Synopsis
While ferrying an Allied fighter place from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet Rose Justice is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbruck, the notorious women's concentration camp. There, she meets an unforgettable group of women, including a once glamorous French novelist, a resilient young Polish girl who has been used as a human guinea pig by Nazi doctors; and a female fighter pilot for the Soviet air force.
Trapped in this bleak place under horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of these fellow prisoners. But will hope be enough to enable Rose to endure the fate that is 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.
**This is not necessarily a sequel of Code Name Verity. Rose is Maddie's friend and fellow pilot. Maddie is in the beginning of the story and makes an appearance at the end, but she is not a main character in this book. You do not have to read Code Name Verity to understand this story. However, if you haven't read Code Name Verity and you're about to pick up Rose Under Fire, STOP, DROP IT and read Code Name Verity first- you won't regret it I promise ;)
While ferrying an Allied fighter place from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet Rose Justice is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbruck, the notorious women's concentration camp. There, she meets an unforgettable group of women, including a once glamorous French novelist, a resilient young Polish girl who has been used as a human guinea pig by Nazi doctors; and a female fighter pilot for the Soviet air force.
Trapped in this bleak place under horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of these fellow prisoners. But will hope be enough to enable Rose to endure the fate that is 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.
**This is not necessarily a sequel of Code Name Verity. Rose is Maddie's friend and fellow pilot. Maddie is in the beginning of the story and makes an appearance at the end, but she is not a main character in this book. You do not have to read Code Name Verity to understand this story. However, if you haven't read Code Name Verity and you're about to pick up Rose Under Fire, STOP, DROP IT and read Code Name Verity first- you won't regret it I promise ;)
Trapped in this bleak place under horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of these fellow prisoners. But will hope be enough to enable Rose to endure the fate that is 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.
**This is not necessarily a sequel of Code Name Verity. Rose is Maddie's friend and fellow pilot. Maddie is in the beginning of the story and makes an appearance at the end, but she is not a main character in this book. You do not have to read Code Name Verity to understand this story. However, if you haven't read Code Name Verity and you're about to pick up Rose Under Fire, STOP, DROP IT and read Code Name Verity first- you won't regret it I promise ;)
Loved
- The history. Wow. This story is neither fun, fast, nor easy to read because the history is so grotesque and REAL. The conditions of Ravensbruck and the suffering of those women gave me a pit in my stomach as I read, mostly because it really happened and was based on real accounts. I have read about Ravensbruck before (the Hiding Place), but I had never heard about the "Rabbits." The "Rabbits" were young girls who had their legs cut open, bone and muscle removed, and gangrene put in their wounds as experiments to simulate injuries and treatments on the front lines. Reading about the scars and injuries of these girls was gut-wrenching and horrific, but I'm glad I read about it so I know their stories and what they suffered.
- The women. The beauty and power of this story is the friendship and loyalty of the women Rose meets in the camp. I was blown away by how quick these women would risk and even give their lives (quite literally) for each other- people they had met a few months ago. The hope they provided for each other with their love, stories, poems, and fierce loyalty is the moving force of this story and ultimately what leads to their survival.
- The poetry. I don't normally like poetry, but I loved seeing how Rose's poems gave little sparks of light and hope to these women- glimpses of the foreign life outside the concrete walls of Ravensbruck. She also used her poetry to capture the horror within the walls and to help the world understand a tiny bit of what these women suffered. Poetry can capture tragedy and hope more vibrantly and delicately than regular narrative, and Elizabeth Wein uses these poems beautifully to portray these themes.
- The bravery. Even though these characters were fictional, I knew they represented real women who sacrificed courageously for others, and I was blown away by their bravery throughout the story. I was particularly amazed by the women who were willing to go to the gas chambers in place of the "Rabbits" so those women could go out into the world and tell their stories. I couldn't believe how these women gave and sacrificed anything they had, over and over again, to give some hope or help to another person they hardly knew.
