The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I saw the movie on an airplane. At the time, I had no idea it was a book - just thought the title looked interesting so I watched it. Of course, watching a Hollywood rendition in advance of reading a book is always a mistake. In this case, for example, I knew the eventual happy hollywood ending right from the get go. I don't think I've ever read a fully epistolary novel before (eg. I have not yet read Les Liaisons Dangereuses). Some of these letters were absurdly short (eg a single sentence, or even a single word), which made them seem like they might be telegrams. But later in the book some telegrams did appear and were indicated by 'stop' where periods go, so maybe not? To bring about the hollywood ending the author did switch to someone's journal rather than letters, just at the very end. Mechanics aside, the setting was very interesting (Guernsey) and the characters were nicely developed. A nicely constructed and appealing window into small town dynamics rent asunder by wartime atrocities.



View all my reviews