When you start Margaret Halsey’s Some Of My Best Friends Are Soldiers, it may not take long to decide to give it up. Don’t quit. Stick with it awhile.
High Point: As always, Halsey’s writing is fresh and creative. Her telling the story entirely through letters works quite well.
Low Point: The first half of the book can be difficult to get through. But you’ll be glad you persevered.
Author: Margaret Halsey
Publication Date: 1944
Genre: Fiction
When you start Margaret Halsey’s Some Of My Best Friends Are Soldiers, it may not take long to decide to give it up. Don’t quit. Stick with it awhile.
The protagonist, Gretchen, is not an easy person to like. She’s a smartass, arrogant, and simply full of herself. However, as the book proceeds, you’ll understand she is deeper than that. You begin to see her strong principals as well as her vulnerabilities. As the story progresses, you’ll find yourself pulling for her, and cheering a little if things work out well.
Margaret Halsey tells the story entirely through the letters Gretchen writes to her soldier brother. The structure is similar to the method she used so well in her first book, With Malice Toward Some, in which she told her story through journal entries. Her style of writing remains fresh, and she still paints the kind of word pictures which helped make that first book so enjoyable.
If you manage to stay with it, Some Of My Best Friends are Soldiers is a rewarding read.
Sources For This Book
Free eBook (Project Gutenberg): Not available
Free Audiobook (LibriVox): Not available
Available to Purchase: AbeBooks, Biblio, Thriftbooks
