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A review by kimreadz
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle Deluxe Reading Group Edition): A Novel by Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer, Mary Ann Shaffer
I had this one on my TBR for a long time. I’d heard good things about it and it was a recurrent selection for various book clubs hosted by our library system, so I knew I wanted to read it. When our book club realized that several of us had the book on our lists, AND that the movie version is set to be released later this summer, we decided to make it one of our 2018 book club selections..
Sadly, after that build-up I really didn’t enjoy the book much. One thing was the writing style, a epistolary novel written as a series of letters between the main character, Juliet, and other characters in the book. While I think this worked great as an introduction to the story, after a while it became tedious and made it difficult to discern between the characters.
That was another issue for me—keeping the characters straight. In particular, it was hard for me to distinguish between Eben and Dawsey for much of the book. There were just too many characters introduced too early for me to keep them straight.
Another problem for me was the slow pace of the story. Had it not been a selection for my book club, I’m sure I would have given up on it. As it was, I didn’t get finished before my book club meeting, but pushed myself to get to the second part of the book. At that point, the pace picked up, the story got more interesting, and I was able to finish that evening. Unfortunately, just when I finally felt like the story got started—it ended!
The book is classified as historical fiction, but it is not historical fiction at its best. I would classify it as ‘period fiction’; set in a particular period. I didn’t really learn much from the book (other than that Guernsey cows really originated in a place called Guernsey) and I wasn’t inspired to learn more about the period. Admittedly, that may be due to the fact that I read the ‘Deluxe Reading Group Addition’ that was well annotated, giving information about people, events and places mentioned in the book. I actually enjoyed the annotations more than the story! However, that probably slowed my reading and made the story appear more disjointed than it was. I’m not sure whether I’d recommend the annotated edition or not, so use your own judgement here!
One thing I did enjoy were some of the quotes about books that most readers will relate to. Here are a couple I liked.
About a visit to the local bookstore...
“always finding the one book I wanted—and then three more I hadn’t known I wanted”
“It was a sad wrench to part with the Selected Essays of Elia. I had two copies and a dire need of shelf-room, but I felt like a traitor selling it”About giving away a favorite book....
In fairness, I do have to mention that, as often happens, my book club rated the book much differently than I did. There were only four of us in attendance, and the ratings were 4, 4.5, and 5. After finishing the book yesterday, I give it a 2.5, for a book club average rating of 4.
Sadly, after that build-up I really didn’t enjoy the book much. One thing was the writing style, a epistolary novel written as a series of letters between the main character, Juliet, and other characters in the book. While I think this worked great as an introduction to the story, after a while it became tedious and made it difficult to discern between the characters.
That was another issue for me—keeping the characters straight. In particular, it was hard for me to distinguish between Eben and Dawsey for much of the book. There were just too many characters introduced too early for me to keep them straight.
Another problem for me was the slow pace of the story. Had it not been a selection for my book club, I’m sure I would have given up on it. As it was, I didn’t get finished before my book club meeting, but pushed myself to get to the second part of the book. At that point, the pace picked up, the story got more interesting, and I was able to finish that evening. Unfortunately, just when I finally felt like the story got started—it ended!
The book is classified as historical fiction, but it is not historical fiction at its best. I would classify it as ‘period fiction’; set in a particular period. I didn’t really learn much from the book (other than that Guernsey cows really originated in a place called Guernsey) and I wasn’t inspired to learn more about the period. Admittedly, that may be due to the fact that I read the ‘Deluxe Reading Group Addition’ that was well annotated, giving information about people, events and places mentioned in the book. I actually enjoyed the annotations more than the story! However, that probably slowed my reading and made the story appear more disjointed than it was. I’m not sure whether I’d recommend the annotated edition or not, so use your own judgement here!
One thing I did enjoy were some of the quotes about books that most readers will relate to. Here are a couple I liked.
About a visit to the local bookstore...
“always finding the one book I wanted—and then three more I hadn’t known I wanted”
“It was a sad wrench to part with the Selected Essays of Elia. I had two copies and a dire need of shelf-room, but I felt like a traitor selling it”About giving away a favorite book....
In fairness, I do have to mention that, as often happens, my book club rated the book much differently than I did. There were only four of us in attendance, and the ratings were 4, 4.5, and 5. After finishing the book yesterday, I give it a 2.5, for a book club average rating of 4.