‘The Girl in the Blue Beret’ jolts readers with confusing, ill-timed plot

"The Girl in the Blue Beret," a historical fiction by Bobbie Ann Mason, was so up and down I have decided to call it "roller coaster writing."

The basic premise of the story is that Marshall, a retired pilot and veteran of World War II, is trying to come to terms with his past by finding the families and individuals who helped him escape from Nazi-occupied territory after his plane crash-landed in France. His story revolves around someone he recalls as the girl in the blue beret, who, at the time of his escape from France, was his contact to help him get across the Pyrenees Mountains and into Spain.

When I first read the synopsis of "The Girl in the Blue Beret," I was excited about reading it. However, by the second chapter I was regretting my decision.

The beginning was very boring, so much so that you began to wonder if it would ever get good. Occasionally, the pace would pick up, but just as soon the story would go flat again, leaving you to wonder why you were reading it in the first place.

Not only was the writing confusing and disjointed, but the timeline of events was not chronological and many anecdotes of Marshall's have little to do with the storyline. The confusion of the first half is so much that at times the reader is left to question what the plot of the book is.

Thankfully, the roller-coaster effect worked both ways, and the story got interesting halfway through the novel. For the last half, I found myself unable to stop reading, hands up and screaming the whole way.

But the makers of this roller coaster forgot to install a braking system, so at the end, it was more like flying off the edge of the track than coming to a successful stop.

Not only did the beginning make me want to read a different book, the ending was so unsatisfactory and abrupt that I was convinced the book did not fully download onto my Nook.

Overall, the storyline was a good idea, and the view of life during World War II for people living in France was both fascinating and heartbreaking. Sadly, the execution of the plot was disappointing, and the bad outweighed the good points of the book.

rachelstaats@DailyNebraskan.com

Grade: D+