When I first heard about Lovely War by Julie Berry, I remember thinking, "Whoa, that's ambitious." And it is. The scope and depth of this story with all of its intricacies and thematic elements is massive. Berry manages to hold it all together beautifully. She managed it so beautifully that it is so far my favorite YA read of 2019.
The ecstasies and the wounds of love were Aphrodite's work. Forging passions was what she was born to do. She, too, was a welder, a mistress of fire of a different sort, working in materials more powerful and resistant than carbon and iron. And what did that toil do to her?
In 1942 New York City while men are partying on the eve of shipping off to war, a stunning couple arrives at a hotel in the midst of the revelry and departs for their room followed by an overly enthusiastic bellboy. But none of these figures are as they appear. The couple is Aphrodite and Ares on a secret assignation that turns out to be not so secret as the bellboy is Aphrodite's husband Hephaestus, who is there to trap them. Caught in the net her husband forged, Aphrodite proposes a private trial where she will explain her work and the impossibility of the goddess of love ever being truly loved herself. To assist with her story she calls on Ares and brings in both Apollo and Hades. For what goes better with epic love than war, music, and death? Together they weave the tale of four individuals whose lives collided thanks to love, war, music, and the always present specter of death three decades prior:
James Alderidge is a young, British future architect headed off to the western front in mere days. His life is forever altered by one chance attending of a dance where he meets the love of his life right before its devastated by the realities of war.
Hazel Windicott is a shy, talented pianist who always offers to play piano rather than dance while never dreaming her playing will attract the attention of a handsome soldier she discovers she can't live without. Their chance meeting and whirlwind romance forever change the course of her life and she soon finds herself headed to France as a YMCA volunteer to help cheer the morale of the troops.
Aubrey Edwards is a prodigy of a piano player who is a member of the famous African American 15th Infantry headed to France with visions of earning glory in both music and battle. He is not thinking of girls or the possibility of love until he meets a beautiful singer who moves his muse and ignites more than one passion in his soul.
Colette Fournier is a young, devastated Belgian woman whose life was tragically ravished in the first few days of the war. Alone in the world, she finds solace in singing and has shut herself off from the sort of close connections that devastate when they are lost. She isn't counting on meeting two fabulously talent pianists who offer the friendship, closeness, compassion, and the love she is desperately missing. Now she has a best friend and a love for the ages that could be snatched away at any moment.
Like I said, the premise of this is ambitious. It is a frame story where the frame is intrinsically important because it deals with gods, fate, and the meddling of the divine in human affairs. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the mythopoeic, particularly when it deals with the relationship of the human and the divine. I have rather high standards for it though, and this story hurdled right over them.
Within the frame is a story that would be an excellent work of historical fiction all on its own. The characters of James, Hazel, Aubrey, and Colette are wonderfully layered and their stories exquisitely told. I love all four of them so much. So. Much. I could read at least a thousand more words about them and never grow bored. Through each of them we see a different perspective on the first world war. James gives the reader the up close personal devastation of a soldier on the front lines. In a weird twist of fate, James is a crack shot and is made into a sniper. The psychological trauma of so many close-up kills, the sites he sees, and the friends he loses demonstrate exactly how devastating war is on the combatants. Hazel is thoroughly sheltered and innocent before her arrival in France. Through befriending Colette and Aubrey she gets a second-hand look into how devastating a place the world can be. Then she gets to personally experience it as she encounters trials as a volunteer near the front and then has to contend with the possibility of losing James to the horrors he has witnessed and endured. Through Aubrey we are given a window into the segregation of the US Army and the atrocities that were heaped on soldiers only trying to serve a country that didn't value them the same as their fellow, white soldiers. Colette shows the reader what life was like for the civilians whose lives were trampled and devastated by the war before they even realized there was anything to worry about. It is a startling picture of how normal life can be blown apart in a flurry of bullets and fire bombs abruptly and instantly. Berry does an exquisite job of making the reader feel everything all four of them experience. They are like real people who you can't help but love. Despite the fact that I was fully immersed and wanted to keep reading to the end, I had to take breaks just to breathe a couple of times. The story is a sweeping one that encompasses the last year or so of the war in all its horrors and triumphs. Through it all, the use of music as a balm for the soul and lifeline that carries the characters through is artistically masterful.
I didn't expect to find myself as fully invested in the frame as I was though. I thought that was going to be merely intellectual. But dang it if I didn't fall in love with Aphrodite and Hephaestus. And Hades. Hades is marvelous in this. I want a whole book just about this Hades. (Pleeaasse, Julie Berry. Give us a companion novel with him and Persephone. That would make my year.) Apollo is the charming rogue he always is, which is absolutely delightful. Ares is an ass. There's one in every family. His part is crucial for reasons other than the obvious one of war though, and that is entertaining. Let's return to my love for Aphrodite though. The reason the reader loves the four characters so much and so fast is due to how Aphrodite describes them. It's in how much she loves them, her passion for the work she does, the pain it often causes her, the loneliness she feels. It's all powerful and more real than I expected coming from a goddess.
The entire thing is woven together masterfully. It requires patience and a willingness to sit through a story well told, but it is well worth it in every way.
