re:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Robin
I didn't mind it. I have no experience reading epistolary books, so I don't know good from bad, and maybe I cut it more slack than it deserved. It seemed very disjointed and stilted, but I assumed that was a consequence of the epistolary style.
It's more likely that I gave it a pass for teaching me things I hadn't known about what happened in Guernsey during the war, and because its descriptions of life in Belsen and Dachau made me think of "friends of friends" I knew who'd been in those camps, and much closer friends whose stories were similar to those told in the book of the Guernsey occupation.
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As a contrast to issybird's comments: I thoroughly enjoyed the book (in fact my comment posted here at the time was "loved it"), and I think the movie was a good adaptation.
I can see the merit of issybird's criticisms, and I often steer clear of war stories because they can feel exploitative. But it might also be argued that any emotive fiction (and Guernsey was deliberately emotive) is exploitative, so the true measure of success for the story is whether the reader feels exploited or whether they feel the emotions. For me this one worked.
And I agree there were some technical/execution issues with the writing, but as is so often the case, since I was enjoying the ride those issues didn't concern me overly much. Had I been bored I'm sure I would have been more critical.