Smith, Sherri L. - Flygirl

[oyceter]

Finally I get my grubby paws on Sherri L. Smith's new book! (The worst part about finding a new author and blazing through her backlist is when you finish and must wait months for a new book.) I am planning on being every bit as annoying to my new public library as I was to the old one and am already sending in tons of suggestions on books to buy.

Ida Mae Jones wants to fly. She learned with her dad on his crop duster, but there are two strikes against her when it comes to getting her pilot's license: she's black, and she's female. Soon, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, and Ida Mae finds out about the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), who deliver airplanes for the Army, test-fly planes, or any other non-combative flying jobs the Army needs done. But even though the WASP is for women, it's for white women. So Ida Mae decides to pass.

Like Smith's Lucy the Giant, I loved the details about the work, from Ida Mae and her friends' flight training to missions they went on for the Army. I also liked how central her friendships with other women were, from her friend Jolene back in New Orleans to newly-made friendships with Patsy the ex-circus girl and Lily the upper-class Jewish girl (it was also nice reading about a Jewish girl in the 1940s not set in a concentration camp). But what really made the book stand out for me was how Smith dealt with Ida Mae passing.

I like that it is not an easy decision, that it makes Ida Mae afraid all the time. I like that Smith shows how much easier it is being white, even as a woman, and how Ida Mae is constantly tempted by remaining white even as the costs keep rising. I like that Smith doesn't resolve everything easily and tie a bow on top, that the decision to pass is one that will have long and hard consequences for Ida Mae no matter what she does.

Overall, a good read.

Links:
- gwyneira's review
- sanguinity's review (mild spoilers)

Comments

[cofax7]

Oh, that sounds neat. I'll have to look for that.

[slrose.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear what you think of Patricia Wrede's new book, The Thirteenth Child.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this sounds REALLY cool.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Yay, you finally got it!

I was at an air museum in Oregon this weekend, and they actually had a little WASP exhibit, with a uniform that had the Fifinella gremlin patch on one arm and the WASP patch on the other. I immediately visualized Ida Mae in it and was very pleased. :)

[oyceter]

Yay!

[oyceter]

Heh, the way things are going right now, I don't know how much time I have to read, and I have even less to write stuff up. So I'm trying to focus more on 50books_poc books for now, although everything is of course subject to fits of whim.

[oyceter]

It is!

[oyceter]

Oh, that's so awesome!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Any idea on a recommended age/reading level?

[oyceter]

Hrm. I'd say middle-to-high-school? Ida Mae is 18 or so, and while the book doesn't have explicit sex or violence, I feel like a lot of her concerns are older in nature. On the other hand, it really depends on the person!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

No, that makes sense. Thanks!