Code Name Verity *CONTAINS SPOILERS!*

[Acacia]

Discuss our current group read book here, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

Don't come into this thread until you've finished the book, unless you want spoilers!

[Sum]

((Can we start now?))

God, this book. I thought I was fine after reading it but then I would remember and... OH GOD JULIE.

[Elliott]

I knoooow. I sobbed so hard at that part and it was so well done. It was dramatic and heartbreaking without being cliche or ridiculous and gah that line.
"Kiss me, Hardy." I can't think about it without crying.

I also really love how everything connects and how you realize Julie's lies and everything and how she was an unreliable narrator.

AAAH AND JAMIE. He was a perfect character. And I love how she didn't ten it into this big ridiculous romance that detracted from the focus on the friendship. Everything about the story was so refreshing.

[Sum]

I know! It could have been so heavy and somber but the story was genuinely funny, like when Queenie was pretending to be a Nazi spy on their way to the Green Man.

I loved how touching the friendship between Julie and Maddie was, like that one line "Discovering you best friend is like falling in love". (I think that's what it was) I can totally relate to that statement.

[Elliott]

I love an author who can add humor to the story. It definitely helps keep it fr being too heavy to handle. Haha, and that part where Jamie almost gives Maddie away and then he's like, "Ma... ma cherie!" xD

Yeah, their friendship was perfect. Amazing chemistry. I wish more books would explore and treat it the way she did. Becuse romance isn't the only dynamic relationship people can have in their lives. Friendship is beautiful and heartbreaking and complicated, and while I've seen some decent friendships in YA novels, this is probably the first book I've seen that captured such an epic friendship, and I loved that.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Oh I didn't realize how empty this topic was. For some reason I thought we'd discussed it ... I guess it was in another topic. XD

Anyway, I agree with you guys. I really enjoyed this book. It confused me a lot at first, and just when I thought I understood it, it got super confusing again. (view spoiler)[Like when it changed from Julie's point of view to Maddie's, I was just like, "Wait ... WHAT." (hide spoiler)] But I was confused in kind of a good way. I liked that it was a story that really messed with your head but it all made sense in the end.

Like you guys have said, I loved the focus on friendship, and it was done so well. I haven't seen a lot of YA books that are just about two friends, so that was really cool.

And Jamie ... JAMIE. Ahh he's so awesome. I loved that part that Lav mentioned in her last comment. I laughed out loud. It was just wonderful.

And yeah the ending was so sad. Gahhh. (view spoiler)[It went on for kind of a long time after Julie died, which kind of got my hopes up that she wasn't really dead. But that would have been pretty corny, especially since that had basically already happened with Maddie. Haha. (hide spoiler)] So yeah, I thought it was a very original and beautiful book. :)

[Sum]

Julie's death broke my heart but I learned to accept it. In my opinion the novel wouldn't have been as amazing as it was if Julie didn't die, actually. I think one of the main points was that if someone you love dies, the story doesn't need to end there. That's how it is in wartime, and in life.

Of course it's lovely that she was buried in lace and roses in her great-aunt's yard. I wish her great-aunt knew it was Julie, though. Did she?

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

... Maybe I should add a spoiler warning to the topic title. Haha.

(view spoiler)[And don't get me wrong, I agree with you. I would have been pretty pissed if it turned out Julie was alive at the end because that would have been really unrealistic. It was just ... I was so sad she died because she was awesome. It's like, from a writer's point of view I think she definitely had to die to make the story work. But you know ... from a normal-person point of view, part of me didn't want her to be dead because it was so depressing. Hopefully that makes sense. But yeah, I agree. (hide spoiler)]

[Sum]

Yes the spoiler warning is a good idea haha.

I know, I didn't want her to die either. :(

Like a light was put out, as Engel put it.

[Elliott]

Yeah, I agree with all of that. Haha, being writers makes us so callous. "I think she needed to die... for the sake of the story."

[Sum]

Lol well when you put it that way....

[Sevania]

Oh my god I finally finished it. Wow. Um.

Well, for starters I don't usually read historical fiction because it just doesn't interest me. I would never have picked this book up in the library and read it. At first I was very confused and I also didn't like it that much- not because of the writing, though, which was amazing and I absolutely loved both Julie and Maddie's voice.

By the end though, I could not put it down.

One thing that was confusing was that everyone had SO MANY NAMES.

[Sum]

Yeah the names could get confusing. In the end when everyone's real names were revealed by Maddie, I was kind of in a daze.

Julie's names were interesting though. I believe they were there to mark the facets of her character; Queenie, the charismatic wireless operator; Eva Seiler, the brutal interrogator; and Julie, because at the core of her person she is all Julie.

((I feel like I'm talking too much in this topic. Sorry bout that.))

[Sevania]

Also I was very confused when they were talking about the slave girl at the interview, and then I realized that was Anna Engel only I must have totally missed the part where she was a slave.

And it also turned out that Engel was kind to Julie all along and that kinda blew my mind.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Sevania wrote: "One thing that was confusing was that everyone had SO MANY NAMES."

Haha, I know right? I got so confused, especially when it changed from Julie to Maddie's point of view. At first I was like, "Wait ... Is Julie actually Maddie?" I don't know ... for some reason, because of all the name stuff, I thought there was going to be some sort of identity mix-up or something. XD

[Sevania]

I caught on to the Maddie section right away but I was confused by the minor characters, like Creighton, was he also the guy who interviewed Maddie at the end?

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Uhh.
I don't even remember who that is.

[Elliott]

Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "Uhh.
I don't even remember who that is."

[Sevania]

Well, at the end Maddie called him John Balliol.

[Elliott]

OH. The Machiavellian Intelligence Officer. Okay. And yeah, I'm pretty sure.

[Dana]

Sev–I tried being normal once. It was horrible. wrote: "Also I was very confused when they were talking about the slave girl at the interview, and then I realized that was Anna Engel only I must have totally missed the part where she was a slave.

And i..."

YES YES I FINISHED THE BOOK ABOUT SIX MONTHS LATE

So yes, Sev, I totally agree with you about the Engel part. I guess that she was nice all along and Julie just thought she was mean because she was working for the Gestapo? Also... didn't that Penn lady (the reporter??), like, turn out to be nice? I feel like because the story was told from two different points of view, (and yes, I was very confused about the abrupt PoV change as well) we got to see the story from both sides, I guess, so in Julie's story we think that Engel is mean but then from Maddie's story we learn that she might not be that mean. I guess?

[Sum]

Actually it was more like Engel was nice the whole time, but Julie had to write that she was mean, because the document was being read by her superior officers in the Gestapo and of course she couldn't have them suspect that Engel was doing anything other than following orders. You kinda have to read between the lines in this book.

((Did that make sense? Because that's one hell of a run-on sentence.))

[Elliott]

Yeah, the whole first half with Julie is sort of unreliable because she's lying about a lot of things.

[Dana]

Ohhhhhh. Maya that did make sense! :D Alicia, I guess you're right about the lying. Now that I think back on it, Maya, you're right about the "reading between the lines" part. Wait, how come the captain guy kept talking to Julie about books? And suggesting books?

[Sum]

Loneliness maybe? Perhaps she was the only other well-read person in the place.

[Dana]

interesting.