Take a photo of a barcode or cover
stacyroth's review against another edition
4.0
I won this book as a FirstRead.
Next to Love follows the story of friends Babe, Grace, and Millie as their husbands go off to fight in World War II, as well as the changes it brings to their life over the next 20 or so years.
It took a little while to get used to the way the author's style of jumping around in the story to tell only the parts of their lives that she wanted to tell. However, I really enjoyed reading the story and especially the way everyone's lives were affected after the war ended.
Next to Love follows the story of friends Babe, Grace, and Millie as their husbands go off to fight in World War II, as well as the changes it brings to their life over the next 20 or so years.
It took a little while to get used to the way the author's style of jumping around in the story to tell only the parts of their lives that she wanted to tell. However, I really enjoyed reading the story and especially the way everyone's lives were affected after the war ended.
glaseramy's review against another edition
This book was compared to the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and I get how it could be because of the era, but it didn't pull me in.
gillimax's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book until the end. I didn't like how it ended, and I felt it was rather abrupt. I would have liked to have known more, and seen more of how the children's lives turned out. Overall, I'm glad I read it, and it was a good companion to the few others in this era-genre that I've read over the past few months.
aahlvers's review against another edition
5.0
Based on a small town that had one of the highest loss rates of WWII, this novel shows the impact of war in very individual ways. From Babe, who went to work and then was sidelined when the men came home to Millie, whose relentless forced optimism deprived her son from knowing his father and finally, Grace, who never quite recovers, the impact of war is finely drawn and heartbreaking.
ladyksplanetbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Seriously. If you loved The Help by Kathryn Stocket than this is the book for you!
hcampbell28's review against another edition
4.0
This novel covers a lot of history and emotion within the short 300+ pages – I would recommend a box of tissues handy when reading it. The novel covers a period just before the men are sent off to the European theatre of World War II, follows the women’s life on the new home-front while the men are away, and then shows them all dealing with what fate had dealt them following the end of the war. The experiences of these women, Millie, Babe, and Grace, cover a pretty decent range of life experiences and outcomes from the war. We see everything from lost friends and family members, the effects of PTSD [pretty much unknown of at the time], evolution of the role of women, and the new generation of their children. The book was well rounded in its coverage of the home-front and I applaud this effort as many books sent in and around World War II either ignore the home-front or spend very little time on it. I also appreciated that the author addressed issues that African Americans and Jews faced in the military and on the home-front. I had considered the treatment of African Americans before but had not really considered the impact on those of Jewish descent – even considering that they were sometimes fighting against those who had carried out some terrible atrocities against Jews.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the section of letters sent between the women and their men overseas. It was interesting to see what types of things they would tell each other and the things that they would omit – women trying to keep the men’s spirit up and the men trying to take some of the fear away from their women.
There was however a rather big issue I had with this book and that was with the layout. It would alternate between sections focusing on each woman, Babe, Grace, and Millie, and would then break these sections up by date. That I was ok with, and had the book proceeded in continuous chronological order that would have been fine. However it became confusing when each time I would start a section about one of the other women we would go back over the same period of time that I had just read about from one of the other’s perspective. I understand the direction that the author was going – to show the same events through the different perspectives, however I found it to be more confusion than beneficial.
As a side note: While I don’t really like any of the cover versions that this book has had, I’m glad they changed it from the cover on the ARC. The envelope on the cover I’m assuming was supposed to represent a letter sent between the home-front and battlefield during the war (WWII), however the envelope had a 1938 cancel stamp date on it. The events in the book didn’t take place until the 1940’s. This anachronism really bothered me throughout the reading of the book – so very glad they changed it for publication.
This review was previously posted @ The Maiden's Court. Was received from the Amazon Vine Program in exchange for an honest review.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the section of letters sent between the women and their men overseas. It was interesting to see what types of things they would tell each other and the things that they would omit – women trying to keep the men’s spirit up and the men trying to take some of the fear away from their women.
There was however a rather big issue I had with this book and that was with the layout. It would alternate between sections focusing on each woman, Babe, Grace, and Millie, and would then break these sections up by date. That I was ok with, and had the book proceeded in continuous chronological order that would have been fine. However it became confusing when each time I would start a section about one of the other women we would go back over the same period of time that I had just read about from one of the other’s perspective. I understand the direction that the author was going – to show the same events through the different perspectives, however I found it to be more confusion than beneficial.
As a side note: While I don’t really like any of the cover versions that this book has had, I’m glad they changed it from the cover on the ARC. The envelope on the cover I’m assuming was supposed to represent a letter sent between the home-front and battlefield during the war (WWII), however the envelope had a 1938 cancel stamp date on it. The events in the book didn’t take place until the 1940’s. This anachronism really bothered me throughout the reading of the book – so very glad they changed it for publication.
