Last Book Review  

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

Thanks for a lovely evening on Monday discussing the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows, we had a small group this month as many of you lucky things are off on holiday (and I forgot to send a reminder the week before - apologies).  7 of us in the room and 3 reviews by email.  

Based around an author (Juliet) with writers block who randomly receives a letter from someone who has acquired a book that once belonged to her, she begins to correspond and strikes up a friendship around their mutual enjoyment of reading.  When Juliet finds out that her correspondent it a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, her curiosity is piqued and a door is opened to a community of people in Guernsey and their tales of occupation during the war.  While it doesn't shy away from the atrocities of the war it deals with them in a human manner, with wit and empathy, the story line while contrived and at times predictable is still enjoyable.

The feeling was split over the writing style of using letters to tell the story, some found it difficult to follow with so many narrators, others enjoyed the story telling from each person's perspective as it gave a different feel than if it had been done in the third person.  2 members who would normally avoid any wartime book like the plague were both pleasantly surprised by this book and gave it a high score.  The general consensus was a good read with scores ranging from 6 to 8.5 and an average of 7.6