Annette's Book Spot: flying

Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts

Monday, September 16, 2013

Book Review: Rose Under Fire, by Elizabeth Wein

I can't believe how much I loved Rose Under Fire. You see, I really didn't like Code Name Verity at all.

Rose Under Fire is a companion novel, so it isn't necessary to have read Verity. One of the characters in Rose is a friend of one of the characters in Verity.

Rose is a U.S. civilian pilot in England, ferrying planes around for the Air Transport Auxiliary. She would love to be flying in combat, but in WWII, of course that isn't possible. The beginning of Rose Under Fire gives us the feel of the war in Europe. Although there is always the danger of the flying bombs, Rose's life is pretty exciting but mostly safe. Rose wants nothing more than to fly to Paris.

Her Uncle Roger, who got her this job because he's high up in the Royal Engineers, gives Rose her chance. He manages to get her assigned to fly him to Paris. On her way back, Rose runs into trouble, ends up in enemy territory and is captured by the Germans. She is sent to a concentration camp -- Ravensbrück, and that's where the story takes off.

Ravensbrück is where many young Polish women were experimented on by crazy doctors. They would deliberately infect them with gangrene, cut out muscle and bone, and do all sorts of other horrible things. These women were called "rabbits" and Rose became friends and somewhat of a protector to some of these women.

Life in the camp was horrible -- I'm not going to spend a lot of time on those details, but it's a special kind of society that you really need to read about. These women made so many sacrifices for each other, and plotted and schemed to save each other and really to keep their sanity. Rose recites and writes poetry. Another lady in the compound makes paper airplanes. Getting the paper was not an easy challenge! Rose Under Fire is such a multilayered story, it's impossible to explain everything in a review.

Rose Under Fire is written in a diary format, which works well for the subject. Rose is a hero, but there are many heroes in this story. The story is not totally linear, but is very easy to follow (unlike the experience I had with the disjointed narration in Verity.)

I would recommend Rose Under Fire to anyone, teen or adult, who is interested in women in the war, concentration camps, and just the resiliency of the human spirit. The book ends on a more upbeat note, and does include the Nuremberg trials of these horrible doctors.

Reading over this review, I just really didn't do this book justice. But I don't want to say more, because you have to read it to understand. Wein does a lot better job of writing than I do (hah! Big surprise!) This book should be added to the WWII/Holocaust book lists at all of your libraries.

Published by Miramax, September 10, 2013
eARC obtained from NetGalley
368 pages

Rating: 5/5

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Audiobook Review: Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand @laurahillenbran

Oh my gosh, what a book! I have to be honest -- it took me a LONG time to settle into Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. But also let me tell you -- for anyone who is interested AT ALL in the history of WWII, and specifically the war in the Pacific, this is a must read.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is the true story of Louis Zamperini, a WWII veteran, whose plane crashed into the Pacific. We learn that bit of info in the prologue, so I'm not giving anything away. I will tell you that the crash happens somewhere before the half-way point in the book, so there's a lot more to the story. What an incredible tale.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption begins with Louis' childhood, and doesn't end until....well, the end. Basically, it covers his entire life. In painstaking detail. Louis participated in the Olympics as a runner in 1936, and was a hopeful for the 1940 Olympics, which never happened because of the war. The entire story is interesting. Louis was a devil child and was transformed when he realized he was a natural runner.

But let's talk about my difficulty with Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I really hated the third person narrative style. The narrator is omniscient, and there is absolutely no dialog. I felt like the story was a news report. I kept waiting for the introduction to be over, so the story could start. You know, the dialog and direct relationships among the characters. This never happens. Everything that happens is "reported."

However, I suddenly found myself mesmerized by the story. I got involved in Louis' life, despite the point of view. Once I got past my frustration and realized that this was the book, and it was a best seller, and I was going to endure it -- I loved it.

