Posted by: Mary Ellen
More buzz about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Yesterday a review in The Christian Science Monitor; this morning an interview on NPR with one of the authors, Annie Barrows, who finished the book after her aunt, Mary Ann Shaffer, died.
I have to say I don’t absolutely love this book, which I reviewed for Booklist. I think the first section, when Juliet is still in London and on the receiving end of all those wonderful letters from the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, is delightful. The second part, when Juliet goes to Guernsey, seems to deflate a bit. One of the difficulties is the epistolary form, which doesn’t work quite as well once most of the letters are being written by Juliet herself. I also think the second part has a few problems with tone. It’s still a great reading group choice, however, because it can be approached from so many angles. In that way, it’s a bit like Water for Elephants, another imperfect book that provides multiple avenues for discussion.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Dear Book Group Buzz,
Do you read works by independent authors? I have published an historical novel, War on the Margins (originally my Master’s Thesis), about the German occupation of the Channel Islands during WWII. In cinema-speak, I guess you could call it a “prequel” to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The Surrealist artists Claude Cahun (Lucille Schwob) and Marcel Moore (Suzanne Malherbe) figure prominently; they were Resistance propagandists on Jersey, and spent time in prison. I have had Cahun’s prison notes and diaries translated from the French.
Please let me know if you would like me to send you a copy.