Radar Girls

Funny story. I requested this book from the library in preparation for our upcoming book group meeting. It arrived and I read a bit. What? It's Rae's choice, I remembered. Rae is a thoughtful reader. Why would she have chosen this book?

I thought about this, and I thought about this, and days passed, and soon it was just a day or two before the meeting. I had an unexpected afternoon free, and off I went.

Then I got to swimming class, and one of the members of our book club was talking about how carefully she had to read the book. Carefully? The book was published by Harlequin, I thought. Finally, I spoke up, and told her I'd read the book in a couple of hours. Our book club book? she asked. Yes, I said, Radar Girls. Nope, she said as she shook her head. Radio Girls.

Oops.

I was expecting this book to be more of a novel regarding the womens' roles during the war but it ended up being romance and mystery heavy. I found the “girls” (I know women doesn't have quite the same ring, but I am hoping some day that books about women will no longer have girl in the title), to be a little bit too much on the cutesy, precious side; when we know the women who did this work were strong. The mystery with the horse could have been left out, and the story with Daisy's dad seemed to be drug out too much. I don't like when books add in the same detail/information (in this case the state of Daisy's mother) over several chapters as if readers are going to forget, especially when it's something that isn't too central to the story being told. I don't know if it is supposed to have some sort of effect, or if it is just to up the word count. It annoys me and I know that's something I have to work on about myself, lol. I was hoping I was going to love this book, as I enjoy WWII books with strong women and I try to seek out novels to areas outside of Europe when I can find them.

Beautiful Story Of Life On Hawaii Between Pearl Harbor and Midway. This is one of those books where you almost audibly hear Faith Hill singing through parts, particularly the obligatory romance subplot - and particularly its later stages. Fortunately the romance subplot is well done yet mostly muted in favor of showing the women's bonds and work, which was an area of WWII I'd never heard of. Specifically, while college football player men were being rounded up to bolster island security forces, these ladies - both natives and those there because their husbands were already military - were being recruited (almost drafted, really) to man the very radar stations that had failed to realize what the Japanese were on that fateful morning in December 1941. It is actually on that morning that our story opens, with main character Daisy “borrowing” a horse and going skin diving for subsistence... when she witnesses an air battle directly above her. The story then spends most of its time in the next few months, culminating in the Battle of Midway from the perspective of these “Radar Girls”. (And following with the obligatory post-war epilogue.) Beautifully written and full of heart, this is one that fans of historical fiction / WWII fiction will definitely love, and readers of all types should read even if it isn't normally your thing. Very much recommended.