wandareadssapphicbooks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
james1star's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I initially picked up this book because of a certain character being ‘in a secret relationship with another woman’ and whilst this storyline clearly does take the back burner quite early on, I was still very invested. Little (and non) fiction literature has been written about WW2’s impact in Northern Ireland with much focus primarily being on Germany’s bombings in England and the London Blitz but Belfast was hit just as hard with the Easter Raid of 1941 having the highest casualties outside of London. In These Days, Caldwell uses three attacks (Dockside, Easter and Fireside) to separate the book and generates a narrative through the perspective of the Bells, an ordinary middle class family. The patriarch, a doctor, Philip and their young son Paul have no real chapters of their own. Florence has lived a seemingly happy marriage, creating a family but from living through WW1, the current events are bringing back the memories of a lost lover Renard and the life she could’ve lived. The oldest daughter 21-year old Audrey I’d say plays the biggest role, she’s an office worker who’s recently proposed to by respectable Richard, a doctor to whom marriage seems the obvious next step in life. Her English friend Doreen makes her reconsider her actual love for him and whether there are other things in life she might want instead. Finally, 18-year old Emma is my favourite character as she’s sure in herself and what she wants, she volunteers as a first aider and starts a relationship with her supervisor, the older Sylvia but clearly given everything she’s up against this is a hard thing to keep a hold onto. As the bombs come down how will the Bells and other ordinary citizens of Belfast cope?
I think the book holds the most power in its portrayal of the ordinary person. From the start, it’s clear Belfast is suffering from ongoing problems but the Bells are doing quite well, they even have a maid! Similarly, rationing is a thing, highlighted in the chapter on the train with Maisie and her mum coming back from Dublin being inspected but it’s not massively bad such that Doreen is surprised by the supply of food in comparison to England. Again, Philip, Richard, Emma and others are seemingly professionally ready for the casualties but when it actually happens it’s another story. It’s shows how difficult it actually is when faced with the disgusting reality of civilian casualties and in such huge numbers. The actual bombings are one thing but additionally the mindless searching for family and friends, lovers, pets, seeing your street demolished, having to identify someone by their boot alone, a volunteer first aider treating a major incident because the hospital has been set alight and the rest are full and so much more… it’s harrowing and Caldwell truly brings these horrors to life. Another point I really enjoyed was how the book is used to give a voice to those that often didn’t have one with women clearly being the focus. Their ‘role’ in the family and society is presented well but also their desires, past, aspirations and innermost thoughts too which I couldn’t fault one bit. Furthermore, the inclusion of two queer female perspectives in 1940s Belfast, a then (and still) very religious city was great.
Following on from this last point comes my main criticism of These Days, in that I personally didn’t like how the narrative developed after a certain event around the halfway point. Already from the start I gathered my presumptions of how the plot and format would pan out were proven wrong with Emma’s lesbian relationship with Sylvia clearly not being a main plot point. To this I was quite dejected but decided to carry on (thankfully so) but then other events which further reduced the queerness of the book I felt were a missed opportunity on Caldwell’s part. An argument can and is made for her reasons which I get but I think a lot could’ve been said and messages withheld more gravitas had more been done. In a similar vein to not liking this particular part of the narrative, I did get quite lost in the third section of the book as we moved towards the end. Things weren’t fully pulled together in my opinion despite the work being done, some outcomes were to my liking but I dunno… there were just a few too many loose ends. A final issue is that is maybe a few too many characters? Sort of? Yes? No? I’m not too sure, but I pressumed from the book’s description it would’ve been more like dual-pov from Audrey and Emma but it’s a mix of them, their mum Florence as well as Wee Betty Binks, Maisie, Doreen (people in the city who only get about two chapters) and sometimes a general overview which I wasn’t too keen on, I would have much preferred more balance between the three and others within these or having just stuck to the sisters.
Final note: the Northern Irish dialect references I personally loved and it gave me Derry Girlsvibes including things like: ‘wain,’ ‘so it is,’ ‘so I did,’ ‘so it was’ and the like. The inclusion of curse words I did find a little random and maybe rather crass at times though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Death
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Cursing, Classism, Gore, Misogyny, Animal death, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Blood
aaaliyah's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Boring
wordsofclover's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Belfast, 1941 - over two months, the Belfast Blitz rips through the Northern Irish city leaving broken buildings and bodies in its wake. During These Days, readers follow two sisters Audrey and Emma as they fight to survive and continue normal life during the war - but both are left scarred in different ways from loss and shock.