There are a lot of characters, and a lot of side stories about these characters, and Hillenbrand makes it all make sense. I was never confused. I thought the "organization" of the story was brilliant, given that this is a very complicated story with lots of details. I can't imagine the time and dedication it takes to write a story like Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.

The story itself is literally unbelievable. If this were fiction, I would say the author went over the top. This is too far-fetched to buy into. The survival instincts in these men were so strong. I have not one doubt that I would have given up if I were in this situation. I can't even imagine what it takes inside a person to survive the utter decimation of the physical body. I had always heard that the Japanese were cruel. Hillenbrand does a great job in discussing the culture and background that made this army behave the way they did, although it doesn't make it easier to read about it. You may need to take some breaks from your reading at times. Essentially, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is a story of the triumph of the human spirit; I can't think of any better example of literature with this theme.

The audiobook was narrated by Edward Herrmann (yes, the actor) and he's the perfect voice for this narrative style. Like I said, much like a reporter, but he did add more emotion and enough nuance to keep my interest.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is a long book, at about 500 pages, but as I said, this is at the top of my list now for historical fiction recommendations.

Published by Random House, 2010 (audiobook by Random House Audio)
Copy obtained from the library
496 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Book Review: Such a Rush, by Jennifer Echols

Such a Rush was a disappointment with its partly unbelievable plot, and an ending that was fairly predictable.

Leah has moved around a lot, following her mother (who follows various boyfriends.) But one thing is consistent in her life -- their trailer parks are always next to an airport, and Leah has a dream of someday learning to fly. Her mother is rarely around, and Leah manages to get a job running a small local airport on the beach in South Carolina.

One of the businesses flying out of the airport is Hall Aviation. They fly advertisement banners along the beach. Leah saves her money, forges her mother's signature, and manages to get Mr. Hall to give her flying lessons. When Mr. Hall dies suddenly, Leah thinks her flying days are over, but his sons, Grayson and Alec, plan to continue with the business, and Leah, after being blackmailed by Grayson, ends up flying for them. Leah has always had a crush on Grayson, but she's now involved in a scheme that threatens to tear the brothers apart.

Problem: I had trouble getting enmeshed in some of the story. I decided it was because, in some cases, I was "told" things that I should have been "shown." Rather important scenes, such as Leah's mother inviting Mark to live with them, was just glossed over like it was no big deal. And then, we are "told" that he and Leah have not had sex. I would like to be "shown" one of those bedroom scenes. The scene where she threw him out was great -- I just wanted more of that for that whole story line. There were other parts of Such a Rush that gave me the same feeling -- sort of jumping over more important emotional parts so that I couldn't feel what the characters were feeling.

I didn't get why Leah didn't WANT to fly for Hall Aviation. That should have been her dream job -- with a guy she has a crush on, and flying on the beach in the plane she is familiar with. Why was it necessary for Grayson to blackmail her to get her to do it? (But, if there's no blackmail, there's no story.)

I just had a problem with the whole Mark thing. Leah is supposedly crushing on Grayson, but when she gets confronted by Mark, she considers starting a relationship with him....really?

The ending of Such a Rush was easy to determine from the outset. The climactic moments played out pretty much just as I expected. And I thought what Leah did at the end to cause the drama was totally out of character. She was always level-headed when it came to flying, and then she lets her emotions get the better of her? I didn't believe it.

Things just went on too long. I read 196 pages, and really had had enough. So, I skimmed about the next 80 pages, and read the last 50. I'm serious, I don't' think I missed anything in the plot by just reading a few sentences on every third page.

I loved the flying part of the book. I loved the descriptions of flying and the scenery below. The setting was well described. I liked that things turned out well for Leah in the end. I know that Jennifer Echols is very popular, and Such a Rush is the first of hers that I've read. I'm not opposed to trying another of her books, but this one just didn't do it for me.

I will still recommend Such a Rush to teens who are contemporary fans, especially those who are fans of Echols.

Published by MTV Books, July 10, 2012
ARC obtained from Around the World ARC Tours
325 pages

Rating: 2/5