Didn't Love
- I'll be honest- I didn't love Rose Under Fire, but I am glad I read it. I've been trying to put my finger on what I didn't like about this book, and I think it's Rose's voice. The American teenager-y, animated voice worked so well for Julie in Code Name Verity, but I just couldn't reconcile it with Rose and her reality of Ravensbruck. I really liked Rose's character, but the way she told the horrific events around her was so matter-of-fact and flippant at times that it felt like a disservice to those who actually lived this history. Her voice gave the story more vitality and poignancy, seeing a normal happy teenage girl all of the sudden end up in such a hellish place. But the teenage vitality and animation of her narrative sometimes clashed with the tragic events she was describing, which took away from the story for me.
Content
- Language:
- Very strong language- many (10-15) uses of f*** or f******.
- Many uses of damn, hell, sh**, and b****.
- Sexual content:
- A character talks about being forced to either "f***" a man or be sent to the camp. She says she "wouldn't open her legs to him." He "raped her anyway" and then sent her to the camp.
- The same character says "everyone was raped" when the Soviets invaded her town. She talks about the women in her family "selling themselves" to get food.
- After a wedding, it is mentioned that the bride and groom are too tired to do anything on their wedding night.
- Violence:
- This story is based on the real violence and cruelty that happened in Ravensbruck. The entire story is full of shocking, jarring violence that is disturbing and hard to stomach.
- Many mentions of beatings, being forced to stand naked, starving prisoners, emotional abuse, and threats of violence.
- Frequent references to women being shot in the camp, especially those who were older or sick.
- Many descriptions moving, stealing from, and incinerating corpses.
- Descriptions of emaciated women who were little more than "beggars" or "bundles of rags."
- Descriptions of hundreds of women dying of starvation or thirst, one mention of a woman trying to eat her hand.
- Many references to gas chambers and the system for taking prisoners around the prison in a truck and then putting them in the gas chamber. Mention hearing screams in the gas chambers because it was a painful death.
- Women were used as medical experiments- frequent descriptions of surgeries in which doctors removed, cut off, moved or cut bones in legs of these women. Sometimes the muscle and tendons were cut or moved as well. Legs were punctured to simulate gunshot wounds. They would then put gangrene in the wounds and seal them again to see how the wound would heal. Many detailed descriptions of the scars and surgeries these women endured. (I have a pretty strong stomach with anatomy, but I about had to spit out what I was eating as I read the descriptions of these scars).
- Very strong language- many (10-15) uses of f*** or f******.
- Many uses of damn, hell, sh**, and b****.
- A character talks about being forced to either "f***" a man or be sent to the camp. She says she "wouldn't open her legs to him." He "raped her anyway" and then sent her to the camp.
- The same character says "everyone was raped" when the Soviets invaded her town. She talks about the women in her family "selling themselves" to get food.
- After a wedding, it is mentioned that the bride and groom are too tired to do anything on their wedding night.
- This story is based on the real violence and cruelty that happened in Ravensbruck. The entire story is full of shocking, jarring violence that is disturbing and hard to stomach.
- Many mentions of beatings, being forced to stand naked, starving prisoners, emotional abuse, and threats of violence.
- Frequent references to women being shot in the camp, especially those who were older or sick.
- Many descriptions moving, stealing from, and incinerating corpses.
- Descriptions of emaciated women who were little more than "beggars" or "bundles of rags."
- Descriptions of hundreds of women dying of starvation or thirst, one mention of a woman trying to eat her hand.
- Many references to gas chambers and the system for taking prisoners around the prison in a truck and then putting them in the gas chamber. Mention hearing screams in the gas chambers because it was a painful death.
- Women were used as medical experiments- frequent descriptions of surgeries in which doctors removed, cut off, moved or cut bones in legs of these women. Sometimes the muscle and tendons were cut or moved as well. Legs were punctured to simulate gunshot wounds. They would then put gangrene in the wounds and seal them again to see how the wound would heal. Many detailed descriptions of the scars and surgeries these women endured. (I have a pretty strong stomach with anatomy, but I about had to spit out what I was eating as I read the descriptions of these scars).
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