So, I ended up liking it pretty well, even after I said I was getting bored with it lol. I ended up giving it 4 stars, did not love it enough to give it 5 (but I've said before I'm kind of selective with those). The letter format was interesting and I wasn't sure I'd like it the entire way through, but it ended up working alright for me. I think the letters were descriptive enough that the story was able to be told well.

I don't have any favorite quotes because I am almost never able to commit that type of thing to memory, especially reading the audio version... and idk that I really had any favorite characters? They were all charming in their own way but none exactly stood out to me.

A couple issues I had though - it felt to me like Juliet was so idealized, like everyone fell in love with her right after meeting her and she was just so wonderful. I get that she was the heroine of the story, the protagonist, but it felt like just a little much to me. (Of course, some of my favorite stories are anti-hero as protagonist, so I'm maybe not the most reliable judge here) Really the only person that seemed to have any issue with her was the one lady who wrote a couple times against the literary society (forget her name, sorry), and I REALLY wanted to hear a scathing response from Juliet lol.

Also! The ending... It seemed fairly obvious to me from an early point that Juliet and Dawsey were going to end up together. And tbh there was no build-up of that romance once she actually got to Guernsey, or at least that was how it felt to me, so when it was revealed at the end that they were together, I was just kind of like yeah okay but where was the build up to lead to that? Surely they had a developing relationship before they got engaged? There just seemed to be more to them BEFORE Juliet got to Guernsey than when she was actually there with him.

But overall, I did enjoy it. It was a pretty lovely story with a lot of charming characters.

Yeah, I enjoyed it too. I've seen a lot of people describe it as charming and that pretty much sums it up. It's sweet.

This was one of my biggest gripes, tbh. Juliet was just a little too Mary Sue for my liking. Her personality was a bit one-dimensional and everyone fawning over her got a bit exhausting in the end.

As for the letters, it took me a while to get into the swing of it but the format did add to the overall charm. My main issue here was, remembering what character was writing the letter? Everyone had the same voice, the same style of writing and at times it was hard to distinguish who was who.

The setting being the occupation of the island during WWII is mostly what kept me wanting to read on. The tales of daily struggles but resilience of the residents were the highlights for me. I had to keep going because I wanted to know what happened to Elizabeth!

Also, this is a classic tale of 'don't judge a book by it's cover' because with a title like this I probably wouldn't have given it the time of day usually so thank you Book Seekers!

I’m not one who over analyses anything and I’ve never really been part of a book club before but here we go…

I did enjoy it but I just kind of felt it was lacking a little something. The ending wasn’t exactly a surprise but at the same time, I kind of found my self wanting that to happen so I guess I shouldn’t complain.
It did take me a while to get into the letter style format of things, having only read ‘The Perks of being a Wallflower’ which is a little similar to the letter style in that he writes in a diary so that didn’t throw me off too much when I eventually got into the book.

I really enjoyed learning about WWI and WWII in school so it really was that that kept my interest in this book because I’d honestly never considered what happened to the Chanel Islands in both wars because they don’t generally teach you about it in school. Maybe I’ll have to when this topic comes up in my class now?

I wouldn't have read this book though if it hadn't been for the book seekers though so I am glad I joined! I've already purchased next months book!

This is my first actual review/talk with the book club, I am so excited I finally forced myself to get time to read a book with all of you, well maybe not read since I listened to the audiobook, but you get my point.

The book:

I am so glad I did this with the audiobook and if you didn't I do recommend it, especially if the letters started to mesh together. The audio had different voices for each character and I think that helped me stay focused on who was who. I'm awful exact quotes because I can never remember that specific on things so I don't have a quote, but I just adored this book.

It had a Bridget Jones feel to me at first, I don't know why, but it was the first thing I thought of. I feel like sometimes you just need a light-hearted upbeat story and that is exactly what this was. Just a very cute, light story. It was pretty predictable that Juliet and Dawsey, but there were things that happened throughout that I guess I didn't expect so it helped.

Maybe it was listening to it or maybe it was just my take on the book but some characters I so wished there weren't letters to hear more of their backstory and thoughts. Like Dawsey, I wanted to know more about him or if it was an event in the letter I wish we could have read the actual playout of it not just what was in the letter. I really was said about Elizabeth. I was falling for that character as much as wanting to know more about her. I enjoy having one of the letters go against her and make her not the hero everyone else was. It made her more real that some didn't feel she did well. Her story with the German officer was a great twist as well.

