[Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein]

"Code Name Verity"
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Series: Code Name Verity
Pages: 343
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, War Books
Date Published: May 15th, 2012
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Format Read: Finished copy from the library

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Summary:

Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called "a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel" in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.

-Goodreads

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My Thoughts:

How?  How am I even supposed to review this book?  I just want to throw my hands up, tell you that it's amazing and that you better have a whole box of tissues sitting next to you the whole time, because you will sob like a little lost toddler.  Can I get away with that being my review?  I don't think i can, so I'm going to tell you what I can, which in all reality, isn't much.  This is one of those books that you need to go into knowing very little about.  It's all about the way that it's written.  

Wein has written a book filled with historical facts and interesting things that make this book one hell of an interesting read.  As a pilot herself, she is able to make the flying aspects of the book as real feeling as if you were actually reading a log book from the war.  The writing style was a bit heavy handed, but once I got used to it, it made the storytelling all that more real.  The fact that it was heavy on details that I know nothing about pulled me into the story and refused to let me go.

I think where the magic in this book lies in the friendship between two best friends who are put in a position that no one should ever have to deal with.  It shows a huge amount of hope as well as gives us an interesting look into World War II.  The journal like accounts of what they went through, as well as the flash backs that gave us more detail on their lives before the war, build a world that will make you smile as well as feel every other single emotion on the planet.  

It took me awhile to get through this one, souly from the fact that it was a very heavy read.  Though this book is fiction, you know that their were people living stories that were similar to the words written on these pages.  It's intense guys.  But somehow Wein is able to add some very real moments where you want to smile or possibly even chuckle to yourself.  She gives us a glimpse into the fact that even in the most horrible moments, our personalities and the people we have become don't fade into the background.  As humans we are resilient, this book shows that.  

Without a doubt I would recommend this book to everyone!  I have so much love for the story within these pages and the characters who resonate as real tangible people who were made to make some terrifying decisions.  I know this book will stay with me for a very long time and Wein deserves a standing ovation for this beautiful novel!

Rating:

 5 Unicorns = Get your hands on this now!