A WWI Story Within a Story

When I first read the description of Julie Berry's new novel Lovely War, I immediately picked it up to read.

Berry weaves a wonderful World War I story which is told inside of a story set in World War II. The World War I story of an English soldier and his girl and a Belgian girl and an African American soldier keeps the reader interested. Berry pulls in the story of young first love and the horror of war both from the viewpoint of soldiers and their loved ones. Berry also explores the racism experienced by African American soldiers-particularly at the hands of southern soldiers and the work women were forced to take on during the war. Her research is impeccable as demonstrated by a thorough afterword in which Berry tells what parts of her story are based on truth and provides a length bibliography for further reading. Readers will be tempted to pull up early ragtime and jazz tunes as they are mentioned frequently.

The World War II portion occurs in December of 1942. The characters are Greek gods such as Aphrodite, Ares, Apollo, and others who are engaged in a trial. The World War I story is narrated primarily by Aphrodite during the course of the trial. This story within a story provides the opportunity for the various Greek gods to provide insight into the story of how they caused this event to happen and welcome characters to Hades.

While the story within a story construct provides the opportunity to bring in some interesting information about the Greek gods and goddesses, I felt this extra information weighed the story down. The explanation at the beginning of the story about the gods made the beginning chapters difficult to get through. When I came to the sections where the gods interacted during the trial scenes or added commentary to the story, I just wanted to get back to what was happening with our main characters.

Lovely War is a young adult novel geared towards readers 12 and up. While this book has no inappropriate physical interaction, it is a war story and war is horrific. As such I would recommend this book to older YA readers, 14 and up. Many adults who enjoy a good war romance will also enjoy this story so do not let the YA label keep you from enjoying it as well.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book Lovely War from Penguin Group via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.