Book Review: CODE NAME VERITY

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, an Honor Book for the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, was a puzzling yet intriguing read. It was a page-turner, yet there were many times I wanted to put it down and quit reading. And I’m not completely sure why.

Code Name Verity is about two bosom friends who play different roles for the British during WWII. One is captured in Nazi-occupied France while the other finds herself in a situation she never could have imagined.

Through the storyline we see a sliver of some of the operations going on during the war. The story takes place from one character’s point of view and later the other. As both are young women performing dangerous and what would then be considered daring roles, we see the strong, female character come through as in so many novels now.

WWII novels are a dime a dozen, but I still enjoy reading about this time in history, and this book gave some new perspectives of the war I hadn’t read about yet, which is always refreshing.

I think perhaps what didn’t sit quite right was the fact that the whole first half was a written confession of one of the girls. She was captured and imprisoned and had to write anything she could to save herself. But she basically writes the history of how she and her friend arrived at that point. The story was really interesting, but coming from the perspective of a written confession gave it an element that slowed the action down a bit. I wouldn’t say it shouldn’t have been done this way. I wouldn’t go that far. But it just made it less somehow and at times a bit unrealistic.

As far as being a young adult novel goes, Wein does a great job of putting what could be graphic subject matter in a way that wouldn’t be too distressing for a young adult. That’s not to say she dumbed it down or made it boring. There were still plenty of places where I grimaced, and plenty of times when I thought, “Would I let my teenager read this?” But then I always hold that thought next to the graphicness of the Hunger Games trilogy. And this definitely didn’t top that in horror and violence! So I’d say it was right on target.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found it informative if not completely entertaining. I’d recommend it… especially for WWII novel junkies.

Buy here: Amazon / Book Depository

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