The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Review by Shwetha H S

Imprint: Dial Press
ISBN: 1984801813
Genre: Historical, Drama, Fiction, Humour

The late author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer, passed away due to cancer a few months before the book was released. Her niece and co-author, Annie Barrows, stepped into her shoes to complete the book and make it see the light of the day. I am glad it happened. If not, I would have missed one witty book by female authors.

Juliet Ashton is a writer with few books to her name. She is not the typical girl of the WW2 era. Not coy, not timid. She is a person of her own mind and that mind of hers makes her pursue things that lead to her betterment. Wow. I love her. I see myself in her. I would totally do whatever she did in the situations she faced in the book. Getting back on track, she is an orphan but has close friends to call family, Sophie and Sidney. Under certain circumstances, she befriends the members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on the island of Guernsey under the nationality of England. When she gets to know the problems they faced during German occupation of the island and more intriguing facts about a few people, she decides to go to the island herself leaving behind a suitor, Mark, and her book publicity tour. There she finally meets her pen pals with whom she had developed a bonding over the letters. Amelia, Isola, Eben, Dawsey, Elizabeth, her daughter Kit, and Will are the prominent characters from the island. They all are present in person except Elizabeth who is in all the narrations of others. What happens between all these characters is the rest of the story. Each character in the story is different, but I kind of didn’t gel well with Isola. She was too much for me. If she were real, I would not have tolerated her bubbly nature.

I have personally never liked the epistolary format of books. Robinson Crusoe, Frankenstein, Swiss Family Robinson, they all bored me to death and I came alive by finishing them with audiobooks. But The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is different. I fell in love with the way letters are written. The narration is witty. So humorous that I want to wake Mary from her grave and kiss her and surrender to Annie for the prowess they exhibit in this book. Chuck the movie. Read the book. The movie does zero justice to the story and doesn’t even follow the same storyline completely.

Pluviophile by Aarohi Brar

Review by Shwetha H S

Pluviophile is a love story that would make you cuddle. You know it is going to be what you are thinking on your mind, but how is the question that keeps you reading it till the end. This love story with quite a few twists and turns as well as a fitting title is a perfect read during this monsoon.

What is exceptional about this story is the way it is narrated; two people narrating their point of view of the same story without clashing with each other is not only unique, but also saves people from exaggerating on the other’s point of view. This kind of narration reminds me of Jhumpa Lahiri’s story of Hema and Kaushik in her book of short stories called Unaccustomed Earth. Another plus point is fewer characters; it doesn’t burden your brain to remember to many characters and what they do. The number of characters is so less that you can count them on your fingers.

The one and only thing that is bothering me about Juliet’s emotions depicted in this story is how she can get involved with Derek while she is newly widowed, still genuinely mourning the death of her beloved husband, find out who Derek is and again go back to mourning about her dead husband. Let’s just blame it on her vulnerable situation. Apart from this, every other character is relatable. Pluviophile won’t disappoint you.