Summer Reading, Had Me a Blast: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

                I had a lovely Fourth of July Weekend at my grandparent's lake house in Nisswa, Minnesota. I spent most of my days sitting on the dock, enjoying the breeze off the water. During this relaxation, I read Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein in its entirety.

                American transport pilot and novice poet, Rose Justice, faces her worst nightmare when she is capture by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, an all-women concentration camp. She still manages to find hope, however, after meeting a group of women who are soldiers in their own right. These survivors include a French novelist turned barrack mother, a Polish girl scout used for Nazi medical experiments, and a Soviet female fighter pilot. Together, they stand up to their oppressors and fight to survive long enough to tell the world what has been done to them.

                I had such high hopes for this book after reading Wein's Code Name Verity, but Rose Under Fire started out so slow that I was worried I would be disappointed. Rose isn't half the narrator Verity is, and the story doesn't launch right into the action. The real stars of the novel are Ravensbrück's supporting cast, and Wein takes over a hundred pages to get there. Still, the beginning of the novel is worthwhile for finding out the fate of some of Verity's characters (Hint: M + J = <3).

                Once the novel gets on its feet, it's off and running. Wein wraps the reader up in the characters and the love they share for each other. The extreme situations of the camp lead to extreme acts of bravery by extraordinary women. Once again, Wein proves that she can write interest, complex women in parts of World War II's lesser known history.

                The ending is slow once again, but Wein leaves the reader on a note of hope. Overall, the book holds true to Wein's principal, to explore the bravery of humanity at war as well as the evil and, like the women at Ravensbrück, TELL THE WORLD.

If you liked Code Name Verity, you will like Rose Under Fire. If you haven't read Verity, read that first because Rose contains spoilers.

Next Up: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Summer Reading, Had Me a Blast: Great by Sara Benincasa

                I love modern adaptations of classics. I am not ashamed to admit that watching She's the Man during the Twelfth Night unit in tenth grade English was the single most engaging activity of my high school career. This is why I loved Mental Floss's 11 Modern Retellings of Classic Novels. I just finished the first book on the list, Great by Sara Benincasa.

 

                Based off of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Nathan Caraway is now Naomi Rye, the down-to-earth Chicagoan who is launched into the extravagant world of the East Hamptons when she spends the summer at her mom's beach house. There she is  quickly befriended by her next door neighbor, Jacinta Trimalchio, the mysteriously wealth fashion blogger obsessed with Naomi's model friend, Delilah Fairweather. Before Naomi realizes it, she is caught up in a scheme that could shatter everyone's glittery life as they know it.

                Unlike She's the Man, Great follows the events of its inspiration almost exactly. Jacinta's convertible is white, not yellow, but whatchayagonnado. Benincasa  takes the frivolities of Fitzgerald's world online as Jacinta Facebook stalks Delilah and the Hampton it-crowd raves just as much about J's blog as they do her parties. And the green light on the dock? That's the glow from Jacinta's laptop charger.

                All in all, Great is a fresh and entertaining take on the 1920's classic. Benincasa uses the novel's 263 pages to dive further into the story than Fitzgerald, developing Naomi as a narrator and showing how little American society has changed in 90 years. I was also fascinated about the way she develops Jeff (i.e. Jordan) in a way that shows how Naomi could be attracted to him, while slowly revealing the flaws in his character.

                While the novel gets just as dark as The Great Gatsby, Benincasa's humor and satire keep Great an engaging summer read.

Up next: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Five Reasons You Need to Read Code Name Verity Right Now

As a spy, "Verity" can talk her way out of any situation. But not this one. She has been captured by the Gestapo in Occupied France and given one deal. In exchange for a cleaner execution, she will confess everything she knows about the Allied war effort. But she is not going to make it easy. Every secret is wrapped in the amazing story of her friendship with the pilot, Maddie, showing the extraordinary bravery and humanity that led her to this point.

                I cried for about two hours straight over this book last night, but think I might be in the right state of mind to make a recommendation now. My recommendation is read it. Plow through the ten inches of snow outside your door right now to your local book store or library and pick up this book. Here's why:

1. It is a female driven novel.

                I fell in love with the narrator, Verity, on the first page. She is caustic, witty and entirely human. Her plotline is not driven by tragic romance, as women are often consumed with in war novels, but her extraordinary friendship with a British woman pilot, Maddie. It is also the first World War II novel I have heard of were woman in the Allied effort take center stage. Wein, an avid pilot herself, actually wrote the novel after being inspired by her research into female pilots during World War II.

2. The females are complex

                Verity and Maddie are the brand of skilled and courageous Britain is looking for, but their strength as characters go beyond their ability. They have moments of stress and weakness, as is imaginable with being tortured by the Gestapo. The women of Code Name Verity feel pride, shame, hopelessness, and bravery. Even the supporting female characters, such as Verity's Nazi supervisor, Engel, are much more than they seem on the surface.

3. It explains wartime procedures without justifying them

                 Wein does not try to push the envelope by excusing Nazi behavior by writing it off as intense patriotism. Von Lindon, Gestapo officer and director of Verity's torture, is a fully developed character, with a teenage daughter and a love of literature. But he does not get excused from the brutal acts he commits. Both sides of the war are portrayed as completely human, but neither gets a pass from war crimes.

4. It made me cry harder than The Fault in Our Stars

                And that's saying something.

5. The book is a total mind game.

                Can we trust a spy writing to the enemy as a narrator? Wein takes the line of unreliable narration and jump ropes with it. Verity may just as easily be playing a trick on the readers as she may be on the Nazis. When the plot finally came together, I literally screamed. Seriously, this book is frustratingly brilliant.