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World War II Blitz - Volume 1: 1939-1940 (2011)

by Ruby Side Thompson(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

BigWorldNetwork.com, LLC

series

World War ll London Blitz Diaries

review 1: I accidentally read the 2nd volume of this diary first, so this is backtracking, but well worth it. While Ruby does get on my last damn nerve moaning about Ted I do appreciate how claustrophobic marriage can become! Better she let it out in her diary. I cannot imagine living thru the years in this volume which cover the actual Blitz--the Battle of Britain.Merged review:Got sick of her whining about her husband, but as the editor/grand daughter pointed out she did only do this in her personal diary--not to his face and she did not write this for publication, but as an emotional release. Also that she really didn't have the option of divorce socially. Since this volume was very early in the war the blitz was the overall hardship (life and death--pretty darned important!). I... moref other volumes are available I will likely read them. I am fascinated by the cooking of the rationing era and hoped she'd say more about what she made.Excited to discover this is VOLUME 2! I LOVE diaries!Got this on my kindle--so far it's very interesting. She's an "honest" observer. Interesting to read this while I was reading Philip Ziegler's "London at War."
review 2: Even more than the London blitz, this journal provides insight into how married women were viewed by their husbands in the first half of the Twentieth century. The granddaughter, who edits the journal, warns the reader that her Grandmother's words may be offensive--so I didn't know if I would be able to finish the book. However, when it came to it, many of her venting entries were on the status of the married woman, treatment by men, and men and religion. (However, there is one entry where she uses an off color word for the Italian people, after their country is allied with the Germans.) Another interesting fact to me was that all of their letters sent through the post were censored. Thompson receives some of her own letter back that we're to be sent to her children in America.In all, this is an interesting memoir of the war, a mother with children at wor, and women's roles in the 1940s. Thompson'svoice is compelling and erisinalbe. Of course, as this is a journal I am aware that we only get her side of the story, but it is compelling nontheless. highly recommended.(Do note that she makes a lot of criticism of the Catholic faith, mostly as her husband is obsessed with it, even attending Mass daily.) less

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