Black Dove, White Raven

by Elizabeth Wein

Hardcover, 2015

Status

Available

Call number

[Fic]

Publication

Los Angeles ; New York ; Hyperion, 2015

Description

Having moved to Ethiopia to avoid the prejudices of 1930s America, Emilia Menotti, her black adoptive brother Teo, and their mother Rhoda, a stunt pilot, are devoted to their new country even after war with Italy looms, drawing the teens into the conflict.

User reviews

LibraryThing member A_Reader_of_Fictions
Pages read: 68

I can scarcely believe I'm DNFing a book by Elizabeth Wein, since I have such respect for her as an author. Black Dove, White Raven has Wein's characteristic sophisticated writing, intensity, historical setting made solid by research, and unique mode of story telling. It's a good book
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on most every level.

The thing is, though, that I don't believe in the characters, so I really can't continue. Black Dove, White Raven is told through school essays and snippets of stories, ostensibly sent to the emperor in a bid to get him to help Em and Teo get out of Ethiopia. The story that opens up is a very powerful one. Their mothers, Rhoda and Delia, are fascinating. I do like the story. However, I just can't get past this storytelling device.

The problem is how artificial it is and how much it doesn't fit with Em and Teo. One of the chapters was supposedly an assignment which prompted the kids to write about their fathers. Teo's essay then covers a chunk of their history, with detailed conversations and complex vocabulary. This is the sort of assignment you don't get outside of elementary school, and there's nothing of the child about the voice. Only in the snippets of the black dove and white raven tales is there anything youthful. The writings of Em and Teo also are impossible for me to distinguish. Not to mention that there's no way that kid's class assignments would be so detailed about their history to cover everything the plot requires. This really just doesn't work for me.

Elizabeth Wein's books will always automatically go on my to-read list, but Black Dove, White Raven was not for me.
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LibraryThing member DanieXJ
I did finish it, but this was such a challenging book to read. I really, really wanted to like it. I loved Code Name Verity, so, so much. And I really, really liked Rose Under Fire as well. Both books were lyrical, and informative, and just kept me so engrossed, not to mention on the edge of my
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seat. I really wish that this one had, but, it just didn't.

It's mostly the story of Teo and Em, two pre-teen/teen aged characters. They've grown up together as brother and sister as their mothers (the original Black Dove, Dalia and White Raven, Rhoda) traveled for their air show, and then the two siblings wound up in Ethiopia. It's told from both Teo and Em's points of view, but I thought that a lot of the time their voices sounded a lot the same.

I did think that this novel was just as technically well written as the previous two, but I just could never get into the plot or the narrative. It was especially bad for me at the beginning. I was quite lost right off the bat, and it took me awhile to get into the story as well as to get how the story was being told (via the two kids' points of view).

I truly wish I'd liked this more than I did and even though I didn't love it, Wein's books are still on my list of have to read ones.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Disney Book Group.
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LibraryThing member readinggeek451
This is a better book than I am giving it credit for. I am not the audience for this.
LibraryThing member lilibrarian
An American teen and her adopted black brother live in Ethiopia with their mother, a stunt pilot, and find themselves in the middle of a war.
LibraryThing member Sarah_Gruwell
I think my favorite part of this book was how rich the historical setting and details are. Evidence of how hard the author worked to get things right are seen throughout the entire book. She brings to life a part of the WWII era not often explored, in fiction or otherwise, the Italian invasion of
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Ethiopia and how WWII impacted this part of the world. She also brings to life a culture that is unique, colorful, and different than any Westerners are used to. She definitely transports her readers in every way, the hallmark of a great historical fiction writer.

I also really enjoyed her characters; all are different and exceptional. Steady Teo, intrepid Em, and protective Rhoda all make their mark on the reader’s hearts. Even Delia has a strong presence, even though she was dead for most the book. She serves as a motivation and driver for the book after that event due to her strong personality early on. The secondary characters also exhibit their own personality traits and quirks, making them remarkable and remember-able to the reader long after reading.

The format of the story was different than I’ve seen used before, but then, I’ve grown to expect that from this author. The story is told in a combination of letters, memories, flight logs, and fictional stories written by Teo and Em. I liked how this gave the story a distinctive feel and flow. The only part I wasn’t that thrilled with was the fictional story parts. As they were written by children, of course their tone and content will be way different than the flight logs and such. But I found myself thrown out of the story more than once trying to digest these pieces in the middle of the others.

Overall, this is a great book looking at a part of WWII that isn’t often explored in WWII literature. Great characters and historical details make this an engrossing read and puts the story into the reader’s hearts hard. The unique format works in most places but not as well in others. Still definitely a book to look at and recommend to lovers of the genre. Another great example of this author’s work as well.
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LibraryThing member Herenya
I was desperate to read Black Dove, White Raven because Elizabeth Wein wrote it, rather than because the plot intrigued me. I had some misgivings about it all - or I would have if I didn't trust Wein to tell a compelling and tightly-researched story. Why Ethiopia? And why that title?
But it all made
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sense, as I hoped it would, once I read the book.

