Review of 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is epistolary, meaning the novel's construction is in letters among the characters. In 1946 London and Guernsey, writer Juliet Ashton researches the German Occupation stories and memories of Guernsey's main island occupants. Juliet Ashton's heart travels a great deal. Late into the novel, when Juliet visits the island, fourteen to twenty pages feel like one of the pair of writers Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer experimented with romance novel tropes, as if an editor or early reader pointed out "look here, you've only suggested that Character V is "this" early and midway through, why don't you spell it out later in the novel for people who haven't figured it out yet?" Also the clanger letter where sharp, independent Ashton uncharacteristically turns to a fluffhead in second-guessing another's feeling and intention had me shaking my head. Otherwise this is an engaging read.
