Sixties Spy: Who is Vera Kelly Review
Hello Fellow Readers,
We are back again with yet another book. This time around we read Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht. We were happy to welcome this advanced readers copy of the book, as it won't be released until June 12, 2018.
To start off this new and exciting release, we are combining the preview and review all in one. Below you will find the summary that is on the back of the novel.
New York City, 1962. Vera Kelly is struggling to make rent and blend into the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village. She's working night shifts at a radio station when her quick wits, shark tongue and technical skills get her noticed by a recruiter for the CIA. Next thing she knows she's in Argentina, tasked with wiretapping a congressman and infiltrating a group of of student activists in Buenos Aires. As Vera becomes more and more enmeshed with the young radicals, the fragile local government begins to split at the seams. When a betrayal leaves her stranded in the wake of a coup, Vera learns war makes for strange and unexpected bedfellows, and she's forced to take extreme measures to save herself. An exhilarating page turner and perceptive coming-of-age story, WHO IS VERA KELLY? introduces an original, wry and whip-smart female spy for the twenty-first century.
The book shifts in between Vera’s past and present which are roughly ten years apart. Starting with her life as a teenager, and going through her upbringing including many academic issues, social abandonment, counseling sessions and even a stint at a women’s prison. It then shuffles into the present where she is an undercover spy working in Argentina. Her assignment is to infiltrate a group of student radicals and wiretap a congressman in hopes of getting leads on a coup developing. Her past is helping the reader understand who she is, where as her present demonstrates what she is doing. All the while, one is informing the other.
One wish we had for the book is that it had a vocabulary shortlist for all the Spanish.
We feel like we only got a fraction of what we should of with our basic level of the language. There was so much of it, it wasn’t worth the time looking it up unfortunately. Though, we quite enjoyed the diversification.
We thought it was important to highlight the fact that the novel
shows a homosexual female character, without that aspect of her life dominating the storyline and becoming overbearing. We appreciate this part of the novel immensely and it is fitting with it being Pride Month. It also acts to remind us that women in film and literature don't exist just to make the male characters look good. Vera would never tolerate being a cheap sexualized Bond girl.
To put it simply, this book is a page turner. The short chapters were wonderful and very easy to fly through them in a short amount of time. At first glance, we expected action packed James Bond story. In reality, it is more of a slow burn, a sizzle if you will. Less badass Bond bombshell, more vulnerable, resourceful young woman. This tech savvy, intelligent female in her 20s working for the CIA is different, but badass nonetheless.
Ultimately, we recommend you go and buy a copy come June 12! The best way to describe it is that it is a perfect vacation read. Definitely something to bring on a plane or to the beach!
Better Read than Dead,
Addie & Geneva
In exchange for a fair and impartial review we were provided with a courtesy copy of the novel Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht. Big thanks to Tin House Books and Sabrina Wise and we look forward to working with you in the future!
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