The FANTASTIC best seller private peaceful, written by Michael Morpurgo, is one of the greatest children books ever. The book was so successful it was made into a film last year which captured the awful irony of the novel.
Although Private Peaceful is a children book it was a bit of a tough read. This was because it made you think about the sadness and hopelessness of war. Set in the countryside Devon and the battlefields of WW1, the whole story is written in the past tense of the main character 'Tommo' and builds up to present tense. This allows tension to be built up and keeps the reader gripped for the whole story. The story is based around three brothers, Big Joe, who has an intercultural disability, Charlie and Tommo. Morpurgo created Big Joe to be disabled to show no matter what you are you still have just an important opinion as everyone else.
Charlie and Tommo share the same childhood sweetheart which Charlie goes on to marry and have a child with. The novel also tells the story of love and loss as the reader really feels for Tommo as he looses his love to his older brother.
Morpurgo uses the novel to underline the hatred of war and expose the humane dream of peace. This is demonstrated in one of my favorite scenes. A Nazi spared the life of Tommo and showed he too wanted peace in Europe and to befriend Tommo. This shows the humanity is war and the care between two soilders surviving war.
I found that as I got further through the book I got more and more drawn in. I could visualize the terrible life the soldiers were given. The more I read the more I loved the characters and the more I hated war. This made me reflect on each event and got me to think of a world without war and full of love and peace.
Morpurgo wrote the novel in a way you could easily understand how horrible war must be. Now that I have read it I now understand how much of an issue war is and feel strongly about it.
After reading the novel I often thought what if this happened or what if they did this instead. After watching them go from the peaceful life of the countryside to the terrifying battlefields of WW1, you really feel for the characters. The story engages you so much that you can even feel the same emotions that Tommo is feeling and you cant stop worrying for him and Charlie.
Even though Private Peaceful was extremely sad and full of emotions I am very happy I read it. I would recommend the novel to people of all ages as anyone can enjoy this heartbreaking story.
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