Book Thoughts: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Such a long title, no? Well, I finished reading this book over the weekend, and as it was a book involved in the local library summer reading series, tonight was the discussion forum at the library. I've been doing the library books series for the last year and a half, and it continues to be a very worthwhile venture into the small town. Its nice to meet people with similar interests, in a setting that I feel comforable in; and I always love discussing a good book, and we have had a lot of them in their various series.

The setting of the book itself is fairly straightforward, and not at all complicated. Guernsey is a small island, part of a group of islands known as the Channel Islands, located between England and France. The novel is placed primarily on Guernsey, with some references to London, during the end of World War II. Guernsey was actually occupied by the Germans during WWII, apparently part of their plan to eventually invade England. The book, while not claiming to be historically accurate to that occupation, relates the stories of the inhabitants of the island during the occupation. The novel is written entirely in letters, between a writer who lives in London and people on the island. Through random chance, an islander contacts the author to request a book, and as the story progresses, the author decides to write a book about the occupation of the island during the war. Thus, she ends up having much correspondence with those on the island regarding their experiences, and visits the island as well.

Throughout all the letter writing, the book progresses very easily, never feeling disjointed. Through the content of the letters, as well as the manner in which they are written, you end up learning a great deal about the personality of the characters. And the writing style itself, letters, seemed to give the book a different, almost more personal touch. The characters, like the writing style, are memorable, unique, and more personal than many novels.

The long title of the book is a reference to a group that the islanders founded during the occupation. Without getting into how the group was formed and other details, I think the novel speaks to how fellowship is such a builder of strength during trying times. In this case, it was during a time when people faced having their homeland occupied by a former army, having curfew imposed on their freedoms, facing lack of food and any resources or news from the outside world, and the continual threat of being shipped to a "camp" somewhere in mainland Europe. Definitely trying times, but to the characters of the book, fellowship allowed to find inner strength, different perspectives, mutual affection, and even humor. The society formed created a fellowship, that while it did nothing to oppose the physical occupation of their homeland, stopped the situation from being an occupation of their very beings.

And I think that's the message that I will take away from this book, how important fellowship can be in overcoming those difficult situations. Not in the having someone to lean on sense, but in the having someone to lean with, to live with, to experience with, to share with. Human beings, I think, are very much social creatures. I think we become our strongest, in the truest sense of that word, when our experiences and our lives are shared. Thus, the book genuinely has fellowship triumphing over the natural disunity that war creates, and serves as an important lesson for us to remember to strive for fellowship, so that we may overcome the struggles and tribulations in our lives.