Book Review: ‘Miss Harper Can Do It: A Novel’

Miss Harper Can Do It: A Novel

By: Jane Berentson

Publisher: Viking

Year Published: 2009

Genre(s):  Contemporary women’s fiction

Miss Harper Can Do It — A Surprisingly Poignant Home‑Front Novel

Every now and then, I like to wander outside my usual reading comfort zone. Most of the books on my shelves skew toward the traditionally “male” end of the spectrum — Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October, Rick Atkinson’s An Army at Dawn, and other titles steeped in military history or geopolitical intrigue. So when I picked up Jane Berentson’s debut novel Miss Harper Can Do It, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was in for.

Two things nudged me toward giving it a chance. First, I’ve always had a soft spot for young schoolteachers — perhaps because they’re often the unsung heroes in both fiction and real life. Second, this was the first novel I’d encountered that focused not on soldiers in Iraq, but on the people left behind on the home front during the early years of that war.

To be honest, I half‑expected not to like it. “Chick lit,” as a genre label, tends to conjure images of romantic misadventures involving women half my age, and I often find that kind of fiction either hard to relate to or simply not my cup of tea.

But Berentson surprised me.

Miss Harper Can Do It isn’t structured like a traditional novel. Instead, it takes the form of a manuscript written by Annie Harper, a 24‑year‑old schoolteacher in Tacoma, Washington. At first, Annie sets out to chronicle her long‑distance relationship with her boyfriend David, a young Army lieutenant deployed to Iraq. But as the months pass and the war drags on, her writing evolves — and so does she.

Early on, Annie is determined to be the loyal, supportive girlfriend waiting patiently for her man in uniform. Yet as her friendship with her platonic best friend Gus begins to shift into something more complicated, Annie starts questioning the role she’s assigned herself. What does it mean to be an “Army girlfriend” during an unpopular war? What does loyalty look like when life keeps moving at home, even as someone you love is in harm’s way?

In less capable hands, this could have devolved into melodrama or a predictable tale of betrayal. Instead, Berentson approaches the material with a light, humorous touch. She gives us Annie’s third‑grade students in all their chaotic charm, an elderly widow with memories of World War II, a delightfully odd pet, and a young woman slowly figuring out who she is — not just as someone’s girlfriend, but as a teacher and a human being.

The novel may be too quirky for some readers, and too tame for those expecting steamier fare. But for me, it struck a balance between humor and poignancy. It also offers a rare look at how modern American wars affect a relatively small slice of the population. Military families and their close circles carry the emotional weight, while the rest of us continue our daily routines as if nothing unusual is happening at all.

Miss Harper Can Do It isn’t just a story about romance. It’s a story about the quiet, often invisible burdens of wartime — and the young women who shoulder them.