Scan barcode
A review by cornmaven
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
5.0
Lovely historical WWII novel set entirely in the states. Tells the story of the WASP, its founding, and its fragile position in the history of the military. I knew nothing about this 'branch' of service. The history unfolds side by side with the day's cultural mores regarding African-Americans and women. The protagonist is a young girl living on a rural Southern Louisiana farm, whose father taught her to fly, and whose passion is flying.
Her brother goes off to war, and she wants to help, too, but she's stuck cleaning white people's houses. Until the call for women pilots. The kicker is that they aren't going to take black women, but she's light skinned enough to 'pass'.
The whole 'passing' thing is treated well, including the different views of it from the black perspective. Nowadays Ida Mae would be condemned by all, but not then.
The training is rigorous, and laid out in good detail. The longer she stays in the program, though, the riskier it gets to be faking your racial identity, and there's good tension about that.
The treatment of women as second class citizens by the enlisted and the officers is described and re-enacted, too. You understand at the end that the WASP program was a political and motivational stunt which proved to be successful, on many fronts, and there could be some good dicussions about that, including whether one would want to be part of that kind of manipulation.
Ida Mae's journey to discovering and accepting her full identity co-exists with these tensions, and that makes the story that much fuller. My favorite quote: "We grow up into people our families don't always recognize." But she had to recognize herself for who she is, and she has to make some decisions at the end about how she is going to go forward once she does.
The notes at the end tell of the fate of the WASP program, and it's current status in history. I had no idea how mistreated these women were, from a benefits standpoint, until I read this book.
Her brother goes off to war, and she wants to help, too, but she's stuck cleaning white people's houses. Until the call for women pilots. The kicker is that they aren't going to take black women, but she's light skinned enough to 'pass'.
The whole 'passing' thing is treated well, including the different views of it from the black perspective. Nowadays Ida Mae would be condemned by all, but not then.
The training is rigorous, and laid out in good detail. The longer she stays in the program, though, the riskier it gets to be faking your racial identity, and there's good tension about that.
The treatment of women as second class citizens by the enlisted and the officers is described and re-enacted, too. You understand at the end that the WASP program was a political and motivational stunt which proved to be successful, on many fronts, and there could be some good dicussions about that, including whether one would want to be part of that kind of manipulation.
Ida Mae's journey to discovering and accepting her full identity co-exists with these tensions, and that makes the story that much fuller. My favorite quote: "We grow up into people our families don't always recognize." But she had to recognize herself for who she is, and she has to make some decisions at the end about how she is going to go forward once she does.
The notes at the end tell of the fate of the WASP program, and it's current status in history. I had no idea how mistreated these women were, from a benefits standpoint, until I read this book.