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Mar
19
Not quite a book review of THE POSTMISTRESS by Sarah Blake
2010 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Published February 2010 by Amy Einhorn Books (a Penguin Group imprint)
Don’t let the pretty cover and the nice purple rose fool you, people. Sarah Blake’s The Postmistress is no fluffy romance novel. Set in the early 1940s just before the U.S. really enters the war, this beautifully-written novel follows three women as they navigate the changing social terrain and challenging moral dilemmas of work, family, and community life in a world at war.
Because I’ve been trying to write this review for more than two weeks but have continued to find myself reduced to gushing (a good problem to have, but not exactly one that contributes to an articulate review), I’m going to do something a little different. After I saw Sarah Blake read from The Postmistress earlier this month, I heard her voice in my head as I read the book, and it was just so perfect. So in lieu of a traditional review, here’s the publisher’s description of the book and several of my favorite passages, with light commentary.
From the publisher:
On the eve of the United States’s entrance into World War II in 1940, Iris James, the postmistress of Franklin, a small town on Cape Cod, does the unthinkable: She doesn’t deliver a letter.
In London, American radio gal Frankie Bard is working with Edward R. Murrow, reporting on the Blitz. One night in a bomb shelter, she meets a doctor from Cape Cod with a letter in his pocket, a letter Frankie vows to deliver when she returns from Germany and France, where she is to record the stories of war refugees desperately trying to escape.
The residents of Franklin think the war can’t touch them- but as Frankie’s radio broadcasts air, some know that the war is indeed coming. And when Frankie arrives at their doorstep, the two stories collide in a way no one could have foreseen.
The Postmistress is an unforgettable tale of the secrets we must bear, or bury. It is about what happens to love during wartime, when those we cherish leave. And how every story-of love or war-is about looking left when we should have been looking right.
From page 3, and a very nice way to sum up the book: “Every store—love or war—is a story about looking left when we should have been looking right.”
The opening line of the primary story: “It began, as it often does, with a woman putting her ducks in a row.” I mean, really. How do you not love a story that begins that way? And don’t all of us—male and female—know instinctively exactly what she’s talking about?
A description of Frankie Bard’s experience in London during the blitz:
A draft of night air hit her, and the sound of bombs falling now, farther along to the west. A thick gust of smoke crossed as the wind shifted off the river carrying the sink of the explosions. Around her, some of the men seemed actually to have fallen asleep. There was no veil, no protective curtain where it happened out of sight, “over there.” This was the shock. This had always been the shock, and it seemed to Frankie the most important thing for people to know. Over here, there was nothing between you and the war.
Franklin’s young doctor, Will Trask, explains his desire to go over to London to his new wife Emma:
Sweetheart, there are people over there who need help, who need another pair of hands, and I can bring them. That’s the deal. That’s what you were saying without saying it right out. When we know there are people in need, right now, in the same breath as what we are breathing, we cannot look away. It is not abstract. We have to go. That is humanity. The whole thing relies on it. Human beings do not look away.
(emphasis mine)
One of the most compelling parts of this story is the way in which Blake unfolds Frankie’s realization about what is really being done to the Jews. Modern readers have the benefit of a full historical understanding, and that makes it easy for us to forget that there was a time, early in the war, when people didn’t know what Hitler and the Germans were up to. Blake’s writing of this piece of the story and Frankie’s struggle to grasp and accept the truth has a powerful sense of immediacy and real, lived horror.
But it was nearly impossible now to look away from what was clearly happening in Europe. The Jews were in a permanent, ceaseless pogrom. And the patrician habit of deflecting strong passion or insight first into calmer waters, to reflect, to take stock, belong to her mother’s generation. Fine for Mrs. Dalloway, impossible for Mrs. Woolf. A writer, a real writer, in possession of a story headed straight for its rapids, eyes on the water, paddling fast for the middle in order to see as well, as closely as could be. In order to see like that, one had to entertain the fact of brutal, simple cruelty. The Germans were, in fact, gathering the Jews in camps and ghettos and simply letting them die there.
Of Harry Vale, the love interest of Franklin’s postmistress Iris James: “Harry had been to war and back and never married, which said it all about war.”
In The Postmistress, Sarah Blake gives us a compulsively readable, truly unforgettable story told with gorgeous, richly evocative language. It is clear that a great deal of research went into the writing of this book, and Blake uses the details to color her story without overwhelming the reader. This book is about the story, not the research, and Blake balances the historical facts by including beautifully written mundane moments of life that exist, as she described during her book talk, “around the edges.”
I loved every minute I spent with The Postmistress, and my only complaint is that the central dilemma—the question of what happens when one choose not to deliver a message—comes in too close to the ending. But that is more a problem of how the book is described than it is of how the book reads, and it really doesn’t detract from the experience. Now hurry up, Sarah Blake, and give me another beautiful book to read! 4.75 out of 5.
