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A review by katmackie
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
3.0
The Welsh Girl has been my bedside table book for a little while now. I'd read about 30 pages every night before putting it down and falling asleep.
I found it because I was interested in reading something about conflicting relationships during wartime, with no preference to which war, but this takes place right after D-Day. There are three perspectives to this novel, the most frequent is Esther, a barmaid in a small Welsh community. The other two are men, one a German prisoner and the other a German Jewish criminal interrogator (but we don't see too much of him during the bulk of the novel). But what the synopsis pretty much lies about is what the novel is actually about. It leads you to believe that Esther and the German prisoner held in a war camp begin a relationship (somehow) and conflicts ensue. But it is not about that, at all. In fact their moments together are so delayed, and oh so fleeting, that I would have argued not to have put it in the synopsis at all (If I had any say in it)!
What The Welsh Girl is truly and mostly about is loyalty to your home, the country you were born in. He explores self identity through your country and patriotic duties and what it means to surrender in wartime. This, he does do well, but it does get to be a little too much at a certain point. I will admit, it's really not a subject I'm interested in at all. And as far as plot goes, the exciting bits fly by in brief pages while the rest of the novel slows to reevaluate each characters thoughts and problems much too often. But, there was enough at stake for me to keep reading, and when the exciting bits were happening, I was really enjoying the experience of this novel.
Davies clearly took the time to do extensive research, and it shows in this novel, but I believe it still felt unfinished. Sadly, the ending was not in anyway satisfying for the two characters I actually cared about (the epilogue isn't even in their perspectives!), in fact what happens to them is so unresolved it feels as if I missed something as a reader. This was my biggest disappointment.
I still want to read what the synopsis for this book describes! Because I wasn't looking for a "romance" I was able to get into this book because of the portrait he creates for such a specific time at such a small specific place on the earth. Davies portrays the countryside quite nicely, so I can appreciate what I did read. Basically, I liked it. But I'm giving it three stars because of the issues I consider problematic, not because it wasn't what I wanted to read.
I found it because I was interested in reading something about conflicting relationships during wartime, with no preference to which war, but this takes place right after D-Day. There are three perspectives to this novel, the most frequent is Esther, a barmaid in a small Welsh community. The other two are men, one a German prisoner and the other a German Jewish criminal interrogator (but we don't see too much of him during the bulk of the novel). But what the synopsis pretty much lies about is what the novel is actually about. It leads you to believe that Esther and the German prisoner held in a war camp begin a relationship (somehow) and conflicts ensue. But it is not about that, at all. In fact their moments together are so delayed, and oh so fleeting, that I would have argued not to have put it in the synopsis at all (If I had any say in it)!
What The Welsh Girl is truly and mostly about is loyalty to your home, the country you were born in. He explores self identity through your country and patriotic duties and what it means to surrender in wartime. This, he does do well, but it does get to be a little too much at a certain point. I will admit, it's really not a subject I'm interested in at all. And as far as plot goes, the exciting bits fly by in brief pages while the rest of the novel slows to reevaluate each characters thoughts and problems much too often. But, there was enough at stake for me to keep reading, and when the exciting bits were happening, I was really enjoying the experience of this novel.
Davies clearly took the time to do extensive research, and it shows in this novel, but I believe it still felt unfinished. Sadly, the ending was not in anyway satisfying for the two characters I actually cared about (the epilogue isn't even in their perspectives!), in fact what happens to them is so unresolved it feels as if I missed something as a reader. This was my biggest disappointment.
I still want to read what the synopsis for this book describes! Because I wasn't looking for a "romance" I was able to get into this book because of the portrait he creates for such a specific time at such a small specific place on the earth. Davies portrays the countryside quite nicely, so I can appreciate what I did read. Basically, I liked it. But I'm giving it three stars because of the issues I consider problematic, not because it wasn't what I wanted to read.