Book Review | Rose Under Fire | Elizabeth Wein

Title: Rose Under Fire
Author: Elizabeth Wein (web | twitter)
Series: Code Name Verity #2
Genre: Historical Fiction YA
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Publisher: Hyperion
Release date: September 10, 2013
Source: ARC from BEA

Summary: While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women’s concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from reading Elizabeth Wein’s books, including ROSE UNDER FIRE, it’s this: I will feel strong emotions. Sometimes they will be good, sometimes not so much. But her books will aim to burrow deeply in my heart and mind and make me FEEL THINGS, and for the most part they will succeed. ROSE UNDER FIRE was exactly this kind of book, friends. The kind that really broke my heart in that twisted, good way that means I’ve found a book that resonated with me in a big way.

The basic gist of ROSE UNDER FIRE is this: Rose is an American pilot working with the British near the end of the war. The story is told as Rose recounts her time at Ravensbruck after she has returned safely but not unharmed to Paris after the liberation. She is irrevocably changed, and fearful of life outside the camp. As she writes journal entries describing her capture in the air over Germany and her imprisonment in Ravensbruck, we meet a group of resilient but devastating women, known as the Rabbits. The Rabbits are a group of young women from Poland who have been subjected to horrific medical tests and procedures by German doctors at the camp. The things these women and Rose endured is harrowing, and that is made more so by the fact that this aspect of ROSE UNDER FIRE is not fiction. The Rabbits were real, and the things done to them actually happened. I KNOW.

Reading historical fiction is something that I am always eager to do, but World War II is not usually my favorite time period. Reading ROSE UNDER FIRE, and its predecessor companion CODE NAME VERITY, was a more trying experience for me than when I read something set in, say, Colonial America, a time period I FANGIRL over. But ROSE UNDER FIRE wasn’t trying to me in that “I’m barely interested in this but I want to power through” kind of way. The thing about Elizabeth Wein’s books that make reading them harder but more satisfying for me is because it’s difficult to read about the things her characters experience. Experiencing the day-to-day life in Ravensbruck through Rose’s memories is difficult. It’s hellish. Brutal. Terrifying. Sad. It’s a testament, then, to Elizabeth Wein’s skill in characterization that we see not only the horrible things, but the beautiful things. The little bits of humanity that are left to Rose and the rest of the Rabbits. Still, the basis in fact gives me full body shivers, and the little bits of humanity are very little indeed.

I had a hard time jelling with CODE NAME VERITY. The ending was excellent, but the majority of the book was slow enough and plodding enough that by the time I got to the good, mind-bending part, I was kind of bored and over it. ROSE UNDER FIRE, on the other hand, captured my attention and held it from the beginning. The pace was more even, even if it didn’t have an epic twist. The result, for me, was that I was more emotionally invested. Elizabeth Wein imbues these characters with such personality, it’s hard sometimes to imagine that they can manage such fire given their surroundings. It also makes reading about them that much more upsetting, imagining what these characters would’ve been like if they’d been allowed to live their lives never having set foot in Ravensbruck at all.

Speaking of characters, I really enjoyed Rose. I thought she was clever and brave and had so much gumption. Seeing her after the fact, when she is still so scared and malnourished and sad, and comparing her to the Rose we meet–especially in the beginning–in Britain and at Ravensbruck is pretty jarring and, well, upsetting. She writes poems as a hobby that becomes something more, and I didn’t mind them, but I’m not usually down with poems. But I liked and admired Rose. Lots.

It was great, too, to see Maddie. As far as anyone knows after Rose is taken to Ravensbruck, she has been shot down over Germany and is missing. I felt bad for Maddie that she believed she had lost another friend. There is a bright spot for her, though, that I was especially thankful for, as they aren’t many in ROSE UNDER FIRE, and she was once again a spectacular friend, this time to Rose. I loved Roza, as well. What a firecracker. But more than any of the other Rabbits, Roza was the most upsetting to me because she’s so damaged and angry, but so lively and passionate that it’s devastating to think that she GREW UP parentless, being experimented on in a German concentration camp. So many what ifs.

I’ve been talking a lot about the characters and the way I felt reading about them because ROSE UNDER FIRE was emotional for me in a lot of ways because of those individual characters and their experiences. But I was also taken by their relationships and the sacrifices they made for one another. I was welling up all over the place reading ROSE UNDER FIRE because the way they each interacted with one another.

There was one character who interacted with Rose a number of times who turned out to be someone that readers might recognize from CODE NAME VERITY (although I totally didn’t), and I enjoyed her character a great deal, especially when you consider her entire history and the things she had done before coming to Ravensbruck. She occupies a big swath of gray area in terms of “is she good or bad?” and made me wonder about the idea of redemption and if it would’ve ever been possible for people in her position.

I’m trying to marshall my thoughts here, friends, and I feel like I’m doing a  crap job. So here it is in a nutshell: I thought ROSE UNDER FIRE was miles better than CODE NAME VERITY, but I’ll be in the minority on that for sure. I love Rose and her voice, and I enjoyed the structure Elizabeth Wein used where Rose was recounting her story for us after she made it out of Ravensbruck. Despite knowing from the beginning that Rose was safe, which is a huge deal considering what she lived through, Elizabeth Wein doesn’t necessarily make that aspect seem so wonderful. It’s pretty bleak and sad. But, you know, in a bittersweet, thought-provoking way. ROSE UNDER FIRE was excellent.

Now for a little spot of business. I read ROSE UNDER FIRE with two of my besties, Brittany from The Book Addict’s Guide and Alyssa from Books Take You Places, as part of a test case, if you will, for a new THING that we’re doing, and we all reacted differently. Because we loved reading this book together and chatting about it, we’re going to start a new joint readalong! YAY! Every month, we’ll read a book together and then review it and chat on each of our blogs. It’s going to be EPIC. In the meantime, check out their reviews of ROSE UNDER FIRE!

Brittany @ The Book Addict’s Guide

Alyssa @ Books Take You Places