Book Review: "Code Name Verity"

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.   

--Ernest Hemingway   I've always thought this quote was about being a writer, but all of a sudden I wonder if maybe Hemmingway meant it about life? Anyhow, if it's about writing, I'm going to disagree, because there are writers like Elizabeth Wein (author of Code Name Verity). On Wednesday I said I'd post a review, so here it is!

   What I Thought: Chocolate is so good for comparisons. Code Name Verity is a dark chocolate book. With caramel and truffle. And nuts. It's so rich and full of gobsmacking surprises, relatable and strong and heroic characters, humor despite the circumstances, tons of conflict, and all those things that make a good novel. Elizabeth Wein is a master storyteller. There are so many different pieces to this jigsaw plot that all fit together perfectly in the end. Novels are about change, and I liked seeing the progression of Maddie and the narrator's friendship and how they see each other. History really "comes alive" in this book. I particularly liked learning about English and Scottish culture.

Me feeling small

   After reading CNV I felt very, very small, because you have to be some kind of genius to write such a very, very good book. What a life accomplishment! I wonder what that feels like to be the author? Even the "mistakes" were intentional. In the afterword Ms. Wein explained any historical inaccuracies and why  she chose to fudge a little on certain details. If you not only can recreate history but also can judge which parts you can manipulate (not because you're too lazy to get it right, but in order to get the best effect), I think you're about as close to a master as you can get.

Jargon: Because Maddie is a pilot, there are a lot of descriptions of plane-flying and a little bit of pilot jargon. Some people might dislike it for being too technical. I liked it because it made me feel smart. Or I just didn't notice because it's described so matter-of-factly and woven in so seamlessly.

Notes: I'm going to read it again now that I know the big secret and look for all the clues. Maybe this time I'll make notes of what I did and didn't like because anytime you look back at a good memory, you tend to forget the bad and see the good as better. Maybe I'll write out interview questions, too! It doesn't hurt to try...
(Random fact: for some reason almost the whole time I was reading, I imagined the narrator to look like Birdy, the English singer. The narrator would be furious, because she's Scottish, not English.)

  I hope this book wins a lot of prestigious awards. The least of which needs to be "most quotable book of the year."
  For any of you Bible-readers (other readers too, but this happens to me most with Bible verses), you know how sometimes there's a verse you want to find, and you remember that it was towards the bottom righthand corner of the left page around chapter five or six, so you fix yours eyes on that general area and flip-flip-flip until you see it? That's how I re-found the quote that I'm ending with. It tells exactly how I feel about a lot of stories and movies! The quote is by the narrator, who is a very well-read character and understands these kind of things.

"It's awful, telling it like this, isn't it? As though we didn't know the ending. As though it could have another ending. It's like watching Romeo drink poison. Every time you see it you get fooled into thinking his girlfriend might wake up and stop him." --Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein, page 174

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