From the Bookshelf of Reading the World…

Testament of Youth

Vera Brittain,

Mark Bostridge (Introduction),

Shirley Williams (Preface)

Start date: September 1, 2019

Finish date: September 30, 2019

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Sep 25, 2019 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it it was amazing

Shelves: war, read-the-world-2018-2020, read-in-2019, european, read-the-world, bios-memoirs, feminism

I went into Testament of Youth blind. I knew nearly nothing about the book, up to and including the fact that it was a memoir of WW1. I would not have read the book if it wasn't chosen by my Reading the World group, but I am so glad that it was because the book is phenomenal.

My family is a big military family. All of us have served. I am a USAF veteran as is my dad. All of my uncles were in the Army. My brother served in the Marines. I have a nephew who is currently in the Coast Guard, and my gr I went into Testament of Youth blind. I knew nearly nothing about the book, up to and including the fact that it was a memoir of WW1. I would not have read the book if it wasn't chosen by my Reading the World group, but I am so glad that it was because the book is phenomenal.

My family is a big military family. All of us have served. I am a USAF veteran as is my dad. All of my uncles were in the Army. My brother served in the Marines. I have a nephew who is currently in the Coast Guard, and my grandfather served on the battlefields of WW1 in Europe. I know very little about his experiences as he refused to talk about it to anyone. This month I feel like I learned far more about him because I read this book and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. In combination I got a very extensive insight into that era.

But for this book the part that most touched me was her feminism. She was a strong, smart, compassionate woman who believed that all women should have the same opportunities in life as men did. And she was fighting for those rights 100 years ago. I admire her.

The early part of the book explored her youth, prior to WWi. She wrote about it with such vivid imagery that it felt like being there and really knowing it. This section allowed me to get to know her as a character, and it also gave me insight into the societal changes that were occurring in Europe. And the examination of how family life was different from the norms of today was very eye-opening. She wrote about the lack of privacy for women and girls, and how they were never allowed to have moments alone. This section is where we start to get an inkling that Brittain is not the submissive girl she is expected to be and that she will be a woman we can all respect.

Brittain became a VAD nurse at only 18. She fell in love (more than once). She lost lovers and a brother to the war. She saw PTSD up close. She understood and explained the war in a way that allowed me to also understand it. And although she explains the war era with a quiet resolve and little emotion, there are moments when she allows her hatred of the war to show.

"I wish those people who write so glibly about this being a holy War, and the orators who talk so much about going on no matter how long the War lasts and what it may mean, could see a case--to say nothing of 10 cases--of mustard gas in its early stages--could see the poor things burnt and blistered all over with great mustard-coloured suppurating blisters, with blind eyes--sometimes temporally, sometimes permanently--all sticky and stuck together, and always fighting for breath, with voices a mere whisper, saying that their throats are closing and they know they will choke.

And the book does not end when the war ends. Brittain allows us to see what post-war life looks like for her. She allows us to see the changes that war has made to her. And, for me this was the most successful and powerful part of the book. It is the section that most solidified my hatred of war. This is where I found my grief and compassion for my grandpa, who is long dead. ...more

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Dec 24, 2018 Diane Zwang rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, memoir, world-war-1

I saw the movie Testament of Youth in 2016 and enjoyed it. I did not know at the time that it was based on a book, even more I did not know it was on the list for 1001. I ended my year on a good note, this book was fantastic. Even though it was non-fiction, it read like a novel. I didn't realize what a spitfire Vera Brittain was, she was a champion of women rights, equality, socialism, and pacifism. I think her experience in World War I is as relevant today as it was 100 years ago.

“How Can War E ...more

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