Review: Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Time for another review! Today's post may be a tad terser than usual, only because I have a ludicrous midterm (you try memorizing site plans, names, places, dates, dynasties, and pertinent cultural and architectural details for 30 Islamic sites) that I'm trying to prepare for as I write it, in the same week as I had an approximately 1800 word midterm, am preparing for my first meeting for my new part-time job, am prepping to go home for spring break, and am trying to narrow down a research paper topic so I can find topical maps & other fun things in city archives while I'm home (hazards of trying to do a research paper on an area that's about 2000 miles away from your college's location). But you probably don't want to hear about my insane week...you want to hear about the book! 

London, 1939. The day war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up. Tom Shaw decides to ignore the war—until he learns his roommate Alistair Heath has unexpectedly enlisted. Then the conflict can no longer be avoided. Young, bright, and brave, Mary is certain she’d be a marvelous spy. When she is—bewilderingly—made a teacher, she finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget. Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary.

And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love, as well as war, that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship, and deception, inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams. The three are drawn into a tragic love triangle and—as war escalates and bombs begin falling—further into a grim world of survival and desperation.

Set in London during the years of 1939–1942, when citizens had slim hope of survival, much less victory; and on the strategic island of Malta, which was daily devastated by the Axis barrage, Everyone Brave is Forgiven features little-known history and a perfect wartime love story inspired by the real-life love letters between Chris Cleave’s grandparents. This dazzling novel dares us to understand that, against the great theater of world events, it is the intimate losses, the small battles, the daily human triumphs that change us most.

Worldbuilding/Writing Style
As y'all may know, I'm a sucker for books set during WWII, which is why I picked this book up in the first place. As I recall, it was in a list by Modern Mrs Darcy of (I believe) excellent WWII historical fiction novels, and I needed no further recommendation than her review, which included the words "four warm wisecracking friends", to pick it up. (As we'll see later, that descriptor may not have been entirely accurate, but I digress.) 

In any case, the worldbuilding and descriptions of WWII England (and Malta) were, as far as I could tell, not having visited either of those places, spot on. The descriptions of what London was like during the Blitz were extremely vivid.

I also really enjoyed his writing style. It was engaging and amusing, with a slightly wry twist to its humor/view, and a straightforward way of looking at humans. It's hard to explain, but let's just say that from the first chapter, I was captivated by his way of writing. (When the first two lines are: "War was declared at eleven-fifteen and Mary North signed up at noon. She did it at lunch, before telegrams came, in case her mother said no," it's pretty hard not to be captivated.) His use of symbolism is also absolutely spot on.

Plot
The plot was one of the weaker points of the book, I thought. The pacing was very off, with not a lot happening in, oh, the first half or so of the book, and then so much happening in the last half. It seemed like a lot of what happened in the first half of the book was fairly pointless, and most of the realization, growth, in a word the actual plot happened in the second half of the book. (Also, it seems like the first third builds to something that's literally given away in the blurb. That feels awfully pointless.) That could just be my perception, though, and it could stem from my irritation with the romance, which I'll get to in a minute. It overall did have the feel of a life told as a book...because lives do have that sort of unevenness to them. Also, one thing I did not love was that a lot of the second half was excessively dark, with addition, death, starvation, destruction of art, and so on. It felt like a bit too much.

Characters
The four main characters of the book, Mary, Tom, Hilda, and Alastair, all interested me and endeared themselves to me. Tom perhaps least, but I digress. All of them had a reality which was refreshing and impressive. 

Mary I loved for her determination to do the right thing, and her lack of investment in What Other People Think. She's a dear, well-intentioned thing, and it hurts when the world doesn't want to accept the things that she wants to give it. She's also still so young, (says the barely-even-an-adult) and gets into scrapes that are incredibly relatable.  

Hilda is a perfect best friend and foil for Mary, restraining her crazier side, while having a bit of a wild side herself. She's flawed--she can't resist a man in a uniform, and has trouble resisting a man, period--but a genuinely good person. Her and Mary's interactions were some of my favorites in the book.

Tom...what to say about him. He's a shy-er and more retiring person, who has an "essential job" as a school superintendent in London...where there are pretty much no children. He wants to sign up so that Mary will know that he's not a coward, but he can't, and it's breaking him.

Alastair has signed up, and is in the air force, I believe? If I were Miss Megan, he would be one of my Sons. He's seen really horrible things, and he's not sure if he'll ever be able to be normal or resume normal society ever again. He's best friend with Tom, but somehow finds himself falling in love with Mary, who is going steady with Tom. (This is not a spoiler, as it's basically given away in the blurb.) He's also a Lover of Beauty and Restorer of Art, even in the middle of a war.

I also am a major fan of Zachary, who needs all of the love and protection, and I'm very happy that Mary gives it to him. I'm less happy with the lack of resolution for him at the end.

Romance
Alright, time for irritation. First of all, there is a bedroom scene between Tom and Mary. It's not super graphic, but I did skip most of it and was extremely irritated by the rest. For the rest of their relationship, it's implied that they're sleeping together. To quote one of my friends, "for what reason??" Was that even something that was done during that time? It's just a horrible idea!

Second of all, there's a tiny bit of a love triangle between Tom, Mary, and Alastair...which is then solved in a way that requires no character growth, no hard decisions, nothing. It comes off as a deus ex machina cop-out on the part of the author. And I don't live the dynamic between Tom and Mary while he's still alive, either. It's just...weird. 

And then there's not even proper romantic resolution at the end! Bad all around!

Content
Oh yeah, here we go. So, there was the aforesaid bedroom scene and innuendo, pretty graphic violence (Alastair is at war, after all), some swearing, and also unnecessary and possibly excessive use of the n-word to describe black Londoners. In general, each use is disapproved by one of the characters, but I'm pretty sure that was completely unneeded on the author's part. Also, death and opioid addiction.

Overall Rating
I was on the fence about this book, since I did like the writing style and the characters, but I'm not as much a fan of the plot or the romance (in fact, I hated the romance), and the content. I think I'll give it 2.5 stars, especially since certain parts of the romance really rubbed me the wrong way. I think it's a good book, just not necessarily for me at this point. 

What's your favorite era to read historical fiction about? Favorite WWII historical fiction novel? Have you ever been to Europe?