Review: The Bungalow by Sarah Jio

by:  Sarah Jio
published by:  Plume
publish date:  December 27, 2011

In the summer of 1942, twenty-one-year-old Anne Calloway, newly engaged, sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on the Pacific island of Bora-Bora.

Anne is engaged to the man of her mother's dreams.  Gerard is the son of the bank president.  He will be able to provide her a life of comfort.  But when her best friend Kitty decides to join the war effort as a nurse, Anne drops everything and goes with her to the Pacific.

Anne and Kitty are 2 of 40 women on an island of 2,000 soldiers.  There's a lot of pairing off of couples.  Anne meets the man that finally makes her heart go pitter pat, but because of various circumstances and the ongoing war they are separated. 

The book ends with a super sweet ending that was just a little too convenient for my taste, but overall it was a good story.   I'm sure there are a lot of women's literature fans that will love this book.  

 

My criticism with this book was that I didn't understand what drew Anne and Westry together, other than the bungalow.  I went back and checked what I had written about The Violets of March because I thought I had similar feelings about that book.  I had the same problem with that book.  The characters' relationship didn't necessarily feel real.   I have Blackberry Winter to read too, so I'm curious to see if it'll be a recurring theme.