Review - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer

Juliet Ashton, a writer who is promoting her new book, written under the pseudonym Izzy Bickerstaff. The book is a collection of humorous stories about life during World War II. However, Juliet still wanted to write according to her heart's desires,

In mid-January, Juliet, who lived in London, received a letter from Dawsey Adams, a foreigner from Guernsey. Dawsey knows Juliet's address from a book entitled Selected Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb which once belonged to Juliet, after a long journey the book fell into Dawsey's arms.

"I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true. "

(Juliet Ashton) 

Guernsey is an island in the Chanel archipelago on the border between England and France. Juliette is impressed that Adams is part of the literary book club The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The correspondence between Juliet and Dawsey continues, Dawsey tells that The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a book club that was accidentally created during the German occupation, but the club continues to this day even after the war is over. Juliet was immediately interested in their stories and experiences during the war, then she began corresponding with several island residents, they convinced Juliet to come visit Guernsey.

"That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a

book, and that tiny thing will lead you on to another book, and another bit there will lead you on to a third book. It’s geometrically progressive—all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment." (Juliet Ashton)

Each character and member of the Guernsey book club, has a dark background about World War II. In the difficult and tense war situation, The Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book club meeting was a positive way for them to forget the meaning of war, loss and loneliness, so that they finally found simple happiness. With Juliet's arrival on the island of Guernsey, Juliet's enthusiasm for writing immediately increased and finally Juliet found writing material that truly suited her heart's desire.

This is the first time I have read an interactive epsitolary novel, although it does not have the normal chapter division, but the collection of letters is ordered chronologically based on the date of the letter and told through various correspondence between characters. At first it was a bit confusing because there were too many points of view, but over time you got used to it because each character had a unique writing characteristic. I read this book in the English version published by Bloomsbury.

Rating Ruang Buku Megga: ✬✬✬✬ (4/5)