• Narrator seems jittery. Very talkative and ironic. Rambling is a talking trait, but even when the protagonist is writing, this characteristic seems to be replicated in the text, which takes up much more effort. Why is this her writing style? Is it potentially a coping mechanism for her current situation (ie. being held captive) and emotional turmoil?

Observation:

• I noticed that the narrator is telling the story from Maddie's POV. Usually, when people start telling stories, they narrate from their own POV, so it was interesting to see a protagonist narrate from a different perspective other than their own.

Powerful Passage:

• This passage I have pulled is because of its stylistic elements, not necessarily because of the text content. Between pages 22-23, the author uses various stylistic elements to correspond to the context of the story. The lack of punctuation (ie. the last sentence of page 22 and the first few sentences of page 23) and the misspelling of words (ie. the second sentence of page 23) were clearly intentional for the integration of text and context, which made the story more realistic and elevate the reader's imagination.

 “ You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do, because that's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents''

I think this passage is powerful because it alludes to the idea that no matter what, nobody will win.

• Why is the narrator being kept alive? Is it really worth all of this time and effort for them to get a few codes or information about Allied basses?

• Why did the narrator decide to start her confession story from the point of view of Maddie instead of her own? Is a way for her to detach herself from her own story?

2. Observation

• I find the fact that the narrator begins recounting her story from Maddie's point of view to be very interesting. So far, we have a great view into Maddie's days leading up to the war and her early work with the WAAF. Contrarily, we don't even know the narrator's name. We have no idea how she began helping the war effort, or why she ended up in France. I'm curious to know if this was all some sort of coping mechanism for her or if there is a more logical reason behind her way of telling her story. As a little side note, I'm really excited to discover at which point she and Maddie begin working together.

3. Powerful Passage

"I'm not traveling those roads. This is the easiest. The others are too frightening to even look down." (Wein 6)

• I think this passage puts into writing a feeling that alomst everyone has had. In a situation where there is no good option, there is always one that seems to not be quite as bad as the others, one that was known to be the choice even when "discussing" different options. The narrator in the story has had awful choices given to her, she knew what she had to do for her best chance of survival.

• I find that the characters in this story to be very believable. Specifically looking at Queenie's character traits, I see a lot of myself in her. Specifically, the way that she deals with stressful situations resembles my actions in such times.

2. Hero or Anti-Hero

• I would say that the book's protagonist, Queenie, is definitely a hero. Although what she is currently doing, giving code away to the Axis seems to go against what her country is fighting towards during the war, she has very good intentions at heart. 'Verity' gives us a very good insight into the life of a good person who has been put into a very difficult situation. In the flashbacks, Maddie is painted more as the protagonist of the story. She too is undoubtedly a hero. She has great intentions and wants to pilot planes to aid the war effort. Both of these women also seem to be kind to others around them as the story progresses.

3. Characterization

• I feel that in thise section of the book, the area of characterization that the author has focussed on is the narrator's physical appearence. When we are first introduced to the character, she mentions how she trades in pieces of code for her clothing back as she felt deeply uncomfortable to be half nude infront of her captives. When we meet Queenie's character through Maddie's prespective, we can tell that she takes her physical appearence very seariously; she loves to look put together. This little detail about her character makes her so much more relateable for readers. They are now able to understand that she is just a normal person who has been stuck in these unfortunate circumstances.

• The characters of this story seem very believable. They don't remind me of anyone specifically, but the narrator's character traits and her way of speaking seem very familiar to me.

Is the protagonist a hero or an anti-hero?:

• I believe the book's protagonist is a hero. Politically, she may or may not be seen as a hero, depending on the reader's view on WW2 (ie. Allies vs Axis). Otherwise, she is portrayed to be the "good guy", despite her "spy" role, as she seems to have good intentions behind her actions.

Characterization:

• The narrator's way of speaking (or really, her way of writing) reveals a lot about her character. Her novelistic writing style plays a huge role in the story's context, leading to making insightful inferences. Noting the fact that she is writing "confessions" (she has been captured by her enemy and they are trying to squeeze out any information she had gathered from being a spy), I wonder why she is "stretching out" her knowledge into big redundant paragraphs of dialogue rather than condensing it all into a few sentences. Perhaps this is her form of self-expression, as it probably is limited in her captive state... or maybe she is trying to stretch out her lifespan, knowing that she will die soon because of her enemy.

• I think this book seems relatively realistic. This book uses historical, real-life events (ie. WW2) and I can tell that the author spent time researching the proper dates to make the story seem as authentic and close to reality as possible. I wouldn't know the realistic depiction of the characters (e.g. jobs of a pilot) from personal experience, but based on the specific jargon used in the dialogue, I can sense that this was written to be as realistic as possible to the real-life events happening within the plot.

