This week we are discussing D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose, Ch. 1-6.
Trigger Warning!!! This book contains situations and subjects related to: war, sexism, death, anti-Semitism, racism, white supremacy, murder, torture, prison, rape, concentration camps, suicidal ideation, cannibalism, and illness.
Spoiler Warning!!! This post is full of spoilers for D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose.
Discussion:
Jacilyn: Hey there friends, welcome to our first discussion of D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose - only our second nonfiction book in the two years we’ve been discussing. Instead of a biography, we chose a narrative nonfiction that gets pretty rave reviews. It’s a common request of patrons at my library, so it’s been on my radar for awhile. The writing style is a divergence from what we typically read, mainly due to the pivots from the more narrative, creative non-fiction styled writing to a more expository style. I think that as I kept reading, it began to flow a little better as I got used to it, but there was a chunk towards the beginning that was rather tough to absorb.
Michaela: At first it definitely felt like the writing style was confusing itself. There would be moments of creative description and narrative and then other moments of just straight facts. Maybe I’m just not used to non-fiction books and non-fiction writing styles but for a little while there I thought I could be reading a history based fiction narrative rather than a non-fiction book. I am definitely not a non-fiction reader so I will say that this book has been a struggle for me so far. I think I would enjoy it more if it was a historical fiction based on these women. Or at least it would be an easier read for me.
While I am familiar with a lot of World War II information and facts, it’s not a time period that I go searching out to learn more about. That being said I do find the aspects of WWII presented in this book to be really interesting. I love learning about the roles women had in this war and that they really were a turning point. But obviously with that comes the sexism surrounding their decision to finally include women in these affairs and the people who were against it from the beginning. A lot of those first few chapters are various people repeatedly saying how they don’t think involving these women in this war was a good idea, that they didn’t think women were capable, and so on. It was getting really frustrating to read, I know that that is how it was back then it doesn’t change how sexist it was. I am, however, enjoying that we are getting a little glimpse into these women’s lives before they joined the SOE and why they may have joined in the first place. They are clearly all badass women in their own ways.
Jacilyn: I started to get really into it the last chapter and a half or so, so I’m hoping that it keeps that up as we go. I have a history background, and WWII is one of the time periods I was most interested in, but my study was primarily focused on the Holocaust, not the war itself. I have no background in military history at all, and not much interest in strategy or any other aspect of it, so that likely influenced the difficulties I had in this first part. That being said, it is really illuminating to read about these women and I’m grateful for the context that Rose provides with those more fact-heavy passages - I think that without that context, you’re not going to be able to fully comprehend the role these women had in the war.
It was irritating to read the misogyny and patronization coming from the powers that be. But I have to say, what made me the angriest was Francis trying to covertly switch partners even though Andrée and him made the perfect team for the role they had - but she was too much of a “temptation” for the grown ass man. Frankly, that’s just an indictment of his own self-control.
I found the contrast between Andrée and Odette’s lives and their role in the war to be a great way of portraying the ways in which class became much more immaterial in this world of war. Clearly, though, it wasn’t gone entirely - the description of lower-class people as “simple” feels like such an underhanded and loaded term. Everyone was serving their country the same, in spite of their backgrounds, but the personal biases seemed to have remained.
Michaela: Once the book started to actually focus on the women themselves and their training I really began to get sucked in. I loved learning about all the skills and “classes” they took. My favorite fact I’ve learned so far was how they took images and such of French clothing and made completely counterfeit clothes for these women to parachute down in. They had these clothes, new names, large sums of money, the L-pill sewn into their clothes. It’s truly amazing learning about all the aspects that had to go into just getting these women into France. Another favorite was learning about the radio program that they used to send messages to their agents in France, and the “Dot. Dot. Dot. Dash” being the calling card for it referencing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, I just love it. I was and still am a music person (nerd!) and this just filled me with glee honestly.
The women Rose chose to focus on for this book were really good choices. They have fairly distinct personalities and histories. I’m excited and also a little concerned to keep reading and see what all these women had to go through.
Jacilyn: Learning about their training was fascinating, and all of the details behind getting them into France safe and soundly. I know there’s likely a lot of fluff in the story to make it read more cinematically, and I understand that things probably didn’t happen exactly as it’s written in this book, to the last detail, but this part of the strategy is really appealing to me. I agree with you with the clothes information, I knew you would love that. It’s fascinating and intriguing and empowering to know how brave these women were. I’m anxious about what we’ll learn next, but excited too. Until next time, readers!
Comments