Rating: 
Summary: An unforgettable Story
Review: This is the only book that upon finishing, I turned back to the
first page and started reading again. I am currently reading it
for the fifth time. It is a unique story by one who suffered a
most unbelievable tragedy. It is also a picture ot the world just
prior to the cataclysm of 1914, duirng and after. It is actually
a book in three parts. Part 1 deals with the role and status of
English women prior to 1914. Part 2 details the 1st World War
tragedy from a woman's perspective. Vera Brittain lost her fiancee,
brother and the only two other male friends she had. Part 3
details how she regained a life after the war and how she
became involved in English political and social issues. She was
a most remarkable woman and in my opinion not given the credit
she truly deserves. "Testament of Youth" is the most incredible,
unique masterpiece imaginable.
Rating:
Summary: An inspiring, heartbreaking, unforgettable book.
Review: Vera Brittain is not always easy to like. She's frequently disagreeable, usually opinionated, always challenging. But she also has more courage, strength and vision than most people you will ever encounter. As part of the first generation of women to achieve a university education in England, she put her studies aside to volunteer as a nurse on the front lines of World War I. This seminal event in world history profoundly altered her philosophy as she suffered the heartbreak of losing the two men she loved most in the world. Her triumph over tragedy should be inspiring to anyone who has ever lost a loved one, as she turned her grief and anger at the war into a lifelong committment to the cause of pacifism. Brittain is a beautiful writer with a sharp wit and an incisive mind. Her portrayal of the brutality of war and the tragic consequences of "God and country before all" makes for perhaps the most powerful anti-war book ever created. This is not only a testament to youth, but also to the courage and resiliancy of the human spirit.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating Memoir (with Romance) by a Middle-Class Woman
Review: Very fascinating account of war-time Europe, this book also gives you a glimpse of life during the fast-changing times before and after
the death of Queen Victoria.Every reader will be drawn into the honest and readable writing
style of Vera Brittain, who remembers the time of WWI when she
served as a nurse. As many other reviewers say, her momoir is simply stunning and even shocking in its description of her experiences during the tribulations. Though the some
descriptions about the hot, (or chilling) dirty hospitals, wailing patients, or stupid supervisers are understandably subdued, her feelings reacting to these surroundings are always touching, and sometimes even with some witty remarks. On top of that, I was impressed with her daily way of life, which expeienced the rigid Victoraimism before the comrapatively free, modern post-war era. Some episodes are remarkable in telling us how a young woman had to live in a provincial town in England at the turn of the 19th century, when a die-hard Victorian conservative moral codes were still prevalent. In fact, Vera, rather humourously, recounts how travelling alone by train could be inappropriate for a lady at that time, and how she had to arrange the meeting with her love, Roland, using some skills.
Moreover, some readers may find this book interesting in different way;
that is, as this book was written during the time between WW1
and WW2, you get a strange feelings that something is missing from the book that should have been there. For example, Hilter
is mentioned only once, but not the Nazi, and the name of
fascism appears, but very briefly (though she records one
episode in Italy which predicts the future events).
And the League of Nations, for which she passionately devotes
herself, was, as you all know, to collapse. Considering the
book alongside with the history WE know, the book becomes all
the more fascinating just because of the things the book could not tell at the time of writing. And this strange sense leaves me wondering -- "What did Vera
Brittain do during the next world-war?" "How did she respond to
WW2 and possibly other big events in the world?" This is the
reason I didn't give 5 star rating, because the text itself is brilliant, the book gives me little information about the
author (anyway I will find it though, but...). Though a short
introduction by her daughter is attached, we know little about
her, and that is a shame, because this book is deserves much wider
range of readers, from those who remember the war to the students of Victorianism and feminism, and her life would
interest all those readers.
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