It did take me nearly a fortnight to read, but that was because I was listening to the audiobook and also because the story takes a before some of the pieces begin to fall into place and events become super I-can't-stop-listening tense
(It’s obvious from the beginning that things go wrong, but it isn’t clear exactly what has happened, and because I didn’t know Em or Teo yet, I wasn't really worried. And then it jumps back to their childhood, and I was lulled into feeling like everything would be okay. Ha.)

Em and Teo’s voices are so lively and distinct and real. I love that they rely on each other and create stories together about their fictional alter-egos, Black Dove and White Raven. I loved the way those stories provide a space in which Em and Teo can process real-life anxieties, and their alter-egos provide them with strategies that they draw upon in real-life situations.

The back cover says the book is about "the bonds of friendship" but friendship isn't the right word for these two, who have been brought up together like twins. I like the way they write about their experiences - and the way their experiences of Ethiopia and of learning to fly differ.

I was fascinated by the insight into Ethopia in the 1930s, especially seeing how events in Africa were influenced by politics and tensions in Europe that eventually led to WWII. (Well, some of that was more horrifying that fascinating...)

Black Dove, White Raven a powerful and moving story about family and growing up, and the difficulties of making dreams into reality, and learning to fly.

I loved that word: soulmate. We asked Grandma what it meant and she said, "Two people who understand each other without talking about it. Two halves of a whole."
"Like being married?" I asked.
"No," Grandma said. "It could be anybody. Father or mother or sister or friend. A teacher or someone you work with. Anybody. Any two people who understand each other so well that one of them can fly blindfolded and the other will stand unafraid on the wing of the plane."
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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
The previous books I've read by Elizabeth Wein featured a fascinating mix of Arthurian legend and Ethiopian history, with a level of complexity and maturity unusual for the YA marketing label they were stuck with.

Therefore, I was immediately interested in her newest, 'Black Dove, White Raven,'
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which also has an Ethiopian setting, but takes place over the years following 1930 (the time of Haile Selassie's coronation.)

The book is in the format of an assemblage of writings by our two young protagonists, Emilia and Teodros, which we immediately learn is to be sent to Haile Selassie by Emilia as an appeal on behalf of Teo. Why is this appeal necessary and what is at stake? That's why we have to read the book...

The story starts with not Em and Teo, but Rhoda and Delia, their mothers. The two women, each with a young child, had a notorious daredevil barnstorming act; flying a biplane around the United States and doing daring feats of wingwalking. However, life as a 'mixed-race' performing act is tough in 1920's America. The two women form a dream of taking their show further afield - to Ethiopia, where the father of Delia's child hailed from.

When Delia is killed in a tragic accident, Rhoda adopts her son, and raises Teo and Em as siblings. After an interlude at her Quaker parents' farm, in the hope of escaping racism for Teo, she decides to follow Delia's dream and relocate to Ethiopia.

However, once there, not all is as dreamlike as hoped. A combination of a social and legal system 'out of the sixteenth century' and the threatened invasion by Italian forces mean the family's troubles have only started.

The book, although fictionalized, is a great look at a part of WWII (or, technically, the lead-up to WWII) that is often neglected (Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia). It's also full of amazing details about the early days of flight and the strong and eccentric characters that many of the pilots of that time were.

As a matter of fact, I loved the barnstorming details so much that I left this book really wanting to read an 'adult' novel about the original 'Black Dove, White Raven' - Rhoda and Delia, their relationship, and how they formed their act and took it on the road. A prequel would be more than welcome!

Instead, this book focuses on the children. It's really well done. The book succeeds marvelously at depicting true familial love which endures even through suffering, and even though each person in the book is truly their own character, each with a different perspective on life and different goals and dreams.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book - as always, my opinions are solely my own.
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LibraryThing member jmoncton
This is the last of Elizabeth Wein's trio of historic fiction young adult novels. They all feature amazing women pilots and are set during World War II and tell memorable heroic stories about the war. As far as the history part of historic fiction goes, this book tops the chart. But, unlike her
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other books, the narrator in this story starts as a young child and finishes as a teen. The book is told through journal entries and Ms. Wein does a great job of making the journal entries sound authentic, or appropriate for the age of the child. And this is where the problem comes in. No matter how brave, imaginative, or heroic a young child is, his or her writing is going to be just like a story written by an 8 year old. As the narrators get older, the writing improves significantly, but it took me a long time to get into the story and I almost gave up several times. Was it worth it? Absolutely, but I wish this amazing story was told with a more mature voice.
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LibraryThing member krau0098
I loved Wein’s “Code Name Verity” and “Rose Under Fire” novels. I thought “The Pearl Thief” was pretty boring and lackluster. Still given how much I loved “Code Name Verity” I was eager to read this book. I ended up being pretty disappointed in this novel. Despite surroundings
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that could be exciting the book ends up being incredibly boring; like fall asleep while driving boring.

