Reviews

Land Girls by Angela Huth

codexastoria's review against another edition

2.0

J'ai eu beaucoup de mal à apprécier ma lecture au-delà de 50 pages. Les personnages sont assez stéréotypés sans grande nuance avec une étiquette sur le dos : celle qui flirte avec tout le monde et qui est coquette, celle qui lit, vierge et sérieuse, la femme mariée aigrie etc.

Le profil des hommes n'est guère plus reluisant et entretiennent des relations un peu malsaines avec les trois filles ou leurs propres femmes.

Bref j'ai eu beaucoup de mal à trouver du positif alors qu'on partait pourtant bien et que je me faisais une joie de suivre les activités à la ferme au temps de la guerre.

Vraiment pas une lecture pour moi.

lbeam's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

codexastoria's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

dahlface's review against another edition

2.0

While it was fun and interesting to read about the Land Girl effort in England during WWII, I felt that the book lacked literary value and I often felt like I was reading a romance novel. The prologue and epilogue felt rushed and I wished the author had sacrificed some of the tedious passages about Ratty in order to further expand upon the girls return to society after their time at Hallow's Farm. I would recommend it to a friend if she were looking for a light beach read, but I don't think it deserves to be on the lists of serious book groups. Fun but ultimately shallow. May be a good movie though!

dogearedandfurry's review against another edition

2.0

This could have been good - a chance to shine a light on a group of women too long overlooked. But it doesn't. Instead it delivers caricatures of characters - a shrewish wife of the farm manager, conveniently dispatched to an insane asylum just before the end, by which point you'd really had enough of her. Taciturn and hard working farmers. A randy young farmer's son who is rejected from signing up due to asthma, but is apparently fit enough to do hard labour on the farm and shag two of the land girls. Three young land girls - Ag (short for Agapanthus... no really 🙄), who the farm manager privately calls the holy one. Stella, who sings and dances like an angel, and Prue, the raging nymphomaniac who'll sleep with anything masculine even if she's lost interest, unless she has another guy lined up. Ag judges Prue for sleeping with one guy, only to later approach the man and say oh by the way she's in love with a guy she's not sure knows she exists, but just in case anything does happen in the future, she wants to have some "experience", so could he be so kind as to deflower her.

No, seriously. I shit you not. The author actually says deflower at one point. And oh it's fine to judge the nympho, until it's convenient for you...

And as for the purple prose. Never one flowery descriptor of the weather/flowers/someone's hair/feelings blah blah blah when you can have three.

This could have been good. Tell the realistic story. Instead, it falls woefully short. Too long, too flowery, too cliched and too predictable. Avoid.

enigmadame's review against another edition

4.0

No sparkly bow at the end: no 5 star rating 🙅‍♀️ There was a bow, take a breath everyone, but it was a lame, drabby, realistic one. Not the unicorn of bows that I fawn over. 

strawb3rrysugar's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

If you're looking for a work of historical fiction that will capture the era with strong historical accuracy and detailed information about the work of land girls (or the women's land army) during WWII, this book might disappoint you. The review blurb on the cover of my copy said Angela could plausibly replace Jane Austen in school curriculums; to me, Huth's observations on relationships and her characters lack the kind of nuance that Austen excels in. Nonetheless, it's an odd, interesting book about knowing the right people at the wrong time, how people deal with regret, and where our hearts truly lie when in proximity of one of the most destructive, culturally shifting wars in history. I liked the relationships that the main three girls had with each other, though I wish some characters had been as thoroughly developed as others.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: War, Death, Misogyny, and Infidelity

One of the characters is a strange little pervert who hates his comically one-dimensional wife and is sort of played off as a non-serious character. He's objectively the worst part of the book. You'll know when you get to him.

felinity's review against another edition

4.0

It's rare to see a book like this nowadays - at least, I rarely seem to come across them. Gentle pacing, a real sense of character while they stay true to themselves, and natural plot development. This book concentrates on the *area*, not just focusing on individuals, giving you a sense of place and community. It feels real, not contrived, and that is its true strength and mystery.

suannelaqueur's review against another edition

4.0

With her attention to physical detail and human emotion, Huth manages to make the mundane, day-to-day lives of the Land Girls interesting. It's a quiet book; the action doesn't jump out and scream at you, the war is far away, the joy is in the characters.

miamickut's review against another edition

2.0

Romance that happens to be set in World War II. I skimmed the last 100 pages, knowing I missed something and honestly didn’t want to go back to figure it out.

Quarantine read.