Having WWII information really connected me to it. I like studying that war since my grandfather was part of it and I found myself thinking about where he was during the years they spoke of.

Overall, obviously you can already tell, I truly enjoyed this book and I'm so glad I got to participate.

<3

I'm with Ali, I think the audiobook really helped me to differentiate between who was writing the letters... ^_^ the voices, accents etc helped.

In regards to everyone liking Juliet so quickly, I think that this was an issue because 90% of the book was written from her point of view? (especially when in regards to Guernsey itself). Part of me assumes that if we had seen letters early on from the others, or conversations etc that there would have been at least some sort of headbutting or arguments?

I love that Elizabeth found the best in a German soldier, saved her daughter, tried to help others and helped to save the boy -- and then went to Camp for said boy too. Even learning of the camp from Remy and finding out about the end of her life had me in tears. :imok::imok:

I think it's okay that not everyone LOVES the books we read, and I appreciate that people felt comfortable enough to share what they didn't like. It's exciting to me that we're having good conversation in here!

I really enjoy this book, and it was nice to re-read it. In my mind, the book started to re-shape like the movie, and I had forgotten that the 'what happened to Elizabeth' wasn't really the driving force of the book as it was in the movie. Elizabeth is easily one of my favorite characters, and I adore Isola. And Eben and Booker and even old Adelaide. Also I feel like Kit is my soul friend, the little weird baby. I get what's being said about Juliet being a little Mary Sue, but because she was the narrator (sort of), it felt to me that she was purposefully 'neutral' so we could experience the story through her.

One of the things I enjoy about this book is that the author really REALLY loved books and loved Guernsey. I appreciate that you can feel her love, because it makes Guernsey a living character in the story... and really, books are sort of a character too. They're the center of conversation and conviction through the book; it isn't hard to believe that there are books that can shine a light into the dark spots in people's lives and can build communities out of people who feel isolated.

As for the format, I love epistolary structure in stories. I'd love suggestions on other books written like this.

It isn't in letter form, but have you looked at "The Curious Incident of hte Dog in the Nighttime" ?? It's in a diary format and it blew my mind when I read it the first time through. The play is a work of art too. ^_^

Also, I agree that Guernsey and Books were characters in TGL&PPPS. It reminded me a little bit of when when authors use quotes from other books as chapter titles and you gleam some advance warning about what is coming. I love that ^_^

I really did enjoy the book to be fair. Like a lot of you have said, the author’s fondness of Guernsey really adds to the book. I feel like it gives Juliet a little bit more authenticity and the twist with Elizabeth and the German soldier really was a nice little twist which kept me interested. One thing I did like about the letter style of this book is that we got to find out different people’s perspectives about some of the same incidents. Imagine if we had the Harry Potter books from Ron, Hermione or Dumbledore’s perspective? They might not be amazing but it would be interesting.

You guys are too sweet :x3: Thanks for reading it <3

Right, onto the discussion! :whaa:

1. What were your favourite quotes from this book, if you had any? I didn't have any! I thought this was not a super quotable book, because of the epistolary format. There wasn't really even a lot of "dialogue," persay.
   
   
2. What did you think of the format, with the novel being composed entirely of letters? What do letters offer that no other form of writing (not even emails) can convey? Yes! Usually when I see mixed genres in a book, it's just at the start, and then a traditional narration-dialogue-etc. format takes over. So at first, I kept reading and waiting for the actual book to start, and then finally realized... this was the whole book! :lol: But I enjoyed it.
   
   
3. And which of the members of the Society (or characters in general) was your favourite? I know Juliet definitely has those Mary Sue qualities, but I like her. She has a tempter, too, but it's justified. She really did remind me of a character from Little Women. I like Dawsey, even though I would have liked to hear from him more. And then, probably, the big brother/editor Sidney, and Isola. I like all of them. I also found some of their backstories hilarious, like I think it's Eben, who pretended to be the owner of the big house? :xd:
   
   
4. My only complaint is that the plot was not that... plotty. Elizabeth's outcome was predictable, I thought, but I wonder if I would have felt differently if I hadn't seen the movie first?

I'm wondering if Juliet comes off as a bit of a Mary Sue simply because most of the book is written from her perspective? So of course we hear mostly good things about her as most of the letters are written BY her or about her.

