The Guernsey Potato Peel Society

The Triple B Club Book Review for the "Potato" book. 

Member Absent-Sharon

 Let's be frank, and we all agreed on this, the title--to put it mildly--blows.   I don't know if the author wanted  an odd title in hopes to catch the eye of a few potential readers or just did not know better but, whatever the case may be,  the title of this book is very unappealing.  On my own, I would never have picked up this book to read because I usually shy away from words I don't know how to pronounce and Guernsey is a doozy of a title.  Also, long titles don't really do me in unless it starts with Harry Potter.  However, boy, would I, and the other 10 members agreed, be missing out on something if I turned up my nose at this book and did not give it a second look.  

We started off the meeting giving our thoughts and reflections on the book.  At times there have been some books that all of us despised and other times we were split down the middle.  However, we all agreed that this book was fantastic for many reasons but first let me mention one thing that made it a little standoffish at first, for most of us that is.  When we first approached the book we felt that since the format was through letters we thought it would be really difficult to connect and learn about the characters.  I learned that this format has a name in the literary world, epistolary.  I also learned that some people enjoy this style because it adds a different element to the writing.  So, to each her own!  I will be honest, it took me about 30 pages in before I was hooked.  I even put the book down for a few weeks and focused my attention on the Percy Jackson series.  However, when I picked the book back up and gave it 100% of my attention I was smitten with ALL the characters regardless of the format.  By the end of the book, we actually liked the letter format and felt it did not take away from the book but added to it because we were able to get multiple perspectives from the characters.  Looking back, and this wasn't mentioned at our meeting, I wish she included a letter from Kit to Sidney.  That would have been cool.

After we discussed our hesitation because of the letter format and got that out of the way we started to dive deeper into what we loved about the book.  We took a round robin approach and had each of us share our opinion.  Karen started off with a, "I liked the book."  and ended with that.  However, we pushed and prodded to get more out of her.   Then Ann went next and said she liked the time period it was set in (we all agreed with that) and she loved the friendships that developed in the story.  As the night wore on, a lot of us mentioned the friendship theme and felt that was one of the most important aspects that made the book great.  Then Lisa B went and mentioned what she loved most was the intertexuality that ran rampant throughout the book.  Lisa B even brought a HUGE book that included the works of Oscar Wilde (I thought he was just an actor or a hot dog mogul) and Charles Lamb.  Two authors that were a focus throughout the story.  Lisa B enlightened us with a tidbit of knowledge that Charles Lamb was a stutterer just like our beloved Dawsey.  Marisa interjected and statied, "She really appreciated Lisa's sharing this gigantor book because, not being familiar with the authors mentioned in the book, she wondered if those that knew their work got more from the reading (like hidden messages)."  Now Marisa knows that being more well read makes reading books even more worthwhile!  

One of us mentioned, and I can't recall whom at this moment, that even though she knew about the concentration camps during World War II she had no idea some of the other things that occurred during that time.  This novel gave us insight into a bit of history you don't find in your every day history books.  It brought us to a small bit of an island that felt the devastations of  war and the impact it had on their everyday life.  As mothers, we wondered if we would be able to send our children off in this frightening time not knowing if we would ever see them again.  Would we have been selfish if we made them stay with us?  During war why does their have to be such abuse and pain dealt out to civilians by soldiers? What is the point of that? 

Overall, what I believe made this book a Triple B Club Worthy of 11 Toasts was the connection that was made with the characters.  We really came to love everyone on the island and wanted to move there pronto.  Shaffer and Barrows did an excellent job creating characters that touched our hearts and sucked us into their world-even if that world was being tortured by war and death.  Those two even cast a friendly light on an "enemy" soldier and showed that there is good in people even if your knee-jerk reaction is to think otherwise about them.  

So, being this is our first official Triple B Club Book review, it is only appropriate that  we give 11 (because one member was absent and did not share in the review) out of 11 Toasts  to this book.  We highly recommend reading this book, you will not be disappointed!!   

If you have read the book please leave your thoughts about the book here--even if they do not agree with ours!