Dates:

• Right off the bat, we are given the dates at the start of each chapter/journal entry, so we are given a clear idea of the timeline. Additionally, we also know that the story is set in WW2, with obvious references to specific events, which gives us a good idea on how this story fits into these historical events. Furthermore, the narrator would sometimes mention how many days has passed since her previous journal entry.

Well-rendered setting:

• One well-rendered setting scene was between page 115-116, when Queenie, despite not physically being there, was describing the scenes of Maddie in Scotland. She described the events and environment in such detail, including strong imagery and descriptive words. I find her ability to story tell to be very impressive and captivating.

• I would say that the world created by the author is quite realistic. Since I don't know what life during the second World War resembled, especially as a pilot or a special agent, I do not have a good idea of what a realistic depiction would look like. However, specific details about characters and the environment allow me to be completely immersed in the story.

2. Date

• Every chapter (letter entry) of the book is dated which allows the reader to understand Queenie's current timeline. Throughout her stories involving Maddie, Queenie usually omits the specific date but often references pivital moments of WW2, therefore allowing the reader to quite easily understand the time passing in the past and keep track of all the stories.

3. Specific Setting

• One moment of vivid setting that really stuck with me was on page 115 when Queenie returned from her visit to Von Linden's office. The raw imagery that is used to describe how Queenie has been restrained following the first in depth description of her room being thrown at the reader at the same time creates such strong emotions. This point also proved to be the only one that provided me with a setting that I could actually completely visualize.

• Your reasons for choosing this lens

• Important questions, considerations and assumptions you were aware of during your reading

• Key observations you made during your reading that were based on your lens

2.Bring a short text that you connected your reading to and be prepared to share your thoughts.

1. Reason/Questions/Observation

• I decided to analyse this section of the book through the feminist lens since the two main characters that we have met in this story are female and, I have found it quite difficult to analyze in other lenses because of the strong war jargon (which I do not understand at all).

• Questions I was asking duing my reading include: Are women being treated differently or opressed? Is there any derrogatory language present? How do male characters conduct themselves differently then the female characters?

• A few observations that I made based on the feminist lens is how much value is put into a woman's beauty. When preparing Queenine for her interview, the main focus was to maker her look beautiful and 'womanly'. Something else that has been quite rampant in this section of the book is how unwanted women are in the workforce even in a time of war. Even if Queenie and Maddie both have respectable careers with the war effort, they are always considered after men and are assumed to be less capable.

  Side note: The job distribution is also very sexist (radio operators vs. pilots, leaders)

2. TTT Connection

• The work Queenie is conducting in this book reminded me vividly of an article that I found earlier this week. This article explores the story of Odette Sansom, a British secret agent who helped with the liberation of France. Queenie's character is constructed very similarly to Odette Samson. Both of these women parachuted out of planes and were arrested and tortured by the Gestapo in France. The article referencfes the book "D-Day Girls" telling the story of heroic women during WW2 and I would be very inetersted in reading it.

• I chose this lens because this is the critical lens I am the most familiar with. I was also considering reading through the socialist lens, as I thought there could be a lot said with WW2. I chose the feminist lens... however, once I started reading this week's section, I realized there was not much to pull out by looking through the feminist lens. However, I was able to flag down some observations.

• Questions I had during my reading include: How are the women being treated differently than the men? How were the women objectified?

• The chapters are arranged by Queenie's journal entries (dated). When she is giving up information about Maddie and her past (documented flashbacks), these entries are usually divided using subtitles to introduce what she will be discussion. The dates seperating chapters identify teh present dates (when she discusses Von Linden, etc.). In my opinion, these chapters are very well distributesd. I do not enjoy long chapters so, haveing natural breaks every 5 to 7 pages (as it is in this book) makes it much easier for me to digest. Next, I know that the second half of this book switches to Maddie as a narrator but, we have not reached that part in the reading yet (next section).

1. Style

• This book is narrated in first person. Honestly, I find books written in first person to be easier to understand for me so, I do enjoy that style aspect. The tone of the book could be described as forceful anxiety. Our current narrator, Queenie, is imprissoned and is destined to execution so, it is only fair that every aspect of her story seems frantically anxious. That being said, this character also has such a trong pressence that everything she says still seems forceful despite her diminishing confidence.

• There is so figurative language adding style to the book. The vivid imagery in the flashbacks and the emotion that is being communicated through word choice adds so much depth to the story. In addition to this, I am so pleased that the author found a flawless way to intergrate dialogue into a story presented in the form of letters as it makes it much more of an interesting and personal read.