I listened to this on audiobook and I think that was part of my issue with the book. The narrator for Teo does an excellent job with accents and sounded exactly how I imagine Teo would sound. However the narrator that did Em’s parts just had a very black and soothing voice; somehow she managed to make war scenes sound sleepy.

The first part of this book had a lot of promise with daring airwomen and some interesting mixed culture. However once Em’s mother gets them moved to Ethiopia things went downhill for me. None of the characters do much of anything in Ethiopia; they are largely pulled along by the political events that surround them and very rarely take action to change things. While the characters inaction does come across as fairly realistic; it is also very boring to read about.

The majority of this book is about the war that took place between Ethiopia and Italy in the mid 1930’s. I am going to be real honest here and say I had never heard about this war before reading this book. So, I guess it was good to learn about. Now I am going to be completely not politically correct and say...I would have been fine not knowing about this war. I am sure it was devastating to the people involved, but I am not a history buff and I just didn’t care.

The first interesting part of this book for me was learning about mustard gas and what it does to people (I heard of mustard gas but never really knew how awful it was). The second interesting part of this book for me was Wein’s afterward. In the afterward she goes into how the 2nd Italo-Ethiopian War fits in with the rest of history and how this eventually led to the League of Nations being viewed as ineffective which, in part, allowed Hitler to do the horrible things he did. I wish the Afterward had been before the story and then I might have understood the implications of the story better and been more engaged in what seemed like a pretty one-sided, brief, and boring war.

Overall this book was okay but not great. Mostly I just found it incredibly boring. There are vast portions of the book where nothing much happens and the characters are struggling to do things like get passports and take flying lessons. You might be interested in this book if you are interested in Ethiopian history or you are obsessed with flying. Otherwise I would skip it, it’s definitely not Wein’s best work.
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LibraryThing member ReadersCandyb
I struggled to get through this one...
It had importance, but was painfully boring. Definitely packed the historical punch, but was missing the action and romance I craved. There was so much redundancy in the flight logs that I felt myself drift away from the overall story. I felt the urge to stop
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many times, but had hope that it would get better. In the end it did pick up with the war parts, but was too little, too late. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this one. It had strong family values and a concentration on friendship, but was diluted by the weak over-detailed execution.
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LibraryThing member HeatherLINC
I was very disappointed with this book. I loved "Code Name Verity" written by the same author, but I couldn't finish this one - it was just so boring. There were long periods where nothing happened and I didn't like how the story was told through flight logs, school essays and stories made-up by Em
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and Teo. I usually don't mind this format but "White Raven, Black Dove" just didn't do it for me.
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LibraryThing member Fence
Emilia and Teo live as though they were brother and sister. Teo’s mother Delia died when a bird hits the plane is flying, but Emilia’s mother, Rhoda, the wing-walker survived. Devastated by the death of her best friend Rhoda returns to her parents farm and retreats to her bed while she mourns.
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Eventually, though, she begins to live again and decides that the family should go to Ethiopia. That is where Teo’s father was from. He died in WWI but Delia always wanted to go there, a place where Teo’s skin wouldn’t make him stand out. A country that was never colonised by Europeans.

And so Em, Teo, and their Momma head for the continent of Africa. But this is the 1930s, and war is coming. Mussolini is moving his forces in Africa and he has his eye on Ethiopia.

The story is told through a series of essays and flight logs that Em and Teo keep as they grow up. It details their life with Delia and Rhoda, and after, in America and in Ethiopia. But it begins almost at the end, with an introduction by Em, address to the Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, so you have some idea of where the story is going.

And as it is told by both our narrators it has alternating first person narration. If this is something you don’t like then you are missing out a great book.

I first read Wein when I read her Code Name Verity which is a book that you should read.((actually I should reread it because it was just plain great)) . This book isn’t as emotionally hard hitting, it is a much more complex book in some ways. It covers racism and prejudice as well as war and love and death and tragedy. And, as expected from Wein, characters that are just so real and alive you wonder how she managed to create them at all.

This is very different in some ways from Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire but it really does highlight the fact that I would read just about anything that Wein writes. I do still have to get back to her Arthurian/Ethiopian series, but I enjoyed the two books in that series that I’ve read so far. And I love that she has set so many of her stories there. It is a place that I am only familiar with in terms of marathon runners and famines, so it is great to see it depicted in such a positive manner. Not always positive of course, every where has its problems and flaws, but in a realistic manner, it is great to see books set in African countries, with actual African characters. I know, both Rhoda and Em are white Americans, and Em, in my mind, is the more dominant of the two narrators, but Teo certainly has a voice all of his own, and his own perspective on things.
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LibraryThing member jennybeast
Fascinating book with high adventure -- I always learn so much about history with Elizabeth Wein. This time it's branstorming women pilots, race relations just before the 2nd world war, and the history of Ethiopia. I had no idea how pivotal Italy's aggression on Ethiopia was to the set up for WWII,
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or how valiantly defended. The story's solid, characters are winning, and it's a fabulously crafted tale.
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Language

Original publication date

2015-03

Physical description

357 p.; 21.8 cm

ISBN

9781423183105
Page: 1.804 seconds