It is rather easy to get overwhelmed and unimpressed with the plethora of World War II novels that currently exist and are constantly being published. I even posted about another one just last month. But, SURPRISE! This is a World War ONE novel so it is completely different.
That's not just an exaggeration, what makes The Lovely War by Julie Berry different is that it is narrated by Greek gods. Yes. Fictional Greek gods. I know. I heard a lot of raves about this book but every one of them also mentioned the Greek gods and I didn't see how they made sense as narrators. But I was finally worn down by all the praise and got it from the library. Then, as typically happens, it sat in my library stack for a few days (weeks) until I got to it. Then I blew through it pretty fast.
The story centers around Hazel and James who meet in England, days before James is going to be shipped to France to fight. Hazel is the pianist at a church dance they both attend. They dance, they spend precious little time together, and then James is sent to the war. Hazel is desperate to do her part and signs up to work the YMCA tents which were at army camps in France to provide entertainment and comfort to the soldiers. (I had no idea these tents were a thing.)
There Hazel meets Collete, who has a magnificent voice and they become fast friends. The girls together meet Aubrey who is a Black jazz musician from the States. There are A LOT of feelings all around about where the Black regiments can fight and he ends up at the same base as the girls. They are all musicians of sorts and work on performing together before their little group is split up. Meanwhile, Hazel is keeping up a correspondance with James.
Then WAR THINGS HAPPEN.
And the Greek gods? Well a few of them are having their own little skirmish in a hotel room in a different time, debating is age old question, if all is fair in love and war. It probably could have been a pretty similar book without the addition of the gods but they also added some light-hearted moments and interesting interpretations of the events of these young people. It took a little bit of extra thinking to keep them all straight but it didn't matter too much if they got a little mixed up.
What I liked about this book: I don't read much World War I literature and so this was an interesting and fascinating look at a different although similar war. I can't say I'm very familiar with the names and places associated with WWII but I am more familiar with them than I am with WWI people & places. It added a little bit to be a little less clear on where the war was going next.
This was also a very chaste book but still with lots of romance. I would be very comfortable passing this on to a younger teenager without worrying about the content (I mean, there is also a war going on but at least no graphic love scenes). It was still plenty charming and I got through the book fairly quickly because I just wanted to know what was going to happen to these couples.
Even though this takes place during a war, it is written with such an innocence. These main four characters are all still young and don't have a lot of life experience before this war. They experience a lot of new people and many new places and new music as a result of the war. It was a very different time 100 years ago.
This really was a lovely read (had to do it!) and I really enjoyed my time with Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. Who knew Greek gods could be good narrators to a story about American and British young adults during a war not set in Greece?
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