Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Fiction

      I highly enjoyed this book because of the characters and most importantly, because of the ending. I feel that there are 5 things that I should cover so as a reader you are mentally prepared to fully embrace the amazingness of this book.

      The first thing is the plot. Code Name Verity takes place in England during World War 2 and is about two friends. One is a spy and the other is a pilot. We quickly learn that Verity, which is her code name, is a spy. While on a mission she is forced to abandon Maddie, the pilot, and is captured by the Gestapo when she looks the wrong way while crossing a street. Which leads to the second thing, the book is split into two parts. The first part is told by Verity and her narration is part of her confession to the Gestapo. Because I was not prepared for the switch between narrators, I was shocked because you become very attached to Verity and I didn’t feel that same attachment to Maddie the pilot, but both characters are very developed and enjoyable, it was just shocking at first. The third thing is almost the worst mistake I have ever made while reading a book. It is almost as bad as reading the last chapter, and that is I read the acknowledgements at the back of the book. It’s not really called the acknowledgements it’s really called the Author’s Debriefing, and in it a small thing is revealed which completely ruins the end of Verity’s narration and I really regret it. I believe that there was a very good chance that I could have cried if I hadn’t read the end. The fourth thing is the ending. At the end of the book either your heart will break and you will cry, or your mind will explode, or you will go into a coma similar to how I did and sit in the corner of your room hyperventilating. The plot is so carefully thought out, you don’t realize what is happening until everything is right in front of you, so it is very much like a puzzle, which is why I highly recommend reading the book several times, which is the fifth and final request. The first read should be solely for enjoyment, the second should be to notice the small details that you didn’t notice the first time. And then if you want, repeat Steps 1 and 2.   

The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Nonfiction

The Glass Castle is a memoir about the author’s experiences growing up in a poor and peculiar family. They constantly move and uproot their lives. Her dad is an alcoholic but is still faithful to the family, and he wrote a blueprint to a glass castle that he promises to someday build. Her mom is a self-proclaimed artist who is first seen digging through a Dumpster. Because of her parents’ poor choices they live in abject poverty. Her unconventional childhood results in her siblings and Jeannette sticking close together and having to fend for themselves. The book is full of alarming tales of parenting, such as the one where Jeannette is three years old and she learns to boil hot dogs by herself in their trailer. While she is standing on a chair to reach the stove, her skirt catches on fire. She is admitted to the hospital with severe burns. Her dad is disappointed because he insists that she should have seen the local Navajo witch doctor instead. After Jeannette spends six weeks in the hospital recovering, her dad breaks into the hospital, grabs her and bolts for the door, while nurses and doctors yell at him to stop. Some of the events in The Glass Castle are so comical and unbelievable that you feel a great deal of respect for the author for being able to rise above her past.

The Walls family may be unconventional, poor, and slightly eccentric, but it is never boring.