This review was previously posted @ The Maiden's Court. Was received from the Amazon Vine Program in exchange for an honest review.
laurpar's review against another edition
5.0
I originally saw this book as a giveaway on Good Reads, and though I did not win it, I couldn’t get the description out of my head. “Sometimes the most interesting war stories are not about the soldiers themselves but about the loved ones they leave behind.” I waited a month or two to get it from my library, but I was not disappointed. I had heard it likened to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and true, the story does cover WWII and its impact back home, as well as the years following, but the two aren’t very similar at all. Guernsey is about flourishing; a woman finding her way in the world in a turbulent time. Next to Love is about resilience; three best friends learn how to move on, when every fiber of their being is screaming that it cannot be done.
The book covers the time before the war, during the war, and after the war, divided into different books, grouped together with consecutive years. Within these books, the story shifts perspectives between Babe, Millie, and Grace, along with a few more minor characters, to give a very detailed, very well-rounded account of the war and its impact on the people back home.
“War… next to love, has most captured the world’s imagination.” - Eric Partridge, 1914
This quotation in the first few pages grabbed me before I even started reading the book. I am always curious as to how books get their titles, and to find the answer in such a poignant quotation was moving for me. As I turned to the prologue two pages later, my attention was grabbed by Babe Higgins, the young woman who is in charge of sending out telegrams from the War Office to the devastated families in her small town and feels a sick sense of pleasure, being the first to know when tragedy has struck. Babe, a young woman bursting with ambition and ideas, is a strong woman for that time, questioning policies and pushing the envelope whenever she can. Her two childhood best friends, Millie and Grace, are more content to sit back and become housewives. All three, however, have their lives turned upside down when their lovers are drafted in WWII.
This book was incredibly, incredibly dramatic, emotional, and moving. I cannot say how many times I had to set the book down and take a step back because of how heavy the mood got. I was impressed by how wholly I felt the pain of these characters; the raw pain, the desperate hope, the slap of prejudice, the heartbreak of lost love, the sting of betrayal, the idolization of someone you barely knew and will never get back… All of it was so incredibly well-written. I also like the way Feldman wrote each of the three girls; they all deal with their grief in different ways, and no one seems to understand each others’ processes, but they remain friends through it all. This isn’t a book about friendship, though: it’s a book about keeping calm and carrying on. Each of the women has their own pain, their own loss, and their own road to recovery that the reader experiences close-up.
The ending is content, not overly happy, but realistic. Altogether, I was very impressed by the book, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Help.
The book covers the time before the war, during the war, and after the war, divided into different books, grouped together with consecutive years. Within these books, the story shifts perspectives between Babe, Millie, and Grace, along with a few more minor characters, to give a very detailed, very well-rounded account of the war and its impact on the people back home.
“War… next to love, has most captured the world’s imagination.” - Eric Partridge, 1914
This quotation in the first few pages grabbed me before I even started reading the book. I am always curious as to how books get their titles, and to find the answer in such a poignant quotation was moving for me. As I turned to the prologue two pages later, my attention was grabbed by Babe Higgins, the young woman who is in charge of sending out telegrams from the War Office to the devastated families in her small town and feels a sick sense of pleasure, being the first to know when tragedy has struck. Babe, a young woman bursting with ambition and ideas, is a strong woman for that time, questioning policies and pushing the envelope whenever she can. Her two childhood best friends, Millie and Grace, are more content to sit back and become housewives. All three, however, have their lives turned upside down when their lovers are drafted in WWII.
This book was incredibly, incredibly dramatic, emotional, and moving. I cannot say how many times I had to set the book down and take a step back because of how heavy the mood got. I was impressed by how wholly I felt the pain of these characters; the raw pain, the desperate hope, the slap of prejudice, the heartbreak of lost love, the sting of betrayal, the idolization of someone you barely knew and will never get back… All of it was so incredibly well-written. I also like the way Feldman wrote each of the three girls; they all deal with their grief in different ways, and no one seems to understand each others’ processes, but they remain friends through it all. This isn’t a book about friendship, though: it’s a book about keeping calm and carrying on. Each of the women has their own pain, their own loss, and their own road to recovery that the reader experiences close-up.
The ending is content, not overly happy, but realistic. Altogether, I was very impressed by the book, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Help.
beckalule's review against another edition
So sad, but interesting to read from different points of views. Although the women are clearly the main characters, it was great to read it from the husband's and children's perspectives.
sarah_richmond's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh. One of the most boring books I've read in ages. While the writing isn't awful, I had to force myself to finish and even then, ended up flipping quickly through the last 100 pages. Flat unlikeable characters and a promising premise that fell into a huge gaping gorge of dullness. I usually love WW2 novels but this was a blight on the genre. It has been compared to The Help and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, but that is an insult to two wonderfully gripping plots. Yawn.