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A review by modernwysewoman
Sleeping Through War by Jackie Carreira
5.0
Full review: http://lauramorningstar.com/review-sleeping-through-war/
This is a really powerful novel that tells the story of three ordinary women, all living in different circumstances, just trying to live their own lives while the world around them is in turmoil.
Each of the women Amalia who is a Portuguese single mother living in Lisbon, Rose a Jamaican nurse in a London Hospital and Mrs Johnson the mother of an American soldier living in Washington DC narrate their own story. This gives the three women their own unique voice as they describe their day to day lives. All three are similar in that their existence seems almost insignificant as they are after all just ordinary women. Each of the characters are courageous they all share a quiet dignity and inner strength, despite the melancholy that surrounds their everyday existence. You get the impression that any moment of happiness is fleeting and so needs to be embraced fully when it occurs.
I spent a chunk of the book wondering how the three women’s stories would come together, what singular event would connect them? The answer is none, the book doesn’t work in this way. Instead what the three characters show you is that in many ways day to day living is the same across the world.
I appreciated that each of the narrators were female as in so many ways in the 60s the female voice was still not valued. These women are living against the backdrop of the events of May 1968 and the way the news headlines are interspersed throughout helps to paint a picture of what life was like at that time.
The book is beautifully descriptive, and throughout the course of it you feel as if you are making friends with each of the characters. As is often the way I think ‘ordinary’ women are often in fact the most extraordinary as they are the ones that keep the world moving through their everyday actions.
This is a book that I would definitely recommend as it has three wonderful storylines that are each powerful. They each have an impact, often bleak, often heart wrenching, but always filled with a quiet optimism.
Your heart won’t forget Amalia, Rose or Mrs Johnson quickly.
This is a really powerful novel that tells the story of three ordinary women, all living in different circumstances, just trying to live their own lives while the world around them is in turmoil.
Each of the women Amalia who is a Portuguese single mother living in Lisbon, Rose a Jamaican nurse in a London Hospital and Mrs Johnson the mother of an American soldier living in Washington DC narrate their own story. This gives the three women their own unique voice as they describe their day to day lives. All three are similar in that their existence seems almost insignificant as they are after all just ordinary women. Each of the characters are courageous they all share a quiet dignity and inner strength, despite the melancholy that surrounds their everyday existence. You get the impression that any moment of happiness is fleeting and so needs to be embraced fully when it occurs.
I spent a chunk of the book wondering how the three women’s stories would come together, what singular event would connect them? The answer is none, the book doesn’t work in this way. Instead what the three characters show you is that in many ways day to day living is the same across the world.
I appreciated that each of the narrators were female as in so many ways in the 60s the female voice was still not valued. These women are living against the backdrop of the events of May 1968 and the way the news headlines are interspersed throughout helps to paint a picture of what life was like at that time.
The book is beautifully descriptive, and throughout the course of it you feel as if you are making friends with each of the characters. As is often the way I think ‘ordinary’ women are often in fact the most extraordinary as they are the ones that keep the world moving through their everyday actions.
This is a book that I would definitely recommend as it has three wonderful storylines that are each powerful. They each have an impact, often bleak, often heart wrenching, but always filled with a quiet optimism.
Your heart won’t forget Amalia, Rose or Mrs Johnson quickly.