Reviews with content warning for Racism - Lovely War

Every time I read this book, I never fully emotionally recover. This was my third time reading this book and it still hit just as hard as the first time.

The premise of this book is the Greek gods telling the two greatest love stories of all time. And dang it hits. There are two couples: Hazel and James (my personal favorite of the two). Hazel is a sweet, quiet girl who loves to play the piano. James wants to be an architect but has to join the war (World War 1). Then there is Collette and Aubrey. Y'all are going to love Aubrey. His sense of humor and personality just fly off the page. Collette is from Belgium and everyone she loved has died, so she deals with grief. Aubrey is a black man from New York City who loves jazz and playing the piano (yes, music is a big theme in this book and I actually really like it despite not playing any instruments).

Why is this book so great? The writing at many points just punches you in the gut. One of the things that stuck with me the most is why human imperfection and mortality is so important in love. It's just such a beautiful sentiment. I don't think I can fully express how it is conveyed in the book in a review. But basically, the idea is that the gods can't love because they are perfect, but humans love because they are imperfect. It's a lot deeper than that, that's not even the cliffnotes version of it. But it really made me appreciate what it means to be human and what it means to love.

Another theme that I think was done well was war. James is very affected mentally by the war and the story talks a lot about such affects. And the way the actual war part is written is haunting is some parts. The author does a great job at pointing out how easy it is to kill a man yet how damaging. How war turns people into machines and activates their survival default.

Racism is also a big theme in this book, which was nice, because you wouldn't expect a book like this to tackle such a loaded topic. It was interesting seeing a glimpse of how black Americans were treated in World War 1, how Aubrey's unit was literally dumped on the French and before going to the battlefield had to lay train tracks and stuff like that. I will say though, the one thing I didn't like about this was there were pretty frequent obvious outbursts of anger against the racism from the characters. While I love how the theme is tackled, I wish it had been more seamlessly sewed in like the other things, especially since it's a bit of a clunker when mixed in with the other themes. Like the depiction of violence against black people and how that affected Aubrey and others and how Mrs. Davies treated Collette and Hazel when she found out they were fraternizing with black people were very good ways of showing the reader the racism that was around back then. But there were just a few "speeches" if you will? I can't think of any better word but they weren't really speeches. Conversations? I don't know. That just felt kind of clunky and just had the main point of "racism bad". Show don't tell! But I honestly didn't really mind these parts (the book is still five stars). The author did enough showing not telling to make it not that big of a deal to me. But overall I did appreciate her insight into racism during World War 1. It's an important topic that isn't really often thought about or taught in school, so I think it's a very good thing that she included this.

Those were the main themes in the book. For the most part I loved the writing, the only thing I had an issue with were there were a couple of cringe lines and a couple of parts that were a bit repetitive (like how there were three different points in the book where Hazel or James were begging the other not to leave). But honeslty, they didn't affect the reading experience much and don't change my five star review.

Part of what made this book so great was how much I felt connected to the characters. They were lovely people and I wanted them to succeed. I wanted them to end up together. No spoilers if they do or don't though. There are parts you will sob though. Julie Berry loved to throw in a few good plot twists. Also, there is kind of a miscommunication trope, but for once it's actually done well. Like it didn't bother me. It it was really only half miscommunication. I won't elaborate further.

This time around, I tabbed and underlined all the quotes I liked. My copy of the book is now absolutely filled with sticky tabs just to give you an idea. This is the kind of book that will make you stay up until two in the morning wanting to find out what happens next. It will seriously always have a special place in my heart. I read it before my freshman year of high school and absolutely fell in love with it as a history buff and a hopeless romantic. You don't even have to be a history buff to read this book.

I also thought it was very interesting howthe author included Greek mythology in this book. But somehow it fit and didn't feel out of place? It's Aphrodite and a couple of other Greek gods telling this story to Hephaestus. And the author pulls it off so well. I love Aphrodite so much. The way she got involved in the two couples and just everything she did. She was just an all around great character and I think anyone who reads this book will agree with me. Honestly I didn't know if having this in the book was going to work out when I first picked it up, but God I was so wrong. It really just elevates everything and takes it to that next level.

This book will seriously make you feel every emotion on the emotional spectrum. It will break your heart, glue it perfectly back together, and do it about five more times throughout the book. The author really invented the phrase "say sike right now". Anything goes in this world. This book is a journey, and trust me, you need to stick around for the end. I felt emotions I didn't even know existed while reading this book. A book that can do that is truly a great book. I cannot emphasize this enough.

To sum up, I think there is something for everyone to take away from this book. I'm trying to say as little as possible because this story is best when you are completely surprised. So before you learn anything more about this book, get yourself a copy and read it. You will not be disappointed. It's such a beautiful book and I can tell how much the author cared about it. I hope one day to be able to write books like her. I think this is also my sign to read more of her books.

Content Warnings