As for the villagers who were so eager to get to know her, I saw it less because she was a perfect person everyone wanted to know, but more because she was an author who was going to write about them. I figure if that happened in real life, EVERYONE would be wanting to get on that person's good side, right? To create better exposure? I do think they genuinely like her at the end but unlike say, Twilight, where Bella was just LOVED simply because she was new, I saw more motivation behind the islanders wanting to get to know her and possibly be featured in her book.

Isola ended up growing on me sooo much. Dawsey I loved right off the bat - and am I the only one who didn't see their romance coming? Maybe I've been reading too many apocalyptic science fiction novels where the love interest is obvious right away so I didn't see it coming this time around :lol:

I'm away this weekend but I will reply to you all individually when I'm back <3

For now...

1. Have you seen the film? If so, how do you think it compares? *still trying to figure out a watch party*
2. Do you agree with Isola that “reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones”?
3. What was the effect of reading a novel about an author’s experiences with writing, editing, and getting published? Did this enhance the book’s realism, though Juliet’s experience is a bit different from that of debut novelist Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece, children’s book author Annie Barrows?
   Thank you again to ReadingGroupGuides for these questions lol
4. AND do you have any questions about the book that you want to ask your fellow Book Seekers?

I haven't seen the film nope. Well. That's a lie. I haven't seen the whole film... I watched about the first .... thirty/forty minutes then got distracted and I haven't gone back to it since we said we were going to read it, I wanted to do that before I went back to finish it.

It doesn't always work, but I try to read books before I watch their film/tv counterpart.


In regards to books, I can either get into them (and devour them) or I can't (and can't read it even if I try). I really really struggle to read a book I don't like... and I wish I could persevere but it doesn't seem to be something I can do >.> Though I love books I fall into.

1. What were your favourite quotes from this book, if you had any?
   “I can’t think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can’t talk to, or worse, someone I can’t be silent with.“
   I honestly hate when I can’t sit in comfortable silence with someone. I have some really good friends who I can just be in the same room doing my own thing and j love that.
   
2. What did you think of the format, with the novel being composed entirely of letters? What do letters offer that no other form of writing (not even emails) can convey?
   It was rough. I think it allows you to see how a character sensors themselves because they’ll say one thing but try to make it not sound that bad. If that makes sense. While it’s nice to have that kind of perspective it is wayyy to hard for me to visualize what’s going on because it’s mostly characters talking about other characters so it’s not easy for me to visualize the setting, the characters, or anything like that.
   
   
3. And which of the members of the Society (or characters in general) was your favourite?
   I really liked Kit. She sounded like a true kid once Juliette got to the island and even in the letters you could see that she was one of the things that kept the islanders strong and pushing forward with their day to day lives.
   
   However I do have to seriously agree with others Juliette was hard for me to get behind and like. I think it was because she just sounded whiny to me at first. Like it was oh bother a book, oh another tour why me. And it was very hard to like her there. Once I got to part two and it became more about the island characters I loved it so much more because it wasn’t a feel sorry for me moment.
   
   I do also agree I wanted so much more of Dawsey.
   
4. My only complaint
   The predictability. It was very predictable. I was kind of let down her suitor (mark) didn’t try harder. And the stealing of letters wasn’t that shocking if that makes sense.

As for the second set of questions....

1. Have you seen the film? If so, how do you think it compares?
   I have not. I’m hoping that maybe I can take a study break (eep) and watch it this weekend.
   
   
2. Do you agree with Isola that “reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones”?
   Yes. I read every book from a couple authors and they’re such good deep dark books that sometimes after I read them I go read something similar and just can’t get past the beginning. It’s very hard.
   
   
3. What was the effect of reading a novel about an author’s experiences with writing, editing, and getting published? Did this enhance the book’s realism, though Juliet’s experience is a bit different from that of debut novelist Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece, children’s book author Annie Barrows?
   I think it’s realistic. So many books about authors is so superficial with the process that you never see the rejection, or the writers block. I follow a lot of indie authors so I hear more of their struggles as they are 100% up front and honest about delays and such. But it was also hard at times because Juliette seemed so... whiny is the only word i can come up with about the issue.
   
   
4. AND do you have any questions about the book that you want to ask your fellow Book Seekers?
   If there was one thing you’d change. Just one thing what would it be and why?