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A review by bookpossum
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
4.0
Very powerful. In the section covering the Great War, the feeling of dread of the loss of one young man after another is almost palpable. The blows of those losses were of course repeated endlessly in all the countries involved in that disastrous conflict. It is a wonder that people who had experienced that were able to pick up their shattered lives and make something of them after it was over.
The section covering Brittain's life after the end of the War is interesting because of her involvement with the promotion of the League of Nations, her progress as a writer, and her first-hand witness of the disastrous treatment of defeated Germany. This, combined with the painfully slow improvement in attitudes towards women - the vote, the conferring of degrees earned but previously not awarded, the election of women to Parliament - shows that it was possible to go on with life. On a personal level, she achieved a level of happiness by the time of her marriage that she had not thought she would ever experience again.
But it is the section covering her experience of the Great War that will stay with me, because of the depth of its pain and despair.
The section covering Brittain's life after the end of the War is interesting because of her involvement with the promotion of the League of Nations, her progress as a writer, and her first-hand witness of the disastrous treatment of defeated Germany. This, combined with the painfully slow improvement in attitudes towards women - the vote, the conferring of degrees earned but previously not awarded, the election of women to Parliament - shows that it was possible to go on with life. On a personal level, she achieved a level of happiness by the time of her marriage that she had not thought she would ever experience again.
But it is the section covering her experience of the Great War that will stay with me, because of the depth of its pain and despair.