I cried. Not buckets mind you, but I cried. It read and felt like Jellicoe Road sometimes. Tall order, I know. But the comparison feels accurate to me. Both stories start out the same: a bit scattered, definitely confusing. Both stories progress in the same way too: slowly, with details details details to pay attention to. But with people with life to them, with that something different that had me flipping pages (clicking buttons as the case was with me) till early morning. And both tales end similarly too: with me all teary eyed, sniff sniffing every so often.Without revealing that much, CODE NAME VERITY is a love story. Not a romantic one, but more a love story of friends, sisters in everything but blood. What’s great about them is that they are individual people, each with something special to them. Told through the first narrator’s eyes, the second girl is smart, independent, emotional at times but directed. The second girl, however, sees herself as maybe being in over head but aware of her abilities. That girl admits to being a trifle emotional but one who gets done what needs to be. And from that second girl’s point of view, it’s the first who is lively, beautiful, magnetic and loyal. The first girl doesn’t see herself that way though. Instead she feels body and mind: broken. But this is more a tale of friendship. Nevermind their condition. Nevermind what may or maynot have happened to the other. These two people knew each other. And both their recollections had me piecing together a story of two people so unlikely to hit it off that there was no outcome but for them to have them hit it off (does that make sense?) That they fit is my point even with how different they were. Though I did enjoy the whole woman in a man’s world bit of it and how strong and forward both of them were, I love this more because it is a story of friendship. More it’s a look back to the building of their connection, to what they did and what they had common but also a touch on what made them different from each other and what them special to the other. Read this!4/5Thanks NG!
