Book of the Week: Part Two

This week, I have started and finished The Lovely War by Julie Berry. It was a fantastic historical fiction novel with a dash of mythology added in. The book takes place from the beginning of World War I to the start of World War Two. To begin, it paints a scene of a music hall, where one of our main characters Hazel is playing the piano, she catches the attention of soon to be soldier James, they end up dancing together and forming a connection that strengthens throughout the novel. They go on three dates before James is sent into combat early at the French front. Hazel goes on to play music for American soldiers at a YMCA to pass the time, both Hazel and James send correspondence every chance they get. 

While at the YMCA, Hazel meets a Bulgarian girl named Collette, who has had every semblance of a home ripped away from her during Germany's siege of Belgium. The YMCA director, Mrs. Davies, really gets under my skin, she is so racist that it made my blood boil. When Hazel asked if she could also play for the African American relief tent because they could use some relaxation just as anyone else would, Davies said that a girl like her wouldn't be safe with the likes of them. This is not the only time that her words have had this connotation. A few days after Hazel arrives at the YMCA, the Fifth Regiment Band played, and Hazel and Collette are introduced to the musical prodigy, Aubrey. 

Aubrey is from the African American relief tent, and he sparks up a romance with Collette, leading to him sneaking into the music room after hours. Mrs. Davies later finds out and throws Hazel and Collette out disgracefully of the YMCA. This was a result of them taking a trip to London to meet up with James for a day. Davies then sends letters to both James and Aubrey about how Aubrey's lieutenant should have trained him better, and how sorry she felt that James had such a disgraceful girlfriend who kept the company of a man at the YMCA when she knew it was only platonic. This leads to a brief silence in communication between Collette and Aubrey, as well as Hazel and James. They later find each other again, Aubrey shows up at Collette's door one day when he got back from war, but for Hazel and James, it was a little more difficult. James was in a mental hospital for shell shock. He was with a comrade when they became nothing but ash as a result of a German flamethrower. He felt that he was a burden, Mrs. Davies's letter helped him there. Hazel tried to reconnect with him by showing up at his door but he told his mother to send her away. She keeps trying, and eventually, they start to build their relationship again. 

The narrator of the story is Aphrodite, she is recounting this human tale while she is on trial in front of her husband Hephaestus, for committing adultery with Ares. She told it to show how she wants to be loved, how she wasn't capable of that kind of human love. She could only make it and placate it. Aphrodite tells about how she had been planning this trial for months because she wanted to know that at the very least, Hephaestus felt something for her. The book ends with Aphrodite and Hephaestus revealing that they loved each other, and always thought the other wouldn't reciprocate it. All in all, what I got out of this book was the importance of communication. That if you communicate your feelings, your problems would be fixed at a much quicker rate. For all of the characters in this book, a happy ending meant communicating all of your fears and concerns. Hopefully, this book will remind me in times of need to communicate my feelings instead of bottling it up because I don't know how people will respond.

I'll keep you updated.

-Michelle