Hey, FTC: I received a galley of this book from the publisher.
I am an IndieBound affiliate and will receive a small commission if you purchase The Postmistress through a link in this review.
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I was extremely disappointed in THE POSTMISTRESS for the very reason that the message delivery question came too close to the end and by that point it seemed anticlimactic. I also didn’t find any of the characters particularly likeable.
A shame, because I wanted to like this book.
I had the same problem when I tried to write a review! There was no real way to capture the whole story, and the beauty of Blake’s writing, without somehow shrinking it down to less than it was… great idea to tackle it this way. Can’t wait for more from Blake!
I wholeheartedly agree! The writing was so beautiful, so detailed. While other reviews have stated they couldn’t connect with any of the characters, I totally disagree. I was able to connect with Frankie’s character within the first two chapters. I did have a bit of a problem connecting with Emma though. I’m not sure what it was, but I didn’t “feel” her character like I did Frankie’s.
Gushing is definitely a good thing. I’ll be reading this soon since it’s my book club’s pick for April.
will give it a try!
I agree that the message delivery thing seemed a bit of an odd thing to focus on since it was so close to the end, but I had the same problem you did with trying to reduce this book to a review, loved it!
When Swapna and I saw Sarah Blake speak, she explained that the idea for the book came from an image she had of a woman slipping a letter into her pocket instead of delivering, and that the book was born out of the question about what happens w/ the undelivered message. So I expected that to be a much bigger part of the narrative. If it had been framed differently in the blurbs and author talk, I probably wouldn’t have had any problem with the ending.
I have heard so much good about this book that I realize I must wait quite some time before I read it, so I don’t think so much about all the hype!
I like the way you just shared your favorite passages. I recently wrote a very gushy review on a reread of To Kill a Mockingbird, and I’m pretty sure it makes no sense whatsoever. Your method is better
I can’t wait to read this one!!!!
I’ve added this to my list of book club possibilities– It sounds like it would be a good choice, particularly for my group that keeps returning to WWII books.
Yes–There is MUCH to discuss.
Thanks! But we all know I just gush sometimes, too. And it’s not like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD isn’t totally gushworthy!
I ‘m looking forward to this book, but the reviews do seem mixed. Thanks for sharing with us your positive thoughts.
Reviews seem so mixed; literally under this review on my blogroll was one where the author hated it. I appreciate both takes, though. Thank you for this review!
I just skimmed because I’ll be reading this for book club next week or so. I’m really hoping I’ll love it.
Your not helping me! I want to read this book and now this review…. GAH! I need to get the book
I had that issue too. I would have enjoyed the book if I wasn’t looking for the message delivery all the way through. The jacket blurb really killed it for me.
I am reading this book at the moment, and I am really surprised at how earthy it is if that makes sense. There is no sanitisation of what it would have been like. I am looking forward to reading more.
I can never decide if seeing the author before you read the book is a good thing or not–after all, you don’t know anything about the book yet. On the other hand, you understand so much better what the author was trying to do. I really enjoyed this book even without seeing Blake but I think it would have been even better if I had.
Unless someone asks a question that spoils a major plot point, I generally love seeing authors before I read the books because it gives me an enhanced frame of reference for understanding as I’m reading.
I can’t wait to read this! I’m going to start this in a few days, because it’s the April pick for one of my book clubs. I hope I love it as much as you did!
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I really want to read this one (and need to by next weekend), but Cutting for Stone! Argh!!!! TOO MANY GOOD BOOKS!!!!
I got sent this book by Penguin and i’m anxious to read it. I must say though I have read mixed reviews so I’m going to try and start the book with an open mind
[...] The Postmistress by Sarah Blake: Review copy [...]
Thanks for this review. I’ve looked at this book several times but, for some reason, have been unable to commit. I guess that I’ve read mixed reviews, but you’ve convinced me it’s time to give it a try!
Great! It’s not a perfect book, but it’s a very good one, and the excellent writing more than makes up for some of the flaws in plot and pacing.
Just read this book for my bookclub. As a matter of fact we just discussed it tonight. I must say that while I really liked the concept of the story, I was not in love with the author’s writing style.
The general feeling in our group was that the characters were not developed as fully as they could have been.
Too bad, because I reallly wanted to love this book.
I loved the language of this book so much I had to stop reading the library book and go out and buy my own copy so I could underline my favorite passages. I agree that the beautiful writing definitely made up for any lacking in plot and pacing.
I think there’s a lot for a book club to discuss in this book, and probably the reactions will be mixed. I neither loved it nor hated it but certainly wouldn’t gush. I’ve enjoyed reading the differences of opinion, though.
Patti’s Pages´s last [type] ..THE POSTMISTRESS by Sarah Blake