Reviews

This was always my favourite Morpurgo book. I’m almost sad I read it as a child, just because there were things I couldn’t intuit back then, bits of foreshadowing and red herrings that flew over my head, and I’d love to look at it now with fresh eyes. It still impacted me greatly, both then and now.

charlote_1347's review against another edition

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4.0

Good god, I'm crying. War novels also make me sad, to be fair, but some of them are definitely worse than others and this takes the cake. I'm used to explicit goriness and horrendous war flashbacks but the lack of both in this novel was almost worse. It completely blind-sighted me to the ending and made reading those last few pages feel as if someone had socked me in the gut and left me to roll around in pain on the floor. I was so enraptured with the rest of the story that I didn't stop to consider how it was going to end, and more fool me for that lack of foresight. It's been a while since a book hit me as hard as this one. I can see why 'Private Peaceful' is a required read for school kids. If I had my way, everyone would have to read this novel before shuffling off the mortal coil.

evescanlon's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

slowpoke's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 stars.

becksfizzz's review against another edition

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5.0

It’s just too important to me to rate any lower.

bookwormicah's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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