I’m really disappointed in its existence to be honest. I feel like the novel should have started earlier and been about one person or two people. The multiple POVs really don’t add anything to the novel. 

I thought this novel was going to be more of a romanticized, fictionalized story of “Testament of Youth,” but I was very much mistaken. The characters don’t feel like they are developed in the right way and everything feels either half baked or forced. 

Examples:

one character is a poet and wants to spread his poetry—but why? I understand that you want him to be like a Robert Brooke or Wilfred Owen, but all he does is complain about not being seen for his art. WHAT ART?? 

the female protagonist is being shit in because she’s a woman and men are pigs, okay? Yeah this is first wave feminism and pre-vote during the height of the movement, but I don’t see the women banning together to be suffragettes and tearing the place down. Given that most of these women are upper-middle class, they could teach our female POV that there’s more to being a feminist than being chained to the post and using her female prowess to manipulate men into giving them what they want. 

There also definitely should have been a time jump, and a lot more people should have died, but there’s no character development, so it’s not like the deaths would have mattered anyway.