Reviews with content warning for Rape - Code Name Hélène

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon

9 reviews

aschmitttyy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I was excited to begin this book, but felt the different timelines and identities were challenging to follow. After a while, it felt long and I was excited to just be done with it. I did love the main character and found her easy to root for.

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kthomas0701's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

5.0

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hannaws's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Love is a choice. It is the active choosing of good for another person. But like? It is a gift and it cannot be forced.

As a very first thing I would like to establish the fact that I did not know anything about Nancy Wake before reading this book. I will say that it is a huge hole in my knowledge about history and I will go on and study about her as much as I can because this is a woman with capital W.

I never really know how to review historical fiction. It is about someone's life in the end. And it always feels like I am kind of judging how someone lead their life back in the days. YES, I am very well aware that this is historical fiction but there is always the seed of truth there, you know.

Anyway, back to the actual book at hand here. I really liked this one! Not much of a surprise since I did like Lawhon's other historical fiction as well. But what made me lower the rating with half a star was the way this book is written. I am really not a fan of a book that keeps on jumping back and forth in time. I just can't keep up with the dates and times in these cases and sometimes it causes a confusion. It was no different with this one. I could not keep up with the constant change of timelines. Especially when you throw in Nancy's different aliases. So you're trying to keep track of the months and years and also about the personalities.
As the story went on, it did become a little easier when you have actually got to know all the different personalities. So it was a lot easier to know when and where you were. But I will not lie, I did sometimes have to go back and check where and who we were at the time.

But I did like the writing otherwise. And the book in general. I loved all the characters (well duh, those all are real people, well most of them) as well and this does get very emotional at times! With this book it did get even more emotional, knowing that these horrors really were their reality for a long time. These things really happened.
All the back and forth jumping does keep you on your toes though. You never know how one storyline continues before you have finished reading the other one.

I feel like this whole review is one back and forth mindless jumping. I'm tired and it is hard to keep a hold on my thoughts.

But all in all I really enjoyed this book! The characters and story itself is well written and it does hit you in the feels. It is horrible, sad but also sometimes quite happy and funny. As is life, right?

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candiabell's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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tessduets's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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bookaholics_anonymous's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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daralexandria's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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sirius_feanor's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

While reading this book I had to remind myself that Nancy was real. Nancy Wake was a real person, a real female-spy, a real kick-ass heroine who fought the Nazis during WWII. I had a couple of moments when I thought "I'm gonna give this book two stars, this all is too fantastical to believe". But it actually happened! She really was this amazing person and she really did those amazing things!
Thank you, Ariel Lawhon, for introducing me to Nancy Wake! Now I want to know more about this absolute wonder of a woman.

P.S. Also If you are into audiobooks, this one is a particular treat. Starting with the unmistakable Australian accent and continuing with all the French, both accent and language.

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strose's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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