Code Name Verity (Wein)

[cahn]

5/5. So julianyap told me I absolutely positively HAD to read this book. And then, after he had recommended it in the highest terms possible, I didn't read it for a month, during which everyone else on my reading list did and also really liked it. And then, finally, I read it. And of course I loved it. And now I am here to browbeat you into reading it, assuming you haven't already.

I know now, though, why it took me a month to read it even though I knew that anything julian recommended that highly was bound to be brilliant. Because I'd read The Winter Prince (also highly recommended), and I knew that Wein does intense. And this, if anything, kicks up the intensity of Prince up a notch. (And also, honestly, just a little, because I was a little afraid of how she'd do the 1940's, only ever having seen her do that series, but I need not have had any fears on that score -- pitch-perfect.)

I went in blind - knowing almost nothing - and I really think that is the way to go, with this book. I did know something about the narrator that at least two other reviews I read thought wasn't a spoiler, but I would have preferred not to know even that level of meta because I am not a highly critical reader, so no description here. Comments fair game though. Please, don't even read descriptions of the book. It's better that way.

I will say one thing, because I cannot help it, but I think it is not at all spoilery. One of the things that is just amazing about the book is the level of detail. In the afterword Wein talks about how basically every event in it was inspired by something that actually happened in real life. In general, the book has been very meticulously put together. It's the sort of book that as soon as I finished it, I wanted to read it again, slowly. (I haven't yet -- see the note below about hard copy, and also above on intensity.)

(And when you're done, go read skygiants's (spoilery DO NOT READ THIS BEFORE READING THE BOOK PLEASE PLEASE) review because she makes a quite interesting point, I feel, about one of the characters' literary ancestry (and which, Julian, I think plays into why the two of us had a particular spoilery reaction we did).

One thing - I read a kindle copy, and this is one of those books where I would really, really have preferred a paper copy (a lot because it's one of those books where it really pays to be able to flip back and forth, but also because I just prefer paper for good books, darn it). And now I'm going to buy a paper copy so I can reread that one. I could have saved myself the money by just doing it that way to begin with... If you prefer e-copies, then get an e-copy, but this is one book I'd recommend in paper if you at all prefer paper copies.

(Also, why is the British cover two zillion times better than the American one? Not fair!)

Comments

[sophia_gratia]

Yeah, I'm sort of in the market for comfort-reads at present – though I keep failing on that score. I told a friend I 'needed to read something comforting,' and she took Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint off the shelf... entirely neglecting to mention the suicidal PTSD of one of the main characters. GREAT. So I appreciate the warning!

Aw, Dragonhaven is so sweet! And bizarre. And sweet. And yes, I can't imagine what it would be like to read with a newborn around. Spindle's End and Deerskin are currently on my nightstand – just what I've been needing, I think. Hope. Though I suppose nothing will ever quite measure up to the experience of reading The Blue Sword for the first time at exactly the right moment.

[cahn]

UM. Just so you know, if you weren't already aware, a comfort read Deerskin IS NOT, at least parts of it? But if you are familiar with the fairy tale, then you probably are cognizant enough about what trauma is going on that it might be okay. (And yes. Code Name Verity definitely not a comfort read!)

Spindle's End, on the other hand, I remember as a lovely comfort read, complete with women friendships trumping romance. A lovely book.

Reading Dragonhaven with a newborn around was... well, an exercise in hysterical laughter. She really does nail the feel of what it's like, even if my infant never burned me...

[sophia_gratia]

Hahaha – ANOTHER deceitful friend! Maybe this one meant that Deerskin would be comforting in the same weird counterintuitive way that The Bell Jar was comforting when I was seventeen? Maybe not. Spindle's End it is, then... Just as soon as I finish drafting this essay on the historical impossibility of female friendship and the poetics of loss and failure. Augh.

...And I'm glad your kidlet doesn't breathe fire (yet?).

[cahn]

Hm. Well, it does occur to me that you very much liked Cashore, which I also don't really find translates as comfort read exactly (given the subtext about rape culture in Fire and the subtext about abuse survivorship in Bitterblue) so I may be being a little too kneejerk in my reaction, here. I do think that Deerskin is a little more explicitly about recovering from trauma than either of the Cashores, though, and I found it less of a comfortable read than the Cashores as well.

That essay sounds really interesting (says the technical geek who knows nothing about this kind of thing and is liable to ask really stupid questions about it). Why is female friendship historically impossible?