Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein // Look! My heart shattered into pieces on the floor.

While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that's in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival. 

I read this book at a bad time. I had just seen an opera called The Passenger which was about Women's Concentration Camps, particularly Auschwitz, and it was REMARKABLY and HEARTWRENDINGLY realistic for an opera. You think that opera is all about big spectacle and extravagant costumes and drama? Think again. The Passenger had me in tears three hours straight. It was awfully good and painful. 

Here are pictures from the production I saw:

So somehow I thought it was a good idea, right after watching this emotionally triggering and realistic opera about women's concentration camps, to read Rose Under Fire, an emotionally triggering and realistic book about women's concentration camps. 

I think I dehydrated myself from crying all these tears.

On top of it all, I have family history with these sorts of situations. I have reasonably close relatives who were sent to concentration camps, and many more, closer relatives, who were very near to being sent. And my own grandmother, who is right now sitting next to me peacefully eating her own homemade borscht, was running away under Nazi fire as an eight year old when her Ukrainian village was bombed. I would literally not exist if she had been taken to a camp and killed. 

So any sort of World War II story is extremely, extremely real to me, even if I never experienced it first-hand, because I grew up hearing the stories constantly.

It was so, so stressful reading this book. I didn't realize how many times my heart could be shattered. But it was also so, so upliftingly beautiful, because somehow, humanity finds a way to hold on to beauty even in the most horrific situations. The prisoners grasped on to anything to keep them alive. Even in situations that WE couldn't even DREAM of, they still wished to live and still clung to whatever they could. 

Somehow, humans are so tenacious and hopeful and resilient and lovely, that it gives me hope for humanity. 

The descriptions of the camp and its inmates was so torturous and yet so lovely and yet so disgusting and heartbreaking. Reading a book like this isn't easy. It isn't relaxing, and it takes something out of you. But in the end, you feel such empathy for those people involved - even though the characters weren't real, they were based on thousands and thousands of real people who suffered such things. And then it's not just about the Concentration Camps. PTSD is SUCH a real thing, so that even after you are technically "free," you can never really go back to the life before. Something of the horrors always lingers. And PTSD and its type were dealt with SO realistically in this book. 

I don't know how Elizabeth Wein does it, but she is somehow able to paint such impactful pictures with her words - pictures that are so real that it almost seems as though we are there with the characters, experiencing their struggles and emotions. Isn't this what good writing is all about? Bringing the reader into the experience? Elizabeth Wein is a master. I loved Code Name Verity (which is Book One of this series - Rose Under Fire is Book Two but they are fine as standalones) but I cried more for this one. Code Name Verity felt more plot-centered and twisty than this one. Rose Under Fire was more about characters and experiences and daily life in Hell. 

One particular thing I adored was this juxtaposition of poetry with the dangers and fatalities and Nazi awfulness. There was poetry interwoven through the book - whether it was Edna St. Vincent Millay (whom I now need to read more of because she writes loveliness) or Rose (which really means it was Elizabeth Wein, which means Elizabeth Wein is a spectacular poet). Good poetry makes my heart leap in a special way - like this:

READ THIS BOOK. READ IT AND UNDERSTAND.

Understand the horrible things that happened, so that they aren't forgotten.

Understand the tenacity of the human spirit, and have hope for humanity.

Understand the loveliness of LIFE, despite the atrocities that taint it.

Don't you think that if everyone read a book like this, about the atrocities committed - not only in Nazi Camps, but in other horrific historical crimes - the world would become a better place? I have a complicated thought about Empathy and Reading and Psychology and World Peace that isn't fully sorted out yet in my mind, but maybe one of these days I will be able to post something about it.

~Sophia

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein // Utter Perfection In Every Way

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? 

OH.
MY.
GOODNESS.

My brain cannot fathom the wonder that is Code Name Verity. It just can't.
This book. This book is just stunningly ineffable.
I cannot describe how amazing it is.

The characters.
The plot.
The writing.

I utterly and unendingly adore Code Name Verity.

Let me attempt to explain, without spoilers.
(This will be difficult, because practically anything involving the entire second half of the book is one huge spoiler.)

So.

Goodness, I seriously don't know what to say, because I really want to spoil things. So I think I will.
If you haven't read the book, go read it now and then come back and read the rest of this post below the spoiler line. Just go read it because it is so good. SO GOOD.
(Because I clearly haven't mentioned that yet.)
And I know just saying IT'S SPECTACULAR and flailing about because of its awesomeness isn't a very good way to recommend a book.
So I will tell you something that actually means something:

Code Name Verity is the first non-classic to make it to my mental "Excellent" list.

That right there is a big deal, friends. That shows how highly I rank it.
I really think that it will be a classic in time. Seriously.

Okay, now is the time for you to dash off and read CNV if you haven't yet.
Everything below might potentially have a spoiler because I am just going to let loose.

(Comments are a possible spoiler-thriving zone, so don't read them if you haven't yet read the book. You can comment, just don't read the others. I'm not going to ask for no spoilers in the comments, particularly for this book.)

*********************SPOILERS*****************************

First: Because it is all written as a journal, we get such a good view of the characters. Julie's half of the book is totally different from Maddie's half. They have their individual voices, and I always respect any author knows their own characters so well.
Also, it's amazing how good of a view of the other characters we get through our two narrator's eyes.
Jamie is a spectacular example of this. He is awesome. I adore him. :-)
Von Linden in another example, because he's evil but that's not all he is. He has a daughter and he likes literature. His Gestapo actions don't define him - he's deeper than that.
And then there's Engel. What I find amazing is that Julie gets us to hate her, and then as we read Maddie's half, we realize she's not so bad after all. Which takes us perfectly into...

THAT TWIST. Oh my gosh I totally flipped when I found out that the whole first part was full of LIES. I had to go back and glance at the underlined words and find all the places that Maddie used when figuring out how to infiltrate the prison where Julie was prisoner.
Usually when I read, I tend to take everything that a first-person narrator says as hard fact. Or at least as their interpretation of the facts. But never ever would I have expected a narrator to make things up! I can safely say that that twist was one that I would never, ever have expected. Especially because it was written as a journal, and a journal is something that I think I can trust, right?
(Apparently not anymore.)

The journal style also really pulled me into a book more than usual. Books are supposed to make you feel like you're there, right? Well CNV did, except magnify the thereness by 20. Reading over that last sentence, I realize that sounded wierd, but I don't know how to explain this. I hope you understand. :-)

There is so much more to CNV that made it perfect, but it's super hard to articulate it all.
I adore it, and will definitely read more of Wein's books soon, especially Rose Under Fire. I heard Maddie comes back in that one. YAY!

I'm guessing if you've come this far you've already read Code Name Verity. Tell me what you thought! 

~Sophia