Shamefaced I have to admit I didn't know a huge amount about the extent of the bombing on Belfast during WW2, and reading about the horrific impact left behind during this novel was really startling - especially when thinking about the 'relative' peace people were living in just south of the border. I actually really liked the scene set on a train from Dublin as people tried to hide items from customs people, and the absolute waste that was the customs men just throwing items out of the train. From a history aspect, I found it really interesting.
I liked both Audrey and Emma - though I will say I think Audrey was a slightly stronger character for me - Emma felt a little bit meek and pale in comparison, and even when she was with Sylvia, her almost overbearing feelings towards the woman felt a bit immature. I think I enjoyed Audrey's predicament a little bit better - this struggle between the societal norms of marrying and children battling her desire to work and do 'more' with her life. I also really liked the chapters we get from Audrey and Emma's mother Florence - hints at a young love she still remembers - scenes of which were quite aching and moving yet never taking away from the love she had for her husband and almost grown family. I found her a very interesting character, and would actually happily read a prequel novel about her (presumably set during WW1 and her first love Reynard).
While this was well written and taught me a lot I didn't know, I think overall I would have liked maybe a little bit more of everything. Some of the character decisions felt maybe slightly surface level and I would have liked to follow the characters for longer and seen more character growth. It's disappointing that the story fell into the 'kill your gays' trope as well but the story wasn't going to end without at least one tragedy close to home.
Shamefaced I have to admit I didn't know a huge amount about the extent of the bombing on Belfast during WW2, and reading about the horrific impact left behind during this novel was really startling - especially when thinking about the 'relative' peace people were living in just south of the border. I actually really liked the scene set on a train from Dublin as people tried to hide items from customs people, and the absolute waste that was the customs men just throwing items out of the train. From a history aspect, I found it really interesting.
I liked both Audrey and Emma - though I will say I think Audrey was a slightly stronger character for me - Emma felt a little bit meek and pale in comparison, and even when she was with Sylvia, her almost overbearing feelings towards the woman felt a bit immature. I think I enjoyed Audrey's predicament a little bit better - this struggle between the societal norms of marrying and children battling her desire to work and do 'more' with her life. I also really liked the chapters we get from Audrey and Emma's mother Florence - hints at a young love she still remembers - scenes of which were quite aching and moving yet never taking away from the love she had for her husband and almost grown family. I found her a very interesting character, and would actually happily read a prequel novel about her (presumably set during WW1 and her first love Reynard).
While this was well written and taught me a lot I didn't know, I think overall I would have liked maybe a little bit more of everything. Some of the character decisions felt maybe slightly surface level and I would have liked to follow the characters for longer and seen more character growth. It's disappointing that the story fell into the 'kill your gays' trope as well but the story wasn't going to end without at least one tragedy close to home.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death
kaia226's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
sarah_kearney's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
4.0
‘And Florence thinks: ‘We each die alone. That is the terrible truth, the tragedy of it.’’
In April and May 1941, Belfast suffered four air attacks by the German Luftwaffe. Belfast’s docks, ships and factories docks provided a strategic target for the Luftwaffe, but poor visibility led to densely populated residential areas in west and north Belfast being hit as well. Hundreds were killed, hundreds more were injured, and thousands lost their homes.
Our main characters are two sisters: Audrey and Emma Bell. They live with their parents Philip and Florence, and younger brother Paul. Audrey is engaged to marry Richard, a doctor, while Emma has fallen in love with her colleague Sylvia. Audrey has doubts about marrying Richard and Emma is bereft when Sylvia disappears.
These two women are not the only characters: Ms Caldwell also introduces us to Wee Betty Binks, to Maisie and her family, to the horrific scenes as whole streets were destroyed. Some of those who can leave the city, others stay behind hoping to find family members. Both Audrey and Emma think of their futures, while their mother Florence also revisits the past.
‘There is a strange stark clarity to the thoughts you have at 4 am. They fade as the day reasserts itself, but you know they’re still there, patient, cunning, treacherous, lying in wait for the next time, and the next. You seem to know things, at those times that you cannot articulate in the day. About who you are, and how you should be living your life.’
Until I picked up this novel, I knew nothing about the Belfast Blitz. The story is split around the major air raids: the Dockside Raid; the Easter Raid and the Fire Raids. In between the survivors prepare as best they can. And it seems clear that Belfast is underprepared, that there were insufficient air raid shelters. And then there’s a passage, after the Fire Raids, where Sir Winston Churchill ‘phoned Sir Wilfrid Spender, the head of the civil service, to enquire about what was being done to protect Sir Edward Carson’s statue. Sir Wilfrid responded by telling him that all available resources were being deployed to ‘help remove the living from buildings condemned, and the deceased from the rubble’! Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am shocked.
