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A review by hmselden
Code Name Badass: The True Story Of Virginia Hall by Heather Demetrios
Well y'all it happened. For the first time in my life, I read half a book and didn't finish. This is the one and only book with the tag dnf in my goodreads list because I had to create a dnf tag for this book.
A bit of explanation about me: I have what I term "completion syndrome". Once I start a book I feel compelled to finish it. It doesn't matter if I don't like it, or am annoyed or bothered by it, I must finish it. I'm like this in other aspects of my life--TV shows, jigsaw puzzles, movies, work projects (I have a very hard time delegating tasks to other people or transitioning projects in the middle of a cycle) etc.
I've read numerous articles and see posts all over this site and on social media extolling the virtues of abandoning books that don't bring you joy, but I have a very hard time doing it. I always think I picked this book up for a reason and there's got to be some merit to it or it's going to get better by the end. It doesn't always happen though.
I'm getting better though. I am able to watch 5 seasons of a show and give it up once it no longer brings me joy (this is huge for me). My husband and I abandoned a jigsaw puzzle in the middle because the colors were muddled and the picture was no help (again, huge for me).
Except I just couldn't do it with this book. I would have abandoned it far earlier if it wasn't a book that someone had chosen for my book club. I was so relieved when the person who chose it contacted the group via text last night and said "I'm 40 pages in and I'm recommending abandoning this choice in favor of something else". Whew. Not only do I have completion syndrome, but I've always finished book club books. Always. So when the text came in I felt a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. I could abandon this book and not feel bad about it.
I didn't like it from the start.
I suspect that whether or not you like this book depends solely on how you feel about the narrative/author's voice. The book is told in a very colloquial and casual style. This is not necessarily a bad thing--a casual, colloquial style can sometimes help a reader to better understand the topic, but that was definitely not the case with this book.
The author peppers pop culture references and phrases in liberally. She uses phrases like adorbs, whatevs, on the regular/on the reg, which doesn't endear me to the book or to the subject matter. The author is also fond of reiterating things in shouty capital letters.
The book is about Virginia Hall, a very kickass spy in WWII. The author wants to convey a "you go girl attitude", but then often calls Virginia (and other women in the book) gal, or dame, or broad. It would be one thing is the author was trying to write the book in a 1940s style, but with her use of modern slang and pop culture references these terms for women are even more jarringly annoying.
And I know that I am so far from the demographic of this book (by a lot), but the thing is I read YA books all the time and love them. Just not this one.
The author makes references to Virginia's looks, her "smirk" in photos, and other kind of degrading comments about this woman that convey an odd sexism even though you can tell the author admires the hell out of her subject.
The book is well researched, but it's cited/noted to death. A 5-page chapter at one point has 43 end notes. It just seems excessive. Then on the other hand, the author speculates about things that Virginia might have done in a very stereotypical manner.
Maybe it's because I come from a reference book/publishing background and we're taught to write as if a book will sit on a shelf for many years. Do I think this book will hold up in 10, 20, 30+ years? Even 5 years? Unfortunately, no. I don't think it holds up even now.
I don't mean to rag on this book. The author has done something that I could never do: written a book and gotten it published. I just feel like Virginia deserved better and it's a shame, because it's obvious the affection the author feels for her subject.
4.5 stars for the subject (Virginia Hall--look her up)
1 star for the writing.
A bit of explanation about me: I have what I term "completion syndrome". Once I start a book I feel compelled to finish it. It doesn't matter if I don't like it, or am annoyed or bothered by it, I must finish it. I'm like this in other aspects of my life--TV shows, jigsaw puzzles, movies, work projects (I have a very hard time delegating tasks to other people or transitioning projects in the middle of a cycle) etc.
I've read numerous articles and see posts all over this site and on social media extolling the virtues of abandoning books that don't bring you joy, but I have a very hard time doing it. I always think I picked this book up for a reason and there's got to be some merit to it or it's going to get better by the end. It doesn't always happen though.
I'm getting better though. I am able to watch 5 seasons of a show and give it up once it no longer brings me joy (this is huge for me). My husband and I abandoned a jigsaw puzzle in the middle because the colors were muddled and the picture was no help (again, huge for me).
Except I just couldn't do it with this book. I would have abandoned it far earlier if it wasn't a book that someone had chosen for my book club. I was so relieved when the person who chose it contacted the group via text last night and said "I'm 40 pages in and I'm recommending abandoning this choice in favor of something else". Whew. Not only do I have completion syndrome, but I've always finished book club books. Always. So when the text came in I felt a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. I could abandon this book and not feel bad about it.
I didn't like it from the start.
I suspect that whether or not you like this book depends solely on how you feel about the narrative/author's voice. The book is told in a very colloquial and casual style. This is not necessarily a bad thing--a casual, colloquial style can sometimes help a reader to better understand the topic, but that was definitely not the case with this book.
The author peppers pop culture references and phrases in liberally. She uses phrases like adorbs, whatevs, on the regular/on the reg, which doesn't endear me to the book or to the subject matter. The author is also fond of reiterating things in shouty capital letters.
The book is about Virginia Hall, a very kickass spy in WWII. The author wants to convey a "you go girl attitude", but then often calls Virginia (and other women in the book) gal, or dame, or broad. It would be one thing is the author was trying to write the book in a 1940s style, but with her use of modern slang and pop culture references these terms for women are even more jarringly annoying.
And I know that I am so far from the demographic of this book (by a lot), but the thing is I read YA books all the time and love them. Just not this one.
The author makes references to Virginia's looks, her "smirk" in photos, and other kind of degrading comments about this woman that convey an odd sexism even though you can tell the author admires the hell out of her subject.
The book is well researched, but it's cited/noted to death. A 5-page chapter at one point has 43 end notes. It just seems excessive. Then on the other hand, the author speculates about things that Virginia might have done in a very stereotypical manner.
Maybe it's because I come from a reference book/publishing background and we're taught to write as if a book will sit on a shelf for many years. Do I think this book will hold up in 10, 20, 30+ years? Even 5 years? Unfortunately, no. I don't think it holds up even now.
I don't mean to rag on this book. The author has done something that I could never do: written a book and gotten it published. I just feel like Virginia deserved better and it's a shame, because it's obvious the affection the author feels for her subject.
4.5 stars for the subject (Virginia Hall--look her up)
1 star for the writing.