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The War That Saved My Life |  |
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The War That Saved My Life | |
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从另一个视角看待生存和生活。语言生动感人。
As a child I was what one might call a selective reader. Selective in that I studiously avoided any and all works of fiction that might conceivably be considered "depressing". "Bridge to Terabithia"? I'll have none please. "Island of the Blue Dolphins"? Pass. "Jacob Have I Loved?" Not in this lifetime. Lord only knows what caused a book to be labeled "depressing" in my eyes before I'd even read it. I think I went by covers alone. Books picturing kids staring out into the vast nothingness of the universe were of little use to me. Happily I got over this phase and eventually was able to go back to those books I had avoided to better see what I had missed. Still, that 10-year-old self is always with me and I confer with her when I'm reading new releases. So when I read "The War That Saved My Life" I had to explain to her, at length, that in spite of the premise, cover (again with the kids staring out into nothingness), and time period this isn't the bleak stretch of depressingness it might appear to be. Enormously satisfying and fun to read, Bradley takes a work of historical fiction and gives the whole premise of WWII evacuees a kick in the pants.
Ada is ten and as far as she can tell she's never been outdoors. Never felt the sun on her face. Never seen grass. Born with a twisted foot her mother considers her an abomination and her own personal shame. So when the chance comes for Ada to join her fellow child evacuees, including her little brother Jamie, out of the city during WWII she leaps at the chance. Escaping to the English countryside, the two are foisted upon a woman named Susan who declares herself to be "not nice" from the start. Under her care the siblings grow and change. Ada discovers Susan's pony and is determined from the get-go to ride it. And as the war progresses and things grow dire, she finds that the most dangerous thing isn't the bombs or the war itself. It's hope. And it's got her number.
I may have mentioned it before, but the word that kept coming to mind as I read this book was "satisfying". There's something enormously rewarding about this title. I think a lot of the credit rests on the very premise. When a deserving kid receives deserving gifts, it releases all kinds of pleasant endorphins in the brain of he reader. It feels like justice, multiple times over. We're sympathetic to Ava from the start, but I don't know that I started to really like her until she had to grapple with the enormity of Susan's sharp-edged kindness. As an author, Bradley has the unenviable job of making a character like Ada realistic, suffering real post-traumatic stress in the midst of a war, and then in time realistically stronger. This isn't merely a story where the main character has to learn and grow and change. She has this enormous task of making Ava strong in every possible way after a lifetime of systematic, often horrific, abuse. And she has to do so realistically. No deus ex machina. No sudden conversion out of the blue. That she pulls it off is astounding. Honestly it made me want to reread the book several times over, if only to figure out how she managed to display Ada's anger and shock in the face of kindness with such aplomb. For me, it was the little lines that conveyed it best. Sentences like the one Ada says after the first birthday she has ever celebrated: "I had so much. I felt so sad." It's not a flashy thing to say. Just true.
You can see the appeal of writing characters like Ada and Jamie. Kids who have so little experience with the wider world that they don't know a church from a bank or vice versa. The danger with having a character ignorant in this way is that they'll only serve to annoy the reader. Or, perhaps worse, their inability to comprehend simple everyday objects and ideas will strike readers as funny or something to be mocked. Here, Bradley has some advantages over other books that might utilize this technique. For one thing, by placing this book in the past Ada is able to explain to child readers historical facts without stating facts that would be obvious to her or resorting to long bouts of exposition. By the same token, child readers can also pity Ada for not understanding stuff that they already do (banks, church, etc.).
Ms. Bradley has written on her blog that, "I don't write in dialect, for several reasons, but I try to write dialogue in a way that suggests dialect." American born (Indiana, to be specific) she has set her novel in historical England (Kent) where any number of accents might be on display. She could have peppered the book with words that tried to replicate the sounds of Ada's London accent or Susan's Oxford educated one. Instead, Ms. Bradley is cleverer than that. As she says, she merely suggests dialect. One of the characters, a Mr. Grimes, says things like "Aye" and ends his sentences with words like "like". But it doesn't feel forced or fake. Just mere hints of an accent that would allow a reader to pick it up or ignore it, however they preferred.
Basically what we have here is "Anne of Green Gables" without quite so much whimsy. And in spite of the presence of a pony, this is not a cutesy pie book. Instead, it's a story about a girl who fights like a demon against hope. She fights it with tooth and claw and nail and just about any weapon she can find. If her life has taught her anything it's that hope can destroy you faster than abuse. In this light Susan's kindness is a danger unlike anything she's ever encountered before. Ms. Bradley does a stellar job of bringing to life this struggle in Ada and in inflaming a similar struggle in the hearts of her young readers. You root for Ada. You want her to be happy. Yet, at the same time, you don't want your heart to be broken any more than Ada does. Do you hope for her future then? You do. Because this is a children's book and hope, in whatever form it ultimately takes, is the name of the game. Ms. Bradley understands that and in "The War That Saved My Life" she manages to concoct a real delight out of a story that in less capable hands would have been a painful read. This book I would hand to my depression-averse younger self. It's fun. It's exciting. It's one-of-a-kind.
For ages 9-12.
All in all, this is a great historical fiction book. It shows the effects of World War 2 on the common people. It also heavily touches on the topic of child abuse and the scars it can leave on a person. The characters are well-developed and the writing is poignant.
As an elementary school teacher, I would be VERY hesitant to read this to my class. I read this book because so many teachers recommended it via social media. I think many children would find the first few chapters very difficult to read/listen to and would really struggle to understand Ada's reactions to things later on. I could see it being okay if the kids are very mature and insightful readers. I don't believe in sheltering kids from reality, however I think there are many kids in situations that would make this book very tough for them to read.
My 10 year old daughter and I used our Kindle and the immersion reading (audio book and ebook to follow the words) to listen/read this book. We enjoyed the narrator. I felt like the book was appropriate 10 year old & was an introduction into WWII and how it affected civilians living in the English country side and the city children who were sent there. This was a very personal story of one girl, Ada, and how being evacuated and leaving her mother ended up being the best thing for her. The only complaint that I have is that the character of Ada's mother is very one-sided (all evil) and not very believable. I wish the author had given some clue as to her extreme dislike and abuse of her children. Through reviews on Amazon, it seems like this is a very similar story to one that was written in the 1980's, Goodnight Mister Tom. I am just starting to read Goodnight Mister Tom, and it does seem like there are many similarities between the two books.
As a new writer and one interested in young adult stories I started reading books in this genre. I purchased this book because it is a Newbury Award winning book. When I read it I was astounded at how good it was. I think the way Bradley manages to take her heroine from a life filled with physical and mental abuse because of a birth defect and from complete rejection by her mother to a place where she finds her worth as a human, a better life and eventually the love that she has never had and longs for is an amazing accomplishment. This book is a must read for young people as well as old. It really shows the depth of the human spirt.
This is one of the best books I have ever read.
This is a historical fiction story based on what it was like when London was being bombed and children were evacuated for their safety. It was a glimpse of what it must have been like from the children's point of view but, I was surprised to read that some families couldn't stand to be separated and actually brought them back home between the time of the evacuation and the actual bombing started. I guess they didn't believe it would really happen ... who knows. Family bonds are very strong and that came through in this book.
The heroine of the story is very compelling and it was wonderful to see her triumph over adversity. The main players come together very nicely. Bought this for my 8 year old granddaughter but, of course, I read it and enjoyed it too!
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