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Library Director’s Notebook August, 2009 I just read a mouthful,...

Mon, 08/17/2009 - 2:59pm -- KChin



Library Director’s Notebook

August, 2009

I just read a mouthful, or I should say a book with a mouthful of a title: The Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato Peel Pie Society.  Written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, this novel might have fallen prey to the temptation to be as cute as its title. Instead, it soars into the exalted land of funny-but-serious-charming-but-believable-can’t-stop-reading-it-have-to-tell-everyone-about-it. In fact, this book has taken off internationally, primarily by word of mouth, and I’m sure somewhere in Hollywood a team of creative people are casting for the movie now. (My pick for the heroine would be Anne Hathaway!)

All kidding aside, this book has heart, with a generous dollop of intellect thrown in. It’s the story of a young woman  named Juliet Ashton who has had a mild success penning humorous essays about everyday life during WWII in England and is now casting about for a new topic.  Out of the blue she receives a letter from a man named Dawsey  Adams from Guernsey (located in the islands in the English channel between England and France) who writes that by a strange coincidence he recently bought a used copy of the essays by the English writer Charles Lamb. The used book has her name on the inside cover, and she realizes it was a copy of the book she had had to sell when she moved to a smaller flat. Dawsey writes with heartfelt pleasure about how the book opened the world of reading to him, and Juliet, deeply touched, muses, “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.”

Yes, this is a book about readers and reading, the thrill of discovering books, the deep satisfaction of sharing those discoveries with others. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is formed, however, not from a love of books but through a sudden need to create a plausible reason why several of the Guernsey Islanders are caught outside after curfew.  The curfew had been imposed by the Germans who had invaded the island, hoping to use it as a jumping off point for the ultimate invasion of Briton.  The islanders, at first hopeful that Briton would come to their rescue, realize pretty quickly that the British have their hands full defending their own island from the increasingly deadly German air attacks.  For the remainder of the war the Guernsey islanders suffered terrible hardships and loss of life as they struggled to maintain some sanity and sense of normalcy, despite severe food shortages, harsh laws, and harsher punishments.

But that is in the past, albeit the very immediate past, and the islanders are trying to rebound in a post war world.  Little by little Juliet is drawn into their world and sees in their courage, warmth, and robust common sense a life she can truly admire and share with her readers.  But the course of writing, like true love, is often rocky and torturous, and Juliet gets her share of both.

This book is written in a series of letters that serve to reveal quite a bit about Juliet’s thoughts and feelings as she grows ever more intimate with the islanders, and as she keeps connections strong with her other friends, including her publisher who guides and encourages her with gently mocking good humor.  There is also a very serious sub-text as Juliet learns of the brave island woman named Elizabeth McKenna,  whose irrepressible love and courage become the centerpiece of her new book.

I won’t say anymore, except this is a book to be read, if possible, in one day.  There’s a breathlessness about the letters that propel you along at lightening speed, and it seems too frustrating to have to put the book down for long.  So set aside a day, or a weekend, if you can, to do little else than read this book. Or if that proves impossible, read it whenever you can manage, but read it!

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