Lovely War is being marketed as YA, yet it has crossover adult market appeal as well. The characters are all adults in the world in which they live. Hazel is the youngest at 18. This is definitely for more mature YA readers and would make a good read for anyone who enjoys excellently written and researched historical fiction.
The ecstasies and the wounds of love were Aphrodite's work. Forging passions was what she was born to do. She, too, was a welder, a mistress of fire of a different sort, working in materials more powerful and resistant than carbon and iron. And what did that toil do to her?
In 1942 New York City while men are partying on the eve of shipping off to war, a stunning couple arrives at a hotel in the midst of the revelry and departs for their room followed by an overly enthusiastic bellboy. But none of these figures are as they appear. The couple is Aphrodite and Ares on a secret assignation that turns out to be not so secret as the bellboy is Aphrodite's husband Hephaestus, who is there to trap them. Caught in the net her husband forged, Aphrodite proposes a private trial where she will explain her work and the impossibility of the goddess of love ever being truly loved herself. To assist with her story she calls on Ares and brings in both Apollo and Hades. For what goes better with epic love than war, music, and death? Together they weave the tale of four individuals whose lives collided thanks to love, war, music, and the always present specter of death three decades prior:James Alderidge is a young, British future architect headed off to the western front in mere days. His life is forever altered by one chance attending of a dance where he meets the love of his life right before its devastated by the realities of war.
Hazel Windicott is a shy, talented pianist who always offers to play piano rather than dance while never dreaming her playing will attract the attention of a handsome soldier she discovers she can't live without. Their chance meeting and whirlwind romance forever change the course of her life and she soon finds herself headed to France as a YMCA volunteer to help cheer the morale of the troops.
Aubrey Edwards is a prodigy of a piano player who is a member of the famous African American 15th Infantry headed to France with visions of earning glory in both music and battle. He is not thinking of girls or the possibility of love until he meets a beautiful singer who moves his muse and ignites more than one passion in his soul.
Colette Fournier is a young, devastated Belgian woman whose life was tragically ravished in the first few days of the war. Alone in the world, she finds solace in singing and has shut herself off from the sort of close connections that devastate when they are lost. She isn't counting on meeting two fabulously talent pianists who offer the friendship, closeness, compassion, and the love she is desperately missing. Now she has a best friend and a love for the ages that could be snatched away at any moment.
Like I said, the premise of this is ambitious. It is a frame story where the frame is intrinsically important because it deals with gods, fate, and the meddling of the divine in human affairs. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the mythopoeic, particularly when it deals with the relationship of the human and the divine. I have rather high standards for it though, and this story hurdled right over them.
Within the frame is a story that would be an excellent work of historical fiction all on its own. The characters of James, Hazel, Aubrey, and Colette are wonderfully layered and their stories exquisitely told. I love all four of them so much. So. Much. I could read at least a thousand more words about them and never grow bored. Through each of them we see a different perspective on the first world war. James gives the reader the up close personal devastation of a soldier on the front lines. In a weird twist of fate, James is a crack shot and is made into a sniper. The psychological trauma of so many close-up kills, the sites he sees, and the friends he loses demonstrate exactly how devastating war is on the combatants. Hazel is thoroughly sheltered and innocent before her arrival in France. Through befriending Colette and Aubrey she gets a second-hand look into how devastating a place the world can be. Then she gets to personally experience it as she encounters trials as a volunteer near the front and then has to contend with the possibility of losing James to the horrors he has witnessed and endured. Through Aubrey we are given a window into the segregation of the US Army and the atrocities that were heaped on soldiers only trying to serve a country that didn't value them the same as their fellow, white soldiers. Colette shows the reader what life was like for the civilians whose lives were trampled and devastated by the war before they even realized there was anything to worry about. It is a startling picture of how normal life can be blown apart in a flurry of bullets and fire bombs abruptly and instantly. Berry does an exquisite job of making the reader feel everything all four of them experience. They are like real people who you can't help but love. Despite the fact that I was fully immersed and wanted to keep reading to the end, I had to take breaks just to breathe a couple of times. The story is a sweeping one that encompasses the last year or so of the war in all its horrors and triumphs. Through it all, the use of music as a balm for the soul and lifeline that carries the characters through is artistically masterful.
I didn't expect to find myself as fully invested in the frame as I was though. I thought that was going to be merely intellectual. But dang it if I didn't fall in love with Aphrodite and Hephaestus. And Hades. Hades is marvelous in this. I want a whole book just about this Hades. (Pleeaasse, Julie Berry. Give us a companion novel with him and Persephone. That would make my year.) Apollo is the charming rogue he always is, which is absolutely delightful. Ares is an ass. There's one in every family. His part is crucial for reasons other than the obvious one of war though, and that is entertaining. Let's return to my love for Aphrodite though. The reason the reader loves the four characters so much and so fast is due to how Aphrodite describes them. It's in how much she loves them, her passion for the work she does, the pain it often causes her, the loneliness she feels. It's all powerful and more real than I expected coming from a goddess.
The entire thing is woven together masterfully. It requires patience and a willingness to sit through a story well told, but it is well worth it in every way.
Lovely War is being marketed as YA, yet it has crossover adult market appeal as well. The characters are all adults in the world in which they live. Hazel is the youngest at 18. This is definitely for more mature YA readers and would make a good read for anyone who enjoys excellently written and researched historical fiction.
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