Next to Love [Kindle Edition]

"Next to Love," is a new release, a historical novel set in Massachusetts during World War II, the early 1940s, and for 20 years thereafter, from Ellen Feldman. Her last published historical novel, Scottsboro: A Novel, dealing with the famous racially charged Southern case of the 1930s, was, upon its hardcover publication in 2008, named one of the five best novels of the year by the "Richmond Times-Dispatch," and long listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009. The author has previously also published the novels Lucy: A President, a Marriage, a Love Affair and The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank: A Novel.

Three women, Babe, Grace and Millie have been best friends since their first day at kindergarten in South Downs, their small Massachusetts home town. They are different people, of course, with their own secrets and lies, but they've played together, grow up together, and share each other's secrets. And when America finds itself entering World War Two, after the Japanese bombing of its ships at Pearl Harbor, the girls begin a new phase of their lives together, as each quickly marries her own first true love. Life is, of course, difficult for these newly-minted married women, with their husbands away at war. But one morning in 1944, no fewer than sixteen telegrams arrive at the town's Western Union office, being manned by Babe, in the absence of the town's men. These telegrams bear news of the most universally dreaded kind from the War Department; the kind of news that must inevitably wreck the life of each recipient.

After the war, each woman must struggle to rebuild her life. She must face not only the challenges close to home - the brutal after effects of war, the question of remarriage, of how to tell a child about its absent father - but also the wider issues of a country in flux - sexism, racism, anti-Semitism.

Many readers will undoubtedly consider NEXT TO LOVE chick lit, and I suppose it is. Still, Feldman is a gifted writer, and she does well at giving us the flora, fauna, weather and social mores of a small New England town in its times. Her narrative, dialog, and descriptive writing are fine. However, I personally would have preferred but one protagonist, rather than this three-headed approach. As it happens, I've also read and reviewed SCOTTSBORO. I liked that previous book greatly, but found that later in that novel, as the 1930s wore on and World War II began to cast its shadow forward, Feldman seemed to lose interest in both her female protagonists: they each appeared to be simply sending sound bites from whatever front they were on. Now, once again, I find the World War II section that opens the book at hand richly drawn and interesting, but as the author's tale grinds on until 1964, once again the book thins and begins to read more like shallow sound bites simply ripped from the headlines.

Feldman is a regular contributor to the "Huffington Post." She evidently did a ton of research for SCOTTSBORO, and, again, for NEXT TO LOVE, but perhaps she should focus more closely on what interests her most. I think there's a lot more to be said about Rosie the Riveter, and Feldman may be one of the girls to say it.

World War II wreaked havoc on men's and women's lives, changing them in ways they never could have anticipated. Next to Love takes us on a journey through the war and the following twenty years of aftermath, as characters learn to live with themselves and try and regain who they once were. The novel follows three women, Babe, Grace, and Millie, who were best friends and whose husbands and boyfriends went to serve in the war. Feldman examines the problems women on the home front faced and the devastation of war away from the battlefields - and the way it never quite lets go of its victims.

I knew I was going to like this book, but I never expected it to love it as much as I actually did. I read it in what felt like a flash, completely enthralled by the stories of these three women and the struggles they have to endure. While they mainly saw themselves as getting on with it, they were really witnessing a pivotal period for women and for the family; their growing strength speaks to the stronger women's movement that was approaching.

Feldman doesn't skimp on difficult subjects. Babe's husband, for example, returns from war changed in ways Babe isn't sure she liked. We hear about the joyful reunion often; what about the one that is fraught with anxiety? The husband that can't sleep and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder? That night before your husband goes to war and you might never see him again? Each woman deals with difficult issues directly related to the war, and then related to moving forward with lives that are irrevocably changed.

The world changes, too. Characters in the book are determined to fight racism. They witness huge changes in status as the American world fundamentally shifts around them. It's the story of a generation, told through characters that really steal your heart and make you wish that you could keep them with you forever. Babe was my favorite character by far; she just seemed the strongest, the most capable of handling everything that got thrown at her. And there is a lot for her to handle. That isn't to say I didn't like the other women; I certainly did and I was invested in their stories, too.

A gorgeous novel, I'd recommend Next to Love to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially that set around World War II with amazing, strong women at its heart. This is an excellent book and I am so glad I read it.

After enjoying Ellen Feldman's previous book, 'Scottsboro,' I was looking forward to reading 'Next to Love,' a story set both during and after WWII. Revolving around three friends Babe, Grace and Millie, Feldman tells the story of how the women cope when their husbands go off to fight. The story starts strongly as Babe gets a job pasting telegrams for the Western Union where she prays that she will not hear about her husband. However the women's lives all change forever as sixteen telegrams arrive on one day from the War Department.

I found that the build up and the immediate aftermath of the fateful day in 1944 were extremely compelling. The story continues over the next 20 years with alternating chapters intertwining and overlapping between the women and their families as they deal with the aftermath of the war. Whilst the rest of the book is well written it doesn't quite maintain the gripping qualities of the beginning part of the book and thus loses a star. I would still recommend this book but for me doesn't quite live up to its predecessor.