Everyone Brave is Forgiven

Y’all. Brace yourselves: I voluntarily leisure read another book! :-O Not even during summer or a holiday, either!!! I was super surprised when “Everyone Brave is Forgiven” came up as my turn so quickly off the library’s holds list - the only way I read.

Of course it was WWII - my genre of choice. This one was much harder for me to initially get into than “Beneath a Scarlet Sky”, “Lilac Girls”, or “The Nightingale” - the writing style & vocabulary are at a higher level, which is fab for my brain, but I couldn’t let myself quickly skim pages. A slow read. I was content to read 20 pages & put it down for the first ~120, which is so not me: I usually dive in, & no one hears from me until it’s finished. Once I *did* get a deep dive, however, I was hooked. I loved that it was about the very early war, mostly London during the Blitz & some Malta. I loved that it openly discussed racism. I loved how the author expressed deep doubts & ever second-guessing from the 3 main characters, bringing them greater authenticity. I enjoyed the high level of clever banter, sarcasm, & cynicism - so much Brit wit. I loved the author’s deep, poetic observations on life in absolutely every scenario, big & small.