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A review by justabean_reads
Women's Barracks by Tereska Torrès
4.0
However long into being interested in queer history, especially queer history around WWII, I finally got around to reading this! I'm glad I did, if for no other reason than to learn that the lesbians in the Free French Army women's barracks on Downing Street took over their canteen and turned it into a lesbian bar. Pass it along.
I also really appreciated the long interview with the author, which had been done in 2005, and was included in the afterwards, as there was a lot about how the book had been written, translated and published. Specifically that when her husband took it to the US, the original publisher insisted that he add a line of narration about how the point-of-view character Did Not Approve of These Goings On. And that those changes, though Torres agreed to them, were one of the reasons she never wanted the book translated back into French: she didn't want the women she'd fictionalised to think she judged them. (Before she died, she published her actual war-time diaries in French, though I think she still changed the names.)
On the topic of the actual book: I really enjoyed it. I could've lived without the point of view character being so judgy, so it was good to know that was a publisher's mandate, as she's throwing a lot of casual homophobia and biphobia around, both at the main characters, and at the handful of gay men who wander through. The narrator herself isn't as much of a character though, and most of the story is about the women she shared a dorm room with, and the adventures they had between the founding of the Free French Army's women's auxiliary and the invasion of Normandy, whereupon they moved back to France. Most women were young, some of them too young to be in the army, with a handful of more experienced women, and a lot of drama. We get very little about their war work, as the story focuses on inter-personal drama and romantic adventures (with each other and outside of the barracks).
It's fully entertaining, and I can see why it was a runaway hit in the '50s. Not just because there's quite a bit of vaguely-described sex (lots of sensations and emotions, not much in the way of mechanical detail), but also because of how well drawn the characters are, how they're allowed to be messed up and difficult, but you still root for them to find happiness. And survive the war, which not everyone does, for a variety of reasons. The book doesn't sugar coat either the physical danger of being stationed in London during the Blitz or V1/V2 attacks, or the emotional isolation and difficulty of living in a strange land with all of your family in peril, of being young and afraid and prone to making huge choices off the cuff. There's also dubiously consensual underage sex, self harm, substance abuse, descriptions of domestic violence and a brush with incest, but I again don't think they're dealt with sensationally, but rather as things the women were dealing with.
I'm glad to have finally read this, did not disappoint. I'd like to find Torrès' other books at some point, though By Cecile (a post-war Colette expy) is the only one still widely in print. Are her war-time diaries translated into English, does anyone know?
I also really appreciated the long interview with the author, which had been done in 2005, and was included in the afterwards, as there was a lot about how the book had been written, translated and published. Specifically that when her husband took it to the US, the original publisher insisted that he add a line of narration about how the point-of-view character Did Not Approve of These Goings On. And that those changes, though Torres agreed to them, were one of the reasons she never wanted the book translated back into French: she didn't want the women she'd fictionalised to think she judged them. (Before she died, she published her actual war-time diaries in French, though I think she still changed the names.)
On the topic of the actual book: I really enjoyed it. I could've lived without the point of view character being so judgy, so it was good to know that was a publisher's mandate, as she's throwing a lot of casual homophobia and biphobia around, both at the main characters, and at the handful of gay men who wander through. The narrator herself isn't as much of a character though, and most of the story is about the women she shared a dorm room with, and the adventures they had between the founding of the Free French Army's women's auxiliary and the invasion of Normandy, whereupon they moved back to France. Most women were young, some of them too young to be in the army, with a handful of more experienced women, and a lot of drama. We get very little about their war work, as the story focuses on inter-personal drama and romantic adventures (with each other and outside of the barracks).
It's fully entertaining, and I can see why it was a runaway hit in the '50s. Not just because there's quite a bit of vaguely-described sex (lots of sensations and emotions, not much in the way of mechanical detail), but also because of how well drawn the characters are, how they're allowed to be messed up and difficult, but you still root for them to find happiness. And survive the war, which not everyone does, for a variety of reasons. The book doesn't sugar coat either the physical danger of being stationed in London during the Blitz or V1/V2 attacks, or the emotional isolation and difficulty of living in a strange land with all of your family in peril, of being young and afraid and prone to making huge choices off the cuff. There's also dubiously consensual underage sex, self harm, substance abuse, descriptions of domestic violence and a brush with incest, but I again don't think they're dealt with sensationally, but rather as things the women were dealing with.
I'm glad to have finally read this, did not disappoint. I'd like to find Torrès' other books at some point, though By Cecile (a post-war Colette expy) is the only one still widely in print. Are her war-time diaries translated into English, does anyone know?