Review: Code Name Verity
Title: Code Name Verity
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Release Date: May 15th, 2012
Rating: ****
I wasn't sure about this book, when I started reading. I had come across it on Goodreads when someone marked it as a book that they wanted to read, so I added it to my own list. Then it was available as a 'Read Now!' on Netgalley, so I picked it up.
My hesitation lasted as I started the book, up until about a quarter of the way through - but something about it intrigued me, so I kept reading.
I'm very glad that I did.
Code Name Verity is a book that will tug at your heart. It is the story of two young women - Maddie and Queenie - and their friendship, set against the backdrop of World War II and their contributions to it. Queenie has been captured, and in the book she sets out to tell her story, partly seen through her eyes, partly seen through Maddie's.
The point of view and tense changes are what threw me at first - I felt distanced from it at times, wondering in the back of my head whether a person would really write about themselves this way, looking at themselves through another person's eyes. At times there would be an observation that would come across as arrogant, because in the back of my head I would remember that this was Queenie, writing about Maddie's perception of herself.
I wanted to keep reading, though, and the book drew me in. Through the story you get the background, the setting of what it was like during World War II - what the people were like, not just the main characters. It is a story of two strong women - and let's just stop for a moment, and appreciate that. How often is it that we get a book about a woman that doesn't have a male as the main secondary character? Code Name Verity defies those odds, and it passes the Bechdel test in flying colours. One thing I loved about this book is that the men in it are really part of the backdrop - women are at the forefront. What the war was like for women who wanted to play a part, and of course, Queenie and Maddie's friendship and love for each other - and ultimately, about the strength that each of them has.
It is a story of the impossibilities of war, the choices that people make when they think they have no choices left. The strength that they find inside themselves when they think that they are impossibly weak, and true bravery. At times the book is bleak, at other times it is triumphant, and at times it is incredibly poignant - I will admit that it had me in tears more than once, by the end.
I'd recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction, anyone who loves reading about strong women and friendship. If these aren't your thing, I'd still give it a try. It's an amazing book, one I can see myself rereading.
The author is on LJ, too! http://eegatland.livejournal.com/
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