The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

As soon as I began reading this book in letters by Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece Annie Barrows, it reminded me of a book I'd bought and read in 1987. So the end found me rummaging through stacks of boxes packed up during home renovations to find Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys. Of course I found the book sitting innocently on a bookshelf downstairs. Henrietta's War is subtitled "News from the Home Front 1939-1942" and takes place in roughly the same time period as Potato Peel and is also written in letters. I remember loving it (sigh, part of my British phase). Skimming through it this time around reminded me of what was fun about it.

Now, writing an epistolary novel is hard. The author is really demanding a lot from his reader and there are some who obviously get a bit carried away with the format. Samuel Richardson, famously, has his heroine Clarissa writing to her dear friend as she's being, uh, deflowered (or just about). Of course, the other problem is the time lapse in letter writing. Fine, In the 18th Century, people wrote often and throughout the day, but in later years the regular post office was, really, a bit slower.

And things move pretty fast in Potato Peel. How quickly can you fall in love (by mostly letter, I mean)? Letter writing is certainly an art, but I even reread Dawsey's first letter to Juliet and there's not much there. Okay, yeah, a love of Charles Lamb. and okay, a certain "country folk" appeal, but really, I wasn't even sure it was a man writing it, the first time around. The whole book takes place in less than a year and when even the heroine admits that being engaged for one day is a bit rushed, it feels more like the authors just wanted to "git her done." (the book, I mean. Nothing vulgar here). Yes, I know they meet, but we only have his and her letters to glean anything romantic.

I must admit, if it weren't a book club selection, I would not have finished this book. There were too many things that irritated me (the letters format was the least of it because I knew about that). Things just seemed too cutesy, too much as though the writers had read a few quick books about LIFE DURING THE OCCUPATION (WWII) and then had tried to drop a whole bunch of 'period markers' to guide the reader. This is a particular pet peeve of mine.

BUT, I am trying to be more open-minded about books (sort of) and I perservered. The book definitely picks up. There is still a great deal that annoyed me, but I ended up liking a lot of those very markers that had bugged me to begin with. I was quite moved by the letter writer who lists exactly what he received in his first Red Cross package after several years of inadequate food on Guernsey. Somehow, listing things in ounces (one ounce of salt, ten ounces of raisins...) was terribly poignant

Other details, such as the description of the German soldiers treating their arrival like a holiday, away from the "real war" was interesting and felt fresh to me. I also liked the guy who would read only Seneca for his Society meetings; the other man who read a difficult book just to spite a friend (or repair a friendship).

I even liked the seemingly random discovery of letters from Oscar Wilde. Sure! Why not?

I did not, however, for one minute, buy the romance that blossomed by the end of the book, but I suppose, we all have a little Jane Austen in us and so need things to tidy up neatly and make families of everyone.

I hesitated a long time before writing this because I have heard mostly LOVE for this book, and I didn't want to disagree with friend Liz (though she knows we don't always agree on books). As my sister-in-law said first, "I didn't love it." BUT, I didn't end up hating it either, which I would have done had I quit. Instead, I savored some of the scenes and descriptions and let go of any cheese I found.
This is an easy book to suggest to most people because it's a lite little book that also makes you feel like you're learning something about the Terrible Times that were WWII. So, go ahead and read it (and argue with me, if you want)