Letters to Loretta from the Radio Shack: a True WWII Teenage Love Story
Laura Lynn Ashworth
Read the rare and recently discovered real-time letters between Sal, age 19, and Loretta, age 15, during the final terrifying three years of World War II, 1943-1945. Both from the Douglas Park neighborhood in Chicago, the two adolescents discuss with humor and candor, the Navy, war, politics, hit music, life back home and their relationship. Sal, nicknamed Slabby for his movie star good looks, deciphers code out of the Navy’s radio shack on a minesweeper in the Pacific. Loretta, monikered Duchess for her aloofness, lives with aunts and her widowed father, while holding day jobs and enjoying an active social life with friends. Letters to Loretta from the Radio Shack lets you experience World War II, both in battle and on the home front, through the eyes of adolescents in a way that Hollywood has never portrayed.
(Courtesy of Goodreads)
(Courtesy of Goodreads)
When I saw this book and its description, I was immediately intrigued and wanted to check it out.
The beginning of the book hooked me in. It was so interesting to see WWII in the eyes of two Americans, one serving in the Navy and the other an ordinary citizen. You really saw the difference in the lifestyle of the time era from back then to now based on the words exchanged between these two young adults. I mean, the vocabulary, the way they acted, the amount they wrote, it all created the atmosphere of what it was like during the last three years of WWII and helped create this exquisite "film" in the readers' minds.
It was also interesting to see that it wasn't always about the war going on. When Sal wrote letters to Loretta, they were about the war because it was his occupation and he had to be exposed to it, but even then he enjoyed writing about things other than the war. When Loretta wrote letters to Sal, the war was mainly mentioned when she missed him or when the letters didn't come as often as they usually did. So essentially, the readers are exposed to the life of an average person while a war is going on as opposed to the life of an average person during a war (does that make sense? It makes sense to me). However keep in mind that this is only ONE perspective of the war. The outlook on the war is obviously going to be different in the eyes of an American as opposed to someone living in Europe or Japan.
The only downside to reading this was that it got boring for me in the middle of it. I wanted to skip/skim a lot of the parts of the book, and for this reason, I'm going to have to knock off a star when rating it.
Now, I really hate to do that because this book is created from ACTUAL letters that were exchanged between REAL people. This story isn't fictional, and I hate to mark it off with anything because it is in no way, shape, or form the author's fault for it (in fact, the format of the book and the way the letters are portrayed are great!), but it was, nonetheless, a book, and it started to lose my attention halfway.
The ending was... a true ending. People might say that it was "incomplete", or there never actually was an ending, and that was my original thought at first, too. However, you reeeallyy have to keep in mind that this is a true story, and that sometimes, the ending isn't really clear in real life. After reconsidering this, I am content with the ending.
So to sum it all up, it was a good read. Again, it got a bit boring as it went on, but maybe it was just me. If you are really into the details and things that happened during this time period (or in general history), then this book is for you!
My Rating:
1/5 I didn't like it
2/5 It was okay
3/5 I liked it
4/5 I really liked it
5/5 It was amazing
The beginning of the book hooked me in. It was so interesting to see WWII in the eyes of two Americans, one serving in the Navy and the other an ordinary citizen. You really saw the difference in the lifestyle of the time era from back then to now based on the words exchanged between these two young adults. I mean, the vocabulary, the way they acted, the amount they wrote, it all created the atmosphere of what it was like during the last three years of WWII and helped create this exquisite "film" in the readers' minds.
It was also interesting to see that it wasn't always about the war going on. When Sal wrote letters to Loretta, they were about the war because it was his occupation and he had to be exposed to it, but even then he enjoyed writing about things other than the war. When Loretta wrote letters to Sal, the war was mainly mentioned when she missed him or when the letters didn't come as often as they usually did. So essentially, the readers are exposed to the life of an average person while a war is going on as opposed to the life of an average person during a war (does that make sense? It makes sense to me). However keep in mind that this is only ONE perspective of the war. The outlook on the war is obviously going to be different in the eyes of an American as opposed to someone living in Europe or Japan.
The only downside to reading this was that it got boring for me in the middle of it. I wanted to skip/skim a lot of the parts of the book, and for this reason, I'm going to have to knock off a star when rating it.
Now, I really hate to do that because this book is created from ACTUAL letters that were exchanged between REAL people. This story isn't fictional, and I hate to mark it off with anything because it is in no way, shape, or form the author's fault for it (in fact, the format of the book and the way the letters are portrayed are great!), but it was, nonetheless, a book, and it started to lose my attention halfway.
The ending was... a true ending. People might say that it was "incomplete", or there never actually was an ending, and that was my original thought at first, too. However, you reeeallyy have to keep in mind that this is a true story, and that sometimes, the ending isn't really clear in real life. After reconsidering this, I am content with the ending.
So to sum it all up, it was a good read. Again, it got a bit boring as it went on, but maybe it was just me. If you are really into the details and things that happened during this time period (or in general history), then this book is for you!
My Rating:
1/5 I didn't like it
2/5 It was okay
3/5 I liked it
4/5 I really liked it
5/5 It was amazing