When the War Came Home

Lesley Parr (Bloomsbury)

When the War Came Home

Review by Derry
When the war came home is a good book and for once it doesn’t show the more powerful people the heroes and villains of war instead Lesley Parr decides to show the poverty that came after WW1.

Something that got me interested was the similarity between me and the main character Natty an almost teen that has financial trouble for my family and is at risk of becoming homeless whilst her mum reminds me of a secretive person someone who will think they doing good but when they eventually jump back to reality things have got worse and in this case it has to the point to were they’ve had to move to the other side of the country.

If I did learn anything from when the war came home, it would be the poverty that came post WW1 due to the fact that in primary school history I only learnt about England/ powerful world leaders that rejoice over the victory over Germany never for a second thought about the citizens that suffered after. The thing that stood out the most was the again poverty that followed outside Germany and its allies. And in small villages in places like Poland and France.

Yes, I would definitely recommend this book to other student (from what I read at least) it’s a heart-warming adventure about family (again, from what I’ve read) that really caches you. One fact I’ve learnt is once more the poverty. Personally, I did really enjoy the entirety of the book and the only thing I didn’t enjoy was the mums old boss. 

Review by Tahim
I really like this book and here are my top 3 reasons why:

Number 1: It's got some interesting topics for example the portrayal of PTSD and how it shows that it can happen, and it is serious it also shows what the characters have been through.

Reason number 2: The way it delves into the story at the beginning - there’s no long introductions, the intro is just short and snappy.

Reason number 3: The language used is impactful and powerful and it gets you to read on more and the suspense is next level!

Rating: 5/5 

Review by Vincent 
I really enjoyed the book “when the war came home” because the story was very enticing and kept me hooked in all the way to the end. My favourite part was when the character Johnny is actually the character Rhys. My favourite character was Rhys because he was very mysterious and misleading. Because of this book I learnt that the First World War was still something that was still significant even after it had ended. The setting was very interesting because it told me more about the war and showed how proud people were. The main plot was very exciting because I knew there was a mysterious character, but we didn’t know who, so I was surprised later on when we figured out it was Johnny. Something that stood out to me was the way that even when there was a world war people were still keeping their pride and joy. I would always recommend this book to other pupils as it’s very exciting and very intriguing. I learnt a range of Welsh slang words and some very interesting facts. Overall, the book was amazing and I don’t think there is anything that could make it better.



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