It gave the story a weird, almost fractured feeling at times. I also wasn’t a fan of how the chapters were incredibly short, often less than 5 pages, and new chapters would often mark a change in time or a change in perspective from one character to another. One criticism I have of the novel is that the pacing occasionally felt off - it felt like scenes were being dragged out in some places and raced through in others. Her meticulous research is evident in all of the little details she incorporated both into scenes about World War I and scenes about the Greek gods. I really appreciated how much care Julie Berry put into “ Lovely War”. I particularly enjoyed the contrast between Aphrodite’s and Ares’ perspectives on the nature of life, love, and war. The gods never felt invasive to the main storyline, which was my first concern when I read the book’s synopsis.

Speaking more broadly about the insertion of the gods into the narrative, because I do feel that it was the most unique and well-done characteristic of the novel, I think Julie Berry did a good job of balancing the WWI storyline with the Greek mythology storyline. They all were written with such acerbic wit and each god had a unique and animated personality that felt authentic to their portrayals in actual Greek mythology.

Personally, I never felt too invested in the novel’s human characters, but I absolutely loved the Greek gods. It features two main couples: Hazel and James, a talented young pianist and a newly recruited soldier and Colette and Aubrey, a Belgian refugee and musician-turned-infantryman in the U.S. “Lovely War” by Julie Berry is a historical fiction romance novel set at the height of World War I and (here’s the interesting part:) narrated by Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Review by Kira Toal, 17 Lovely War By Julie Berry

Lovely war book review