ISBN: 9780385341004
Publisher: Random House Publishing
Rating: B+
It is 1946, the year after the German Occupation of the Channel Islands off the coast of England has ended. Here lies a story of rebirth and change and coping through friendship and books. There is a quote on the dust jacket of this book that instantly connected me to this book; “I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” How profoundly true this sentiment is, especially to someone who loves books as much as I do.
My only wish is that I felt as amazed by this book as the women who recommended it to me. Don’t get me wrong, I think it was beautiful and poignant, but as sometimes happens I was left expecting too much. I try not to read books like this at the height of their popularity because it doesn’t matter, someone’s feelings will always be in the back of my mind and it will influence my interpretation of the book. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society will remain one of these instances.
Barrows and Schaffer wrote a beautiful story and although for me the characters never reached their full potential there were moments of perfection. Moments matter especially when a book tugs at your heart strings as this one does, however I wanted all the moments to matter and I am feeling that some moments just didn’t belong. I will say knowing Guernsey is a real place and they did have to rebuild after the Occupation; that I want to see how far they’ve come which shows how alive the setting became and how important it was the story.
