It's like being in love, discovering your best friend.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In 1943, a British spy ("Verity") and pilot ("Kittyhawk") crash in Nazi-occupied France. Verity is taken prisoner, and much of this novel consists of the confession that her captors force her to write. With bravado, charm, and imagination, she paints a picture of her and Kittyhawk's friendship, their lives before the war, and what led up to them making their disastrous flight.

This is one of those books whose ingredients would seem to make it a winner for me: the lesser-known roles of women in World War II, genuine friendship among female characters, and an unreliable narrator that keeps the reader guessing. Oh, and Scottish castles! I also liked how a childlike sense of make-believe overlapped with some serious, potentially deadly situations; it created a unique atmosphere that sets this book apart from others of its kind.

Despite these awesome components, the book as a whole didn't strike a chord with me as much as I thought it would. For all the dangerous and suspenseful situations that are described, it felt remarkably slow-moving and long-winded. It is quite heavy on details about planes and piloting, which I actually found pretty interesting, but I thought that it would have benefited from being balanced with more action and emotion. In retrospect, it feels strange to claim that the book suffers from a lack of emotion because I eventually found myself shocked and saddened; however, most of the impact came from its conclusion only. Also, I was never quite able to fully accept the premise of a prisoner being allowed to write such a novel - especially one with so many digressions and so many hints about how good she is at hiding things.

I do see why this book is so well-loved and I'm certainly eager to learn more about the real people who inspired it. It just didn't quite move me the way it moved many other readers.


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