Reviewed: Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

Now, I know this is a bit of an oldie at this stage, but I've just reread it again and I think it deserves to be praised to bejaysus, so I'm going to review it for any poor stragglers who're wondering what the hell it's all about.

I first read this book when I was about twelve and I loved it then and I still love it now, so that's gotta be saying something. And I've been in a World War I craze since The Absolutist, so when I saw this book just sitting there on my shelf, begging to be read again, I had to. I feel I owe it to Mr. Morpurgo, who definitely makes it into my top five writers.

Private Peaceful is a little tale about a boy - Tommo. Like The Absolutist, the story is switching back and forth between present tense (June, 1916) and the past, as Tommo remembers his childhood, growing up in the English countryside. We follow him through the trials and tribulations of being a kid, the baffling teenage years, the wonders and heartaches of love in all its different forms. Then the war comes and through an unjust twist of fate, Tommo's brother Charlie is forced to enlist. Being joined at the hip since childhood, there's no way in hell Tommo's letting him go off to war alone, so together they board the train, they sign their names, they are remolded into soldiers and become Private Peacefuls.

The reader is dragged through the horrors of the trenches at Ypres behind the two brothers and is given a vivid snapshot view of life as a soldier in World War I, before the harsh unfairness of battle brings the book to a heart-wrenching finale.

Some dramatic words: Heartwarming, courageous, insightful, eye-opening, tear-jerking (I cried the first time round, got all choked up the second).

Now, I love Michael Morpurgo to absolute bits, but this has got to be my favourite book of his (keep in mind, though, that I haven't read them all yet!). The way he delivers the simple yet wonderful story is just... *sighs*. I've just realised the lack of dialogue in the book and normally that would put me off right away, but not here. Morpurgo's writing is beautiful enough to make you forget about silly things like conversation. In fact, it makes you forget that you're not living in the English countryside or fighting in war torn France, that you don't know two boys called Tommo and Charlie Peaceful. And that, in my opinion, is exactly the way a book should be.

Ratings:

First Line: 3/5.

Characters: 4/5.

Dialogue: 3/5.

Romance: 2/5.

Writing Style: 5/5.

Twists & Turns: 4/5.

Gasp Factor: 3/5.

Climax: 5/5.

Last Line: 5/5.

Bonus points? Yes. Why? Because this guy bloody well deserves them! An extra 5/5 pointí for leaving me feeling like I was missing an arm or a leg the second I turned the last page.

The Ominous Verdict

78%

Gosh... not what I thought it'd turn out to be, but there you go. Next up is Birdsong, if I can get to a bookshop/library in the near future OR Me and Mine by Anna May Mangan OR Forever by Maggie Stiefvater.

In other news...

Things I've learnt since my last post:

• After all this time being so very interested in WWI, I've only just discovered where exactly The Somme is, which is embarrassing at best.
• I've learnt a great deal about "club drugs" (GHB, ecstasy, ketamine, acid).
• I know how to cook vegetable quesadillas and a simplified chicken stroganoff.
• I'm pretty clued in on post-traumatic stress disorder (must post something on Elisabeth of Bavaria, which isn't really PTSD, but it's still interesting).
• I've also learnt that tanning lotion is bad. Bad, bad, bad.

The Book Post-Section of Revelations:

• I need to re-dye my hair.
• I have an acute jellybean addiction and I need help.
• My diet is failing.
• I've gone from wanting to be an immunologist, right back to wanting to be a doctor (something paediatric - HIV/AIDS specialist, oncologist specialising in leukaemias or psychiatry).
• Antibiotics weren't the cause of the gross spot outbreak on my forehead (now gone, thank the Lord).
• And I might just be allergic to cats, which is awkward because there are three in the house...

Things That've Made Me Smile:

• Discovering that Perry is an Italian surname.
• The two demented kittens I'm forced to share a house with.
• Conversations with my highly insightful three-year-old sister (who, I swear to God, is a direct descendant of Gollum).
• Funny blog posts on Cracked.com.
• Jellybeans. Nomnomnom.

Over an' Out ;)