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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
If you have the chance to listen, do so! The audiobook has been one of my favorites, and brought the book to life so much for me.
I feel like there’s not really much I can say about this one. Mild spoiler that I apparently will never stop hoping that things will all work out, that everyone will be safe and whole, in WW2 books. And yet again be wrong.
A beautiful, sad book, and a stunning glimpse into the lives of brave women, and how they took on roles and tasks, unassuming and powerful.
I feel like there’s not really much I can say about this one. Mild spoiler that I apparently will never stop hoping that things will all work out, that everyone will be safe and whole, in WW2 books. And yet again be wrong.
A beautiful, sad book, and a stunning glimpse into the lives of brave women, and how they took on roles and tasks, unassuming and powerful.
This is a story that captivated me from the beginning. Information is revealed in bits and pieces, slowly meted out to keep me wanting to know what was next and changing the landscape of what I thought I understood about the story up to that point.
Ultimately, though, while I devoured the book in a couple days, the abrupt shock of Maddie's decisive action haunted me. The novel does an excellent job building up to this point, and as readers we understand the motivation, but the author didn't completely paint a bleak enough situation for me to accept that it was the only viable solution, in spite of the agreement of the characters in that moment. I was so invested in the characters and the interwoven story line that it was an ending I couldn't fully accept. (3 1/2 stars)
Ultimately, though, while I devoured the book in a couple days, the abrupt shock of Maddie's decisive action haunted me. The novel does an excellent job building up to this point, and as readers we understand the motivation, but the author didn't completely paint a bleak enough situation for me to accept that it was the only viable solution, in spite of the agreement of the characters in that moment. I was so invested in the characters and the interwoven story line that it was an ending I couldn't fully accept. (3 1/2 stars)
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I didn't want to finish it- it was just a little slow for me
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.2
Spent a long time lying in a pool of my own tears after I was done with this.
Just a mess and jumble of mismatched thoughts to follow be warned.
Think one of the biggest strengths of this novel was how tightly it was plotted and how each seed planted in the first half had both a plot related and emotional throughline later.
I mean, with the epistolary format, I did have some idea that it was setting Julie up to an unreliable narrator obviously. But I thought that she changed the names of sensitive information while also telling mostly the right story. So finding out that her account was almost entirely fictionalised and finding out the true nature of the operation she was on was mindboggling to me and I'm still reeling. I had some idea that Julie was being set up to be killed by Maddie because of all their conversations about fears and stuff... I just had a feeling. But it still hurt so bad.............Right up until the very end I kept hoping against hope that there was another twist and outsmarting that happened even though I know it didn't.
And I did feel a disconnect to some extent and saw Julie as more of a caricature of herself than true in the first half and I dismissed it but it was so satisfying to see the full scope of her motivations, her cleverness, her deceit and her ambition when everything else in the second half slotted into place like puzzle pieces. I was incredibly fond of Maddie too, brave but blubbery... my sweetheart.
One of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire book for me was when Maddie discovers Julie's writings after her death and in that moment can feel her alive and soaring...good lord. And of course there's "Kiss me Hardy". Chills.
I've got to say that I haven't read a book in recent memory which was so devoid of and decentred around the male gaze. I found it so refreshing especially since that wasn't something I was expecting from the book going into it. So many of the central players are women and they're complex and multilayered with their array of motivations. Quite often in YA the archetype for writing complicated women stops at powerful but also knows to use her sexuality. Here, while I guess that is a miniscule part of it, there is so much more that comes before that. And Maddie's struggles with being a female pilot do loom over her constantly and affect her life and the decisions she's had to make. But I thoroughly appreciate that at the forefront of her characterisation is her utter love for the process of flying itself, the wonder, the skill etc. that makes all the struggles worth it.
One detail I appreciated a lot was the difference in writing styles between the two girls. Maddie comes off as much more dramatic and younger in some ways. A lot more capitalisation. Another was the way each of their fear lists changed throughout the course of the book. Another was how the ballpoint pen's significance carried through to the very very end...
Love the relationship Maddie and Jamie had... and how Jamie reminded Maddie of Julie in how physically affectionate they both were... and how he responded to her with gentlesness when she talked about what went down.
Gonna plop in some quotes I loved.
"'You even get to keep your BOOTS and mine are BURNT.' Jamie burst out laughing. 'It's not because I'm a lad that they let me keep my boots.' he said, with just as much outrage in his voice as I must have had in mine. 'Only because I haven't any toes!'"
"Must be lovely flying in peacetime."
"Oh Julie, wouldn't I know if you were dead? Wouldn't I feel it happening like a jolt of electricity to my heart?"
When Engel describes the act of torturing Julie as breaking a hawk's wings or stopping up a clear spring with bricks...
The fact that Maddie felt she was only brave enough to land safely because she was protecting Julie.
