Lovely War by Julie Berry - Part Two: Point of View

Point of view with a book, as we well know, is an important writing element that should not be taken lightly. Julie Berry's YA historical romance novel, Lovely War, is unique as it provides five different points of view instead of one or two typical for the romance genre. And, to spice it up even more, the five characters in whose perspective we're reading from are not even the main characters of the love story being told. Berry uses the typical archetypes of Greek gods to tell the love stories of two couples during World War I.

We are all familiar with Greek gods and their archetypes. Because these Greek gods are limited by what they are the god of, they have distinct voices that are most often only about that one defining trait. For example, in the Aphrodite chapters the story's focus is about the love and the romance of the scene; in the Apollo chapters, the focus is on the music; in the Ares chapters, the focus is on the war and violence; in the Hades chapters, the focus is on the death that occurs in that chapter. The Greek gods then become a funnel by which we can understand the story more fully as we are led to the purpose or important elements of the chapter simply by knowing which god is narrating at the time. Additionally, because the voices and topics focused on in each chapter are distinctly for one god character, we're not lost with all the changing perspectives.

The voices for each narrator are also intriguing because while they focus on their certain character trait, their language also follows suit. When Aphrodite takes her turn telling the story, the prose is incredibly poetic and expansive like the language of love should be. Such lines include "Such delightful terror proves to us we're still alive," and "These moments belong to forever." Whereas in Ares' chapters, his prose is very abrupt, cold, and bloody. Even his sentences are cut short without periods or capitalization, mirroring the action of the war scenes that are quick and blunt. Another way Berry uses voice to her advantage is in the letters exchanged between James and Hazel. Until the interlude with the letters, we have seen their story through the lens of the Greek gods, but the letters provide a way for us to limit the distance that the omniscient third person narrator has and move even closer to James and Hazel. Their language, as befitting young adults in the early 1900s, reflects the time period and their voices more than the gods language could.

Summary

Using the Greek god archetypes, Berry writes a compelling story with different perspectives and voices to help readers understand her story more completely. Readers are guided to the importance aspects of each chapter by knowing which Greek god is narrating the story (Aphrodite and love, Ares and war, Hades and death, etc.). Additionally, each character who has a chance to narrate does so in a voice that is unique to their specific character traits, giving readers a chance to experience several perspectives and see the story through different lens. If you choose to write in a similar point of view, remember that your readers need key words to help them know in whose perspective they are reading. The simplest way would be in the chapter titles as is the case with many other YA novels like the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan or in many other romance novels like The Princess Companion by Melanie Cellier.