by Chris Cleave
Read: January 13-24, 2019
Publication date: May 3, 2016
Genre: Historical Fiction
It's 1939 and Mary, a young socialite, is determined to shock her blueblood political family by volunteering for the war effort. She is assigned as a teacher to children who were evacuated from London and have been rejected by the countryside because they are infirm, mentally disabled, or—like Mary's favorite student, Zachary—have colored skin.
Tom, an education administrator, is distraught when his best friend, Alastair, enlists. Alastair, an art restorer, has always seemed far removed from the violent life to which he has now condemned himself. But Tom finds distraction in Mary, first as her employer and then as their relationship quickly develops in the emotionally charged times. When Mary meets Alastair, the three are drawn into a tragic love triangle and—while war escalates and bombs begin falling around them—further into a new world unlike any they've ever known
________________________________________________________________________
Why did you read this book?
The first thing that really drew me in was the title of this book: “Everyone Brave is Forgiven”. I just loved it. I am also very interested in WWII era novels, so this book quickly made it to my to-read list.
What did you like about this book?
One unexpected thing about this book was the humor in it. There were several moments that a character would say or do something that made me start to giggle out loud. I am thinking specifically of the double date that the four main characters go on. Most of these moments I would then read aloud to my roommate. It is rare that a book makes me laugh, even intentionally comedic books, so the fact that this one did was pretty impressive. This book also managed to capture some of the worst parts of war in such a nonchalant way that left me in shock after it happened. I’d have to go back and reread several paragraphs just to make sure I read it right. Important moments happened so abruptly and the characters were left to deal with the aftermath. I think that is one area where this book shined — capturing the desolation and helplessness that comes after the characters go through what they do.
What didn’t you like about this book?
The pacing of this book fluctuated in a way that made it difficult for me to get through the book. It started slow, picked up a little, slowed back down, sped up, crawled, etc. The book felt like it went on for ages without anything happening. I have read books like this before and enjoyed them, but in those cases I felt very connected to the characters. I didn’t find that in these characters. Most of them I felt indifferent towards at best. Alistair was the one character I remotely liked and even then, he was just the best out of a handful of bland options. The main thing that really turned me off to this book was the unsatisfying conclusion. I can put up with a slow-paced book if the end is good. The ending to this book just...ended. The story lines that had been slowly building throughout the whole book were not resolved. I was very unsatisfied.
Bottom-Line:
I’m glad I read the book. It was worth reading at least once. I may even read it twice. However, this is not going to be a book that I pick up year after year, excited to reunite with the setting and the characters. I would recommend this only to lovers of books and lovers of history.
Favorite Quotes:
“The worst thing would be to decide that it was love, and then to discover - after one was taken - that it hadn't been. No: the worst thing would be to decide that it wasn't love, and then to discover years later - old and unconsoled - that it had been. No: the worst thing - the worst, worst thing - was this having to decide.”
“This was how a kind heart broke, after all: inward, making no shrapnel.”
“But what good is it to teach a child to count, if you don't show him that he counts for something?”
“To be in love was to understand how alone one had been before. It was to know that if one were ever alone again, there would be no exemption from the agony of it. It wasn’t the happiest feeling.”
“Stupid is you can’t learn, ignorant is you haven’t learned yet.”