"For a moment, they held onto each other like a shipwreck"
The whole Aerodome drop off principle.
And that one fucking quote. Oh god.
Tbh almost everything about this worked for me but a big hindrance to my enjoyment of this book is the dense technical jargon related to airplanes and the war and things that I found a little difficult to keep up with or follow. I wish it had been written a Little more accessibly so I could fully revel in it. But even so, even looking at some of these quotes gives me chills and I love this book nonetheless. Highly recommend.
Spent a long time lying in a pool of my own tears after I was done with this.
Just a mess and jumble of mismatched thoughts to follow be warned.
Think one of the biggest strengths of this novel was how tightly it was plotted and how each seed planted in the first half had both a plot related and emotional throughline later.
I mean, with the epistolary format, I did have some idea that it was setting Julie up to an unreliable narrator obviously. But I thought that she changed the names of sensitive information while also telling mostly the right story. So finding out that her account was almost entirely fictionalised and finding out the true nature of the operation she was on was mindboggling to me and I'm still reeling. I had some idea that Julie was being set up to be killed by Maddie because of all their conversations about fears and stuff... I just had a feeling. But it still hurt so bad.............Right up until the very end I kept hoping against hope that there was another twist and outsmarting that happened even though I know it didn't.
And I did feel a disconnect to some extent and saw Julie as more of a caricature of herself than true in the first half and I dismissed it but it was so satisfying to see the full scope of her motivations, her cleverness, her deceit and her ambition when everything else in the second half slotted into place like puzzle pieces. I was incredibly fond of Maddie too, brave but blubbery... my sweetheart.
One of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire book for me was when Maddie discovers Julie's writings after her death and in that moment can feel her alive and soaring...good lord. And of course there's "Kiss me Hardy". Chills.
I've got to say that I haven't read a book in recent memory which was so devoid of and decentred around the male gaze. I found it so refreshing especially since that wasn't something I was expecting from the book going into it. So many of the central players are women and they're complex and multilayered with their array of motivations. Quite often in YA the archetype for writing complicated women stops at powerful but also knows to use her sexuality. Here, while I guess that is a miniscule part of it, there is so much more that comes before that. And Maddie's struggles with being a female pilot do loom over her constantly and affect her life and the decisions she's had to make. But I thoroughly appreciate that at the forefront of her characterisation is her utter love for the process of flying itself, the wonder, the skill etc. that makes all the struggles worth it.
One detail I appreciated a lot was the difference in writing styles between the two girls. Maddie comes off as much more dramatic and younger in some ways. A lot more capitalisation. Another was the way each of their fear lists changed throughout the course of the book. Another was how the ballpoint pen's significance carried through to the very very end...
Love the relationship Maddie and Jamie had... and how Jamie reminded Maddie of Julie in how physically affectionate they both were... and how he responded to her with gentlesness when she talked about what went down.
Gonna plop in some quotes I loved.
"'You even get to keep your BOOTS and mine are BURNT.' Jamie burst out laughing. 'It's not because I'm a lad that they let me keep my boots.' he said, with just as much outrage in his voice as I must have had in mine. 'Only because I haven't any toes!'"
"Must be lovely flying in peacetime."
"Oh Julie, wouldn't I know if you were dead? Wouldn't I feel it happening like a jolt of electricity to my heart?"
When Engel describes the act of torturing Julie as breaking a hawk's wings or stopping up a clear spring with bricks...
The fact that Maddie felt she was only brave enough to land safely because she was protecting Julie.
"For a moment, they held onto each other like a shipwreck"
The whole Aerodome drop off principle.
And that one fucking quote. Oh god.
Tbh almost everything about this worked for me but a big hindrance to my enjoyment of this book is the dense technical jargon related to airplanes and the war and things that I found a little difficult to keep up with or follow. I wish it had been written a Little more accessibly so I could fully revel in it. But even so, even looking at some of these quotes gives me chills and I love this book nonetheless. Highly recommend.
Very rarely will a book suck me in so deeply that I weep with the characters, feel their emotions so strongly that I must "awaken" myself when I walk away from the book to remind myself I was in a fictional world.
This book did just that.
The first half was the telling of one prisoner of war's confession, her writing it out and the reader hearing the story of her life & duties prior to capture intertwined with the life during capture.
Then, it shifts, to the story, again written out intertwining the past and current time, of her colleague and best friend. This second part deepens the original story -- giving you a better insight into the first girl.
It's truly masterfully done.
This book did just that.
The first half was the telling of one prisoner of war's confession, her writing it out and the reader hearing the story of her life & duties prior to capture intertwined with the life during capture.
Then, it shifts, to the story, again written out intertwining the past and current time, of her colleague and best friend. This second part deepens the original story -- giving you a better insight into the first girl.
It's truly masterfully done.
Was having trouble following the Queenie storyline and decided to read a summary with spoilers instead of finish the book.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, War