219 ratings (2.96 avg)
101 reviews

Isobel

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Isobel is Currently Reading

Isobel is currently reading

Code Name Verity (Anniversary Edition)

by Elizabeth Wein (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: favorites, wwi-and-wwii, 5-stars, currently-reading

Reading for the 4th time

read in June 2020

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Isobel said: " "I am no longer afraid of getting old. Indeed I can't believe I ever said anything so stupid. So childish. So offensive and arrogant. But mainly, so very, very stupid. I desperately want to grow old."

I am genuinely wondering whether another book has "I am no longer afraid of getting old. Indeed I can't believe I ever said anything so stupid. So childish. So offensive and arrogant. But mainly, so very, very stupid. I desperately want to grow old."

I am genuinely wondering whether another book has ever made me cry so fiercely and so many times consecutively. But staying up to storm through the ending and finishing it at 3:15am was such a brilliant decision. There's just something about finishing a book you love in the early hours of the morning.

Verity says that 'it's like falling in love, discovering your best friend', and I think it's rather similar discovering one of your new all-time favourite books. I never wanted it to end.

This novel has prose you could drown in. I hardly remember a time when I was ever so deeply immersed, so surrounded by a story, that looking up from the pages almost made me disoriented. What a triumph of the stream of consciousness narrative style. Just, what a triumph of a novel.

And the characters. It is so full of brilliantly complex, incredibly brave, and just wonderful female characters. And Jamie, who gets a special mention for breaking my heart with his kindness.

But the true focal point, the crux of this story and the most beautiful part of a novel so riddled with beauty, is the friendship. 'Verity' and Maddie (I won't spoil her name) are just best buds. The bestest of friends. They truly adored each other and I truly adored them and they were wonderful. Are wonderful. I'll be rereading this for certain.

Ultimately, whilst I've given this five stars it deserves more. I was immersed from the very first line.

And a special word on Verity, who is one of my favourite characters ever. I love her unreliable narration the most for how she is so unaware of how utterly wonderful she is. She says she's a coward but she's so incredibly brave. She says she's weak but she is scarcely anything other than so, so strong. She says she has lost all hope but you can tell that it's there. After everything, and all that she has lost, she still has her hope. And she still has that William Wallace courage. How wonderful that she's descended from William Wallace, because I'm descended from Andrew Murray, who was right by his side as they rode into the Battle of Stirling Bridge together. How truly special that my ancestor and hers trusted each other so much. I like to think that's something really special, at least. Maybe it isn't, but I think it is.

To conclude, did I love it? Yes. Did it break my heart? Oh, into a million different pieces. Has it earned its space on my favourites shelf? A thousand times over. And to the author, for creating something so special: 'A thousand thanks is not really enough. But I haven't anything else to give her.' ...more "

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(page 30 of 387)
"in my rereading my fav books era apparently 😍 returning to my all time fav will never not feel like coming home" — May 31, 2026 02:26PM

Apr 04, 2023 03:05PM · see review