• "Kiss me hardy!" - A reference to Admiral Horatio Nelson’s last words as well as the words Julie uttered to Maddie before any dangerous mission. This phrase appears throughout the book but ends up being Julie's last words and request to Maddie and the phrase becomes twisted in such a memorable way forever.

• "I have told the truth" - Probably one of the most iconic lines of the book, this quotation has stuck with me so much. Not only does it relate to Julie's code name - Verity, it also carries so much after we learn that Julie shared no important information whatsoever to the Gestapo during her time as a prisonner.

• "I can't hold out against torture, just against questions" - Torture is such an important theme in this book. Julie is put through hell is still manages to stay quiet about everything she knows. However, as her mental and physical states diminish, Julie must ebign to fear that she might slip out something she shouldn't.

• Fear (lists of fear) - Fear is also a very important theme throughout this book. I find it incredicly interesting that for both Julie and Maddie the word begins by describing fears that seem incredibly childish by the end of the book after they both experienced so much pain and hardship.

• "DRAT DRAT DOUBLE DRAT AND BLAST" - Maddie's word choice in this specific situation says a lot about her character. Although her frustration and fear can be sensed from the phrase, we can also observe that she prefers to use milder words to express her aggression.

*I returned the book and I forgot to write the page numbers down.

• No questions! I had many throughout the reading of this book but towards the end I had most of my questions answered. I was also doing some lateral reading online to further my understanding of the text (e.g. LitCharts, Wikipedia).

2. Any surprises?

• I was surprised that Maddie had to kill Julie. That sudden plot twist threw me off guard.

3. Recommending this book

• I would recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction, and someone who likes to read books with many stylistic elements that incorporate the art of fonts and formatting.

4. Most important things

• Some readers might find most of the book confusing to understand, but the ending ties the whole plot together and . It might be a good idea to read a summary of the whole story first before diving into the book.

• The formatting style of this book might make the information harder to digest, especially for the first part of the book (written in Julie's perspective). I would recommend reading summaries of each chapter if one is having a difficult time understanding the context of the story.

• Trigger warning for graphic torture scenes should be provided to readers.

• In this novel, there are two narrators: Julie (for part 1) and Maddie (for part 2). For the first part of the book, the chapters are separated by dates with subsections, while the second part of the book have no titled chapters, having them only separated through

• They are relatively equally distributed, although there is sometimes the odd one-paragraph-long chapter that covers only half the page.

2. Novel's Style

• This book is narrated in first person. The tone of the book could be described as forceful anxiety, which makes sense as our current narrator is imprisoned and is waiting to be executed. Additionally, there is some figurative language adding style to the book. The vivid imagery in the flashbacks and the emotion that is being communicated through word choice adds so much depth to the story. I also find interesting that the author integrated the dialogue into a story presented in the form of letters, as it makes it much more of an interesting and personal read.

• The most memorable scene was the events leading up to Maddie killing Julie. The fact that the one thing Julie asks of Maddie is to be freed from the torture of her life through a phrase that was brought up throughout the book (ie. "KISS ME HARDY!") makes this one of the most impactful scenes from an that I have read.

2. Biographical Lens

• The author is a pilot (like Maddie) and she spent most of her life in Scotland.

3. Managing difficult sections

• The readers should be provided a trigger warning before diving into this book. This story goes into detail about torture and a bit of gore.

• When navigating difficult scenes, take breaks when needed. Reading graphic texts does not have to be rushed. On the other hand, if you genuinely do not want to read through the graphic scenes, then I would lightly skim through the scene, capturing not necessarily every detail but enough to get the gist of the scene. Another alternative would be to search up a chapter summary online to take in the scene in a more digestible way.

• The most memorable scene of the book for me is definitely the chain of events leading to Maddie shooting Julie. The level of detail that is shared about Julie's state from Maddie's perspective is absolutely chilling. The way that Maddie is discovered by Julie also brought up so many emotions as a reader. The fact that Julie can recognize her friend from a cry and that the one thing she asks of her is to be freed from the torture of her life through a phrase that was brought up throughout the book makes this one of the most memorable scenes from any book that I have read.

1. Biographical Lens

• Through research on the author, I discovered that she, like Maddie, is actually a pilot. Her husband, Tim, was a pilot, and Wein got her pilot's liscence afterwards. Additionally, Elizabeth Wein was born in the United Sates, moved to England, and proceeded to spend a lot of her life in Scotland (all areas of high relevance during WW2 and where the two main characters are from).

