Emily’s Comments (group member since Oct 21, 2020)

Emily’s comments from the YHS Class of 2023 group.

Lovely War by Julie Berry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Lovely War" by Julie Berry, features a love triangle between three Greek gods: Aphrodite, Hephaestus, her husband, and Ares, her lover. After anger is thrown around and mean words are screamed, Aphrodite ventures to quiet them down with the stories of her two greatest works: two love stories set in WWII. Aphrodite takes on the role of narrator and leads us through the tale of James Aldridge and the sweet pianist, Hazel. The two meet by chance at a dance. James was expected to leave for the war in one week- too short a time for these lovers. The thought of Hazel kept James going in the trenches and the thought of James inspired Hazel, leading her to London where she would work as a YMCA volunteer, helping to entertain soldiers. There, Hazel meets Collette, a Belgium beauty who's lost everything. The two become good friends, entertaining the soldiers with Hazel's piano playing and Collette's beautiful singing. A steady correspondence keeps up between James and Hazel.

The story then leaves James, Hazel and Collette and begins to follow a young, black pianist by the name of Aubrey. He was part of the military's band. James underwent a series of challenges in trying to fight for his country. His allegiance and willingness to fight for the flag did not outweigh his skin color in the eyes of crude, white men. He finds himself at the same YMCA shelter where Hazel and Collette are located. The three don't meet for some time, for there are the white huts with white volunteers entertaining the white soldiers, and then there were black huts with black volunteers entertaining the black soldiers. However, one night, as Aubrey is going to the bathroom, he hears beautiful piano playing and singing and sneaks into one of the huts to find Hazel and Collette. He introduces them to jazz and they are fascinated by it. He keeps sneaking in, night after night and finds himself falling for Collette. One night as he's leaving, he is confronted with some white men, who were not pleased. Managing to escape, he vows to be more cautious.

The tale continues following the lives of these four young adults, all contributing in their own way to the war effort. It illustrates that while the destruction of war continues on-humankind is held together through love.

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars! The story was heartfelt and well written. It was a hard/confusing book to read because the greek gods all switched between narration at certain parts (when there was music, Apollo narrated, when there was love, Aphrodite narrated, when there was war, Ares narrated). Overall, I thought it was a beautiful story filled with beautiful imagery and descriptions.



View all my reviews