A terrific novel, one that will stay with me for a long time.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
andream0885's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
willablaise's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
admacg's review
4.0
The main focus of this book are the two Bell sisters, ‘flighty, impulsive, earnest Audrey’, in a relationship with a doctor, and ‘kind, stubborn, awkward Emma’ who falls for some one eleven years her senior, full of life and energy. Their parents are Phillip, also a doctor, mother Florence and younger son Paul. They live in a middle class area of East Belfast.
The story takes place over four nights in 1941, when 100,000 incendiaries fell, 10,000 homes were destroyed and over 1,000 peoples lost their lies. These are just statistics but Lucy Caldwell’s skill for me is in weaving the inner lives of the characters with the destruction visited upon the city.
One of the best ways prose comes alive for me is when I hear the characters in my inner ear and this book is a brilliant example of that. I love the ‘gulders’, the ‘boys a dear’ (I’ve heard my father say this), ‘the so-you-coulds’ and the ‘heart going like the clappers.’ It really gave the characters depth and I got a laugh out of the ‘insanitary bombs.’
The devastation, when it comes, is described in the most haunting imagery. I’ve stood in St Georges Market, and could easily hear the ‘clattering, hammering noise,’and see the ‘bulging hessian sacks.’ The details like the roaming packs of dogs, the wandering lost souls, blackened with soot, calling out childrens names, the escaped black horses belonging to the undertaker, Maisie and Bobby…they all struck a chord with me.
The aftermath of the bombing and the fires really got me in this book, maybe more so this past week with the events in Ukraine. I was really drawn to Emma and Audrey, their hopes and dreams playing out in the midst of this horror. People are still falling in and out of love, making plans for the future and wondering what might have been if a different path had been taken. Lucy Caldwell does a wonderful job in capturing this.
There’s also a switch to another characters voice at a later stage in the book, which I wasn’t expecting and would usually annoy me. It’s another viewpoint with regrets when it comes to love, vulnerability and uses a really striking image; it caught me unawares and it works really well.
Like I say, in the week that’s in it, this book resonated with me. I felt drawn to the emotional lives of the characters and was deeply moved by suffering in the city, and it’s described with such an economy of language and flows so well from page to page. It’s well researched but it’s woven so finely into the story that it’s effortless. To continue the analogy, you can’t see the stitches and it’s just a pleasure to read.
Full Review here
The story takes place over four nights in 1941, when 100,000 incendiaries fell, 10,000 homes were destroyed and over 1,000 peoples lost their lies. These are just statistics but Lucy Caldwell’s skill for me is in weaving the inner lives of the characters with the destruction visited upon the city.
One of the best ways prose comes alive for me is when I hear the characters in my inner ear and this book is a brilliant example of that. I love the ‘gulders’, the ‘boys a dear’ (I’ve heard my father say this), ‘the so-you-coulds’ and the ‘heart going like the clappers.’ It really gave the characters depth and I got a laugh out of the ‘insanitary bombs.’
The devastation, when it comes, is described in the most haunting imagery. I’ve stood in St Georges Market, and could easily hear the ‘clattering, hammering noise,’and see the ‘bulging hessian sacks.’ The details like the roaming packs of dogs, the wandering lost souls, blackened with soot, calling out childrens names, the escaped black horses belonging to the undertaker, Maisie and Bobby…they all struck a chord with me.
The aftermath of the bombing and the fires really got me in this book, maybe more so this past week with the events in Ukraine. I was really drawn to Emma and Audrey, their hopes and dreams playing out in the midst of this horror. People are still falling in and out of love, making plans for the future and wondering what might have been if a different path had been taken. Lucy Caldwell does a wonderful job in capturing this.
There’s also a switch to another characters voice at a later stage in the book, which I wasn’t expecting and would usually annoy me. It’s another viewpoint with regrets when it comes to love, vulnerability and uses a really striking image; it caught me unawares and it works really well.
Like I say, in the week that’s in it, this book resonated with me. I felt drawn to the emotional lives of the characters and was deeply moved by suffering in the city, and it’s described with such an economy of language and flows so well from page to page. It’s well researched but it’s woven so finely into the story that it’s effortless. To continue the analogy, you can’t see the stitches and it’s just a pleasure to read.
Full Review here