1. Approach

• When faced with difficult sections of a book, my recommended approach to others would be to take a break or to even skip through the section is it is prooving to be too challenging. As a reader, I find challenging sections of a book to actually be the most impactful and that if I skip over them, I am missing too much of the storyline to just jump back in. Normally, I force myself to get through the section that is troubling me while I am feeling all of the emotions the author intended me to feel. If I find that I need a, break afterwards I will take it after the section to gather up all of my emotions.

• I don't actually have any unanswered questions about this book. Since this waws my second time reading the book, I found that it was a great way for me to tie all the loose ends that I was left with during my previous read.

1. Surprises

• I was actually quite surprised about Engel in this book. From how Julie was describing her, I assumed that she shared similar views to Von Linden and that she showed very little compassion towards Julie as a prisoner. Upon hearing that she was actually very helpful towards Maddie and Julie I was taken aback. Her character developed so much depth from Maddie's perspective and I really like that about her story.

1. Recommend

• I would recommend this book to ayone who has a slight interest in historical reads, that enjoys books split up into short chapters, and is willing to take some time to do some lateral reading in order to dissect all of the important moments, themes, and messages. This book is by no means an "easy read." In order to get anything out of the book, you must be ready to reread sentences and circle back to previous moments to understand the whole meaning.

1. Important Notes

• I would say that the most important thing to note about this book is that even if the beginning might seem to be very slow paced, in the second section, all the pieces begin to come together to create an awfully exciting and emotional read.

How do Julia and Maddie maintain their hope throughout the book.

How does Julia’s fate unfold 

Suprises: It was surprising to see the way this book was written with multiple perspectives, flashbacks, and weird timelines but I really enjoyed it.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical fiction, especially those interested in World War II stories and strong female protagonists. It's also suitable for readers who appreciate intricate plots and emotional depth.

Important things to share: This book focuses on historical factors and is set in a time period where a women pilot might be very rare. It also focuses on the importance of friendship, and working together. The character depth is also very important to the plot, as Julia and Maddie are slowly developing as the story progresses.

When Julia got shot. The reason this had such an impact for me was how and when she got shot. The fact that she wanted to get shot and the fact that she got shot by a friend made her death more impactful then if it was an enemy to me.

The author is a pilot and this fascination is shown in the characters as well as some of the information given(one character is a pilot). (Writing from experience/expertise is fascinating. )

Some readers may find the style of everything making sense only at the end dificult to manage. Reading in two different styles as well can be difficult(letter to Simi chapters). A way to navigate difficult text especially in this book for me was to reread parts to get a better understanding. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books where you have to solve it as it goes on.

3 important things. Firstly, reading the book twice or having recaps for references makes the reading much more digestable. Secondly, This book is written from two prospectives with different writting styles. Lastly, this book is one of two in a series so there's more to the story if it felt incompete.

The reason I chose this lens is because there are some links to both the characters and the author's own life.

Important questions.

Is she writing from experience?

Is the characters based on real people?

It's important to consider how the author places information. It's important to assume the author used some things from her own life to add to the story.

The author is a pilot and as such added information about planes and made one of the characters a pilot. Connection to Good Omens with its date system and almost mock seriousness.

Double drat- This word is described as the most fearsome oath Maddie ever swears. This to me brings into context the extent of her feelings of frustration and such.

Kittyhawk- To me this name like most of the code names helps describe the characters more like a nickname instead of a code name.

Gestapo- I find it interesting that they use this name instead of the SSS that they are more commonly referenced to as.

Luffwaffe- This name is fun because it just means "air weapon". I find the fact that the author uses the proper names for the aircraft fascinating and greatly encourages outside reading.

Factors like the arrangement of the chapters, the use of time changes, multiple narrators, and the length of the chapters all give the book such personality, and act as a unique form. Since the book is divided into two parts, with different narrators, Julia, and Maddie are the focus of the two parts. Julia’s part is arranged with dates as the chapters, while Maddie has aircraft terms to give her part a sense of identity. This is what makes the novel so captivating.

Style:

 Tones, Narrative views, use of tenses, and imagery are all important to the novel's style. 

Not only is the plot of the novel great, but it is all crafted with stylistic choices, and personal form to bring everything together.

Julie is the protagonist in this novel and can be viewed as both the hero, and the anti hero. She is creed to be a good character with heroic qualities as we see in moments of bravery throughout the book.

Overall, "Code Name Verity" does a fantastic job of developing likeable characters that make difficult choices between selflessness and bravery during World War II. Elizabeth Wein's use of narrative voice and characterization tactics helps the reader to  better comprehend and feel more emotionally connected to Verity, the protagonist, who represents both heroic and anti-heroic aspects.