the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society :: mary ann shafer, annie burrows

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Author: Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Burrows
Publisher: Dial Press, 2009
Read: August 2009; NYC
Format: trade paperback

What Happens: Juliet Ashton both writes and receives a lot of letters.

In them, we learn that World War II has just ended and that recently-occupied Europe is starting to pick up the pieces. Juliet’s popular newspaper column ends along with the war and she, too, is trying to figure out what’s next.

She soon receives a letter from a member of a ‘Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ on Guernsey, a small island in the English Channel. Her curiosity about the club and its members eventually prompts her to visit. There, she meets lively characters, learns of the war's effect on the islands and eventually discovers how she wants to spend the next chapter of her life.

Okay: So, beyond my humble opinion that it’s good, there’s not a lot to say about this one. It’s not super deep, heart-wrenching or anything like that. I found it really satisfying and entertaining, nonetheless. Its strengths, I suppose, lie in the characters and plot execution.

It’s important to note that almost every letter is either written to or by Juliet, the center of the epistolary novel's flurry. In her early letters, she sometimes comes off as flippant and maybe even a bit spoiled. Sure, we see that she is witty and clever, but wonder - if just initially - whether, in her, these will be good or bad traits. Thankfully, as we continue to read her letters, her character fills out: Yes, she can be glib, but she is also sensitive, caring and self-aware.

The other characters are incredibly lovable, but their development is a little thinner, of course. Although we read them through their own words, we’re only privy to those that address Juliet. All told, though, it’s no less satisfying than any other limited-perspective narration.

As for the plot, I suppose enjoyment of it rests in whether you can get behind the whole epistolary novel thing. Some decry them as gimmicky. Some (maybe more) tout their long literary history. Either way, The Guernsey...Society successfully employs the mode to execute the plot. Some might argue that the use of the device is more successful than the plot itself.

I mean, the letters don't just unfold the characters, they advance the plot and lay out Guernsey's rich history as well. They provide an imaginative execution for what is maybe not the world’s most groundbreaking plot. That is, the letters and how they move the book along make fresh what is, at its core, another story of self-discovery and love.

Overall, The Guernsey...Society is a lovely story and sentimental in just the right amount. Personally, I didn’t cry or anything. I do know some people who did, though. You know who you are.

Also excellent: it takes no time to read. This earns the whole letter thing another point in my eyes.

Light, charming and sweet. Definitely worth the couple of hours it takes to read:
4 out of 5 stars.

the no. 1 ladies' detective agency :: alexander mccall smith

Title: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

Author: Alexander McCall Smith

Publisher: Anchor

Read: June 2009; Madrid, MAD>JFK

Format: Kindle

In sum: The Botswana backdrop and its lively inhabitants are given their first chance to charm you in the pilot of McCall-Smith’s popular mystery series.

I understand why people have latched onto this series. Sort of. The #1 Lady herself, Precious Ramotswe, is a wonderful character, full of sensitivity, warmth and courage. She's experienced loss, heartbreak and abuse. But she not only makes the best of her situation, but is even brave enough to take the risk of opening a Ladies' Detective Agency, her longtime dream.

While business is slow at first, her first cases do allow McCall-Smith to set the geographic and cultural landscape of Mma Ramotswe's Botswana. The mysteries center around adultery, religious zeal, Southern African life, fraud and child abuse. But, the heaviness of these topics is far from dwelled upon. Instead, more time and pages are devoted to painting the scene of Gaborone, telling Prcious' history and developing her lovely and memorable companions. Specifically, her skillful. rigid and hilarious secretary Mma Makutsi breathes incredible life to every scene she is in. Also, the adorable, doting Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni warms the page, even when he doesn't bring excitement.

Great characters and setting aside, I felt the pace of this first installment to be a little too slow for my tastes. What I remember most of the novel is wanting more to happen or, rather, for it to move more quickly. I know it's a little unfair to enjoy the effect of the author's descriptive writing but find its telling tedious, but that's just how it is.

Also unfair: For me, it was hard to observe the Death of This Author and, frankly, I felt funny about this older white man writing in with sing-songy, cartoonish cadence for this Botswanan woman. The whole thing left a vaguely colonialist taste in my mouth, which I recognize to be wholly undeserved, untrue and unfair. Yes, I know he is African. It still felt funny, though.

Sweet. But slow:
2.5 out of 5 stars*


*I keep going back and forth between 2.5 and 3 for this one. The deciding factor? I've had the second book loaded up on my Kindle for months and have not at all been tempted to read it.