btuftin reviewed Rose under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
Review of 'Rose under Fire' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Rose Under Fire is a sort of sequel to Code Name Verity (CNV), which is why I put off reading it for a while, even though I had it available in the family kindle account. Code Name Verity was amazing, but it was also emotionally draining, and even though I never read anything about Rose Under Fire before I eventually starting reading it, I expected it to be similar.
Initially I was slightly disappointed. Rose, like Maddie in CNV, is a young girl doing transport flights in WWII England, and the story isn't all that exciting. It's getting to be late in 1944, so unlike Rose we know the war doesn't have long to go, and it doesn't seem like Rose is likely to get any action. I was still enjoying it, but not having read any descriptions I at that point thought it was going to be a less …
Rose Under Fire is a sort of sequel to Code Name Verity (CNV), which is why I put off reading it for a while, even though I had it available in the family kindle account. Code Name Verity was amazing, but it was also emotionally draining, and even though I never read anything about Rose Under Fire before I eventually starting reading it, I expected it to be similar.
Initially I was slightly disappointed. Rose, like Maddie in CNV, is a young girl doing transport flights in WWII England, and the story isn't all that exciting. It's getting to be late in 1944, so unlike Rose we know the war doesn't have long to go, and it doesn't seem like Rose is likely to get any action. I was still enjoying it, but not having read any descriptions I at that point thought it was going to be a less emotionally draining experience than CNV. (And if you don't want to know if the next sentence starts with an And or a But, and/or you prefer to be as minimally spoiled as possible, you should just stop here.)
But then it switches gears and in a slightly roundabout and a bit contrived, but not completely implausible way Rose ends up in Ravensbrück. And then I knew this was going to be just as draining as CNV and it was.
I wondered slightly if the world really needs an author's and fictional character's view of Nazi horrors, with so many eyewitness reports available. I mean, who is Elizabeth E. Wein that I should care about her take more than 70 years after the fact, when the words of the actual victims are available? But that did not last long. For one thing, I've never read any eyewitness accounts from Ravensbrück, so have to admit it works to keep spreading those stories. And being a novel and a story it might even be more efficient. Say I did look up eyewitness accounts. How much would I read before I decided I didn't really need to spend more time in those dark memories? The fictionalization, as a well written novel, makes you keep reading, that it's modern writing might stop a reader from being distracted by dated phrasing and it being a fictionalized account gives it, for good or ill, a little less impact.
How many read Ravensbrück eyewitness accounts today and recommend them to their friends? Probably not as many as read this and recommend it. Just steel yourself from some up close and horrifying glimpses into how terrible human beings can be when they decide not everyone has the same rights to life and liberty as they.