REVIEW: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Author: Mary Ann Shaffer & Anne Barrows

I have to admit I had never heard of this book before I saw a trailer for the movie version on Netflix. It sounded like something I would enjoy watching, but I had to follow my rule -- always read the book first. Luckily my local library had a copy. This book is amazing! I started reading and couldn't put it down....total binge read.

The book is epistolary. I'm not usually a big fan of that format, but for this story it worked perfectly. I loved all of the characters and the letter format blended right in with the plot. The basics: In 1946, Britain is just starting to recover from the war. Juliet Ashton wrote a humorous columns and books during the war under a male pseudonym. It made her famous and financially independent. But, now she wants more. She's trying to recover from the war as well....and wants to find a project that makes her happy. She receives a letter from a farmer in Guernsey who happens to have one of her old books....her name and address is written inside. They begin to correspond....and she finds her project....writing about the occupation of Guernsey by the Germans and how the locals coped.

This is a beautiful and heart-wrenching story. Loved it! Immediately after reading the book, I watched the Netflix movie. They made some changes that I didn't think were necessary and left out some of the more traumatic occupation stories from the book, but it was an enjoyable movie. Once again I am glad I held out and watched only after reading the book. The book is SO much better than the film....just because they took things out here and there, changed how some characters met, etc. I prefer it how the authors wrote it. And why water down the war stories? I think all the scenes should have been included...even the ones where the German troops were cut off from supplies and eating anything they could find (even stray cats) to keep from starving along with the villagers.

Lovely book! I'm definitely ordering a copy of it for my keeper shelf. It's one I would like to re-read. 

-- I really don't like book covers that have huge circles on them with MOVIE COMING SOON in bright colors. Do they really need to mar the cover art with an ad?? Just a personal opinion --