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A review by cakt1991
Sisters of the Great War by Suzanne Feldman
emotional
4.0
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Sisters of the Great War is a work of World War I-set historical fiction, and one I felt somewhat mixed about. There’s a lot it does well, but there were times where I wasn’t sure if I liked the book or not.
I liked the sense of the period, with the general spirit of sacrifice for the war effort on multiple fronts. And while it is fictionalized, the way the story honed in on women’s roles in the war specifically caught my interest, especially in terms of the obstacles they faced, like being kept out of certain professions. The plot is a bit slower moving, as it does cover the war years, but it was still pretty consistently engaging.
The characters definitely felt like the weakest point, beyond the surface level. I felt the most connected to Elise as she comes to terms with her sexuality and explores it. It’s somewhat refreshing (although not entirely unheard of) to see a queer character in World War I/II novel, given the plethora of similar stories that center heterosexual people and relationships.
I did like Ruth too, to an extent, as she’s the one dealing with sexism due to being barred from being a doctor due to her gender. However, her own romance with a man failed to charm me.
Despite my mixed experience, I still enjoyed parts of it and feel it has a lot to offer readers of the World War historical-fic subgenre.
Sisters of the Great War is a work of World War I-set historical fiction, and one I felt somewhat mixed about. There’s a lot it does well, but there were times where I wasn’t sure if I liked the book or not.
I liked the sense of the period, with the general spirit of sacrifice for the war effort on multiple fronts. And while it is fictionalized, the way the story honed in on women’s roles in the war specifically caught my interest, especially in terms of the obstacles they faced, like being kept out of certain professions. The plot is a bit slower moving, as it does cover the war years, but it was still pretty consistently engaging.
The characters definitely felt like the weakest point, beyond the surface level. I felt the most connected to Elise as she comes to terms with her sexuality and explores it. It’s somewhat refreshing (although not entirely unheard of) to see a queer character in World War I/II novel, given the plethora of similar stories that center heterosexual people and relationships.
I did like Ruth too, to an extent, as she’s the one dealing with sexism due to being barred from being a doctor due to her gender. However, her own romance with a man failed to charm me.
Despite my mixed experience, I still enjoyed parts of it and feel it has a lot to offer readers of the World War historical-fic subgenre.