A young Londoner writer finds an interesting set of people on the island of Guernsey who share some personal stories from the time of the German occupation. Somehow they are all linked by the pleasure of reading books, after they were inadvertently forced to create a book club to justify their meetings during the Nazi regime. But after the initial groan "Oh, no, not another war movie", it was clear that the action was happening right after the end of War World II. And it was interesting, in a literary way (especially since I had tried to watch Book Club just before and I gave it up) as well as a personal exploration of complex characters and it was generally well acted. However, there was always something slightly off: inadvertences, forced scenes, a romantic subplot that actually made no sense or brought any value to the film. So with much regret, I have to blame the director of the movie and a little bit the script. I don't think the lead actress was very good either, but I have to be picky to blame her for the feeling of uncanny valley while watching the film. If it weren't for this, I would have rated it a lot higher.

'Earth seemed a desert I was bound to traverse, seeking to find the old familiar faces.'~Charles LambSet against the backdrop of World War II, during the aftermath of the German occupation of Guernsey , the movie traces the development of a tie between two temporally remote yet subconsciously similar worlds as the protagonist, Juliet Ashton is found reiterating," I belong to you ...." as she finds solace in the fresh bond that she has formed with this family. Books lay the foundation of this relation as the pig ranch farmer,Dawsey Adams establishes his contact with the outside world by corresponding through letters with the help of the address mentioned on the copy of Lamb's The Selected Essays of Elia which he happens to salvage during the Club's desperate attempt to institute the reading group that they swore to be a part of, on the spur of the moment,to justify their violation of the curfew or in Dawsey's words as they had to keep a roast pig secret from the Germans. Juliet, writing under the pseudonym Izzy Bickerstaff, chooses to call her book, 'a collection of faintly amusing essays', and claims to be working on English Foibles: A Miscellany of English Absurdity which takes a dig at London Society for Public Decency which advocates trousers for horses. Her popular works thrived on instances such as these which were able to tickle the audience and make them burst into laughter. The plot of the movie also brings the struggles of an aspiring writer to the fore as she is privy to certain privileges based only on her interim popularity, wherein lies the danger that is foreshadowed in the poignant image of her room literally razed to the ground in the London blitz.She frantically tried to grasp whatever she could lay her hands on, in this case, the paperweight with a bird poised to fly in a dream like sequence. As a result of this ominous flash from her past, she walks away from the irresistible comfort of a crystal clear posh flat on the pretext that she'd feel like a fraud there. To her manager's utter dismay and in spite of his staunch dissuasion, she decides to get back to her poky bedsit in Battersea with three suitcases and a typewriter, relinquishing the consolation of a proper home thereby embracing suffering over luxury.Markham Reynolds,a diplomat and clairvoyant, offers her proper premises to cater to her writing needs. He holds the promise of a secure future to her. He makes such an elaborate show of his love as he throws ball in her honour and crams her apartment with rose vases as on one such occasion, Mrs Burns complains about her tenant's houses brimming with vases.These vases,however,do not find a place in Juliet's room unlike the handpicked floret that Kit or Dawsey present her with. As the plot progresses, she struggles to juggle between being a diplomat's fiancé and an aspiring independent writer. Nevertheless, it's not that difficult to conjecture which role she settles for. Indubitably, she is more drawn to the long black tunnel than the carnival.In a desperate bid to keep her close to him, Reynolds proposes her on the day she sets out for Guernsey.The bucolic Guernsey, with its tranquil beaches, picturesque scenes of lush green meadows with long grasses and wild waves lashing against the lofty mountains, has been restored back to life from the German occupation which once had turned it into a fortress laid with landmines. This transformation of a besieged territory into a heavenly haven happens owing to the relentless efforts of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to enjoy life even amidst adversities. The German soldiers had taken away Dawsey's pigs and had ordered him to grow potatoes.Food had become scarce and proper meals could be had only in memory.It is at this juncture that we are introduced to Elizabeth Mckenna,the founder of the club,who proves to be an ideal which Ashton could probably get inspired from.We were all Hungry but it was Elizabeth who realised our true starvation for connection,company...~Dawsey AdamsEben Ramsay,a local postmaster,is a peculiar character whose unique creation Potato Peel Pie with no butter, no flour just potatoes sounds silly and absurd but it is symbolic of something earthy sans all fancy superfluities; it is as pliable as potatoes that can be teemed with anything .In addition to that, somethings as crude as potato peels which are discarded, are reminiscent of those who survived the dark phase of German occupation.The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society presents a stark contrast to the book launch where Ashton,shows much faith in Izzy than herself and tries to dodge most of the questions directed to her with a certain degree of diffidence as well as skepticism. At the Guernsey's book club's gathering,she chooses to read Anne Bronte: A Life,a work for which she harbours strong opinions instead of her more popular works.As opposed to the one dimensional Q&A session at the book launch, the act of reading out to the group is more intimate with several justified attacks and equally potent defenses, ultimately, proving that books do have the power to bring people across ages or from different geographical locations together.

To anyone who fell in love with the richness of character development, strength of character, the importance of family and the beauty of letters in the actual book, avoid the movie. Your heart will be torn to shreds. This movie took the menial, trivial parts of the book and put that at the focus instead of what the book leads us to know as the ultimate truth. Key characters were completely skipped over, and whole plots were added in that made the characters that were once strong and independent, flabby and frivolous. I cannot see this as a remarkable movie, as it destroyed what the book was about. If you haven't read the book, then by all means, watch this beautifully set chick-flick and then go to the nearest library and actually spend some quality time in quality literature.

This movie caught my eye because I assumed it was filmed in Guernsey but it was not. I'm disappointed. I'm Canadian and some of my ancestors came to Canada from Guernsey 200 years ago. The story passed down is that they built their own ship. I was hoping to see Guernsey, not an English imitation. I've wondered for years what Guernsey is really like. Other than that, I enjoyed the movie very much.