Literally Leander discussion

Our featured book club book for September 2020 was Lovely War by Julie Berry. There will definitely be spoilers ahead, so beware!

This month, we borrowed discussions prompt questions from Book Movement. As always, these are just suggestions for where to start. If you don't need them, please feel free to post any opinions and thoughts you had while reading!

1. What do you think Berry intends you to think about when you see the novel’s title? In what ways can we consider war to be lovely? Can love be characterized as some kind of war?

2. How does using an impromptu trial help give meaning to the stories of Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette in 1918? Would anything be lost or gained by removing the mythological narrators?

3. James and Hazel primarily know each other through the exchange of letters. How do you think this affects their relationship as the story progresses?

4. As Hades describes the fates of Colette’s family in the razing of Dinant, he notes that “Colette the child died that day.” How does the experience shape Colette’s character? How do the horrific deaths of people close to them, and their coping efforts, shape the characters of Colette, Aubrey, and James?

5. Hephaestus is a brilliant creator, bearing what his fellow gods consider to be grotesque physical deformities, who, for good or ill, is eternally wed to the embodiment of beauty. Which of the story’s characters do you think best parallels Hephaestus and why?

6. Think about Hades’s role in the story: what does his narration do for the story? How does he function as an actor within it? How does he relate to his fellow Olympians?

7. James is the only one of the four protagonists who has no “Apollonian story”—that is, he’s not a musical artist. What do you consider to be his “art”? Which Olympian matches up with him the best, and why?

8. Early in the novel, Hazel expresses a deep concern that James will be changed by the war. Whom among the four protagonists do you see as being the most changed by the war: Hazel, James, Aubrey, or Colette? Would you argue that some of the changes are for the better?

I read Lovely War a while back. I gave the book a high rating, but in my review stated one thing that still remains true: if I were to rate the book based on the characters and their story at face value, it would be a lower rating. However, I was positively touched by the symbolism in the novel, and the overall meaning behind the book. To be perfectly honest, this book is a modern English teacher's dream.

1. What do you think Berry intends you to think about when you see the novel’s title? In what ways can we consider war to be lovely? Can love be characterized as some kind of war?
I think one thing that makes the book's title stand out is that it's rather oxymoronic. Lovely--or beauty, as it's often perceived--and war are not things that would naturally go together. War isn't beautiful; it's ugly and painful, and a dark part of humanity that we've never been able to ignore, and likely never will.

However, there are small spots of beauty, but not in the war itself. Instead, if war is the dark side of humans, than beauty can be seen in the nature of humanity--empathy, and love, and the selfless acts people would do for others. One such example is that people have often secretly harbored those who are being persecuted, like the purpose being the Underground Railroad during the Civil War and people hiding Jewish believers in their homes during WWII.

War is ugly, but empathy is beautiful. And while we can't shake war, no matter how hard we try, we combat it with selflessness and love.

2. How does using an impromptu trial help give meaning to the stories of Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette in 1918? Would anything be lost or gained by removing the mythological narrators?
To be perfectly honest, at first I wasn't sure how the Greek gods were going to work with a historical novel. I think one thing that I found myself enjoying was that each god called for this trial are embodiments of elements that are either dark and frightening (War and Death) or beautiful and hopeful (Art and Love.) To use Greek embodiments of these abstract ideas just really highlights the symbolism and deeper meaning of the novel.

5. Hephaestus is a brilliant creator, bearing what his fellow gods consider to be grotesque physical deformities, who, for good or ill, is eternally wed to the embodiment of beauty. Which of the story’s characters do you think best parallels Hephaestus and why?
I think that each story can be reflected in the romances told. For Hazel and James, who I considered the primary romance, Hazel is beauty and softness, while James, suffering from what would later be PTSD, is the deformity. At that time period, I think it possible that Hazel would've been advised to leave James, whose trauma led to "craziness."

Again, Colette and Aubrey would reflect the same ideas; on the outside, Colette is described as a beauty, and at the time, Aubrey would've been considered unsuitable for her due to his race. Yet on the inside, Colette is the one who is broken while Aubrey is strong and persistent in his beliefs.

And yet, both couples are able to overcome what society would deem as unsuitable or inappropriate because of love. Because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not in the eyes of those looking in from outside.

6. Think about Hades’s role in the story: what does his narration do for the story? How does he function as an actor within it? How does he relate to his fellow Olympians?
I found it very meaningful that Hades was given such a prominent role in the story. Unfortunately, due to his relation to Death, he's often seen as dark, evil, etc. However, in comparison to the other Olympians, he's just a god. One who is in charge of something that mortals instinctively fear.

Hades--or Death--has an important role to play in any book about War. And that's because War and Death often exist hand-in-hand. It may be the physical death, or it may be the death of one's ideals. Either way, war is going to cause you to lose something.

A bonus for Berry was that she didn't portray Hades as evil. She was very matter of fact with the little characterization he did have. Death is a part of life, and his role is a necessity. That doesn't mean that he takes perverse enjoyment in it.