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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin captured my attention from the first page. Written in that comfortable style where the writing becomes invisible and the story and characters take center stage, The Aviator's Wife was a quick yet fascinating read this week.
Though Anne Morrow saw herself as the plain, shy girl, she became the unlikely wife to the most eligible bachelor of the 1920's--aviator and hero Charles Lindbergh. As part of his "crew", Charles taught Anne all the ins and outs of aviation and she wasn't only his partner in marriage but became his copilot and navigator in the skies. Constantly followed by the press, the Lindberghs explore the world together as a team.
Of course, life for the Lindberghs wasn't easy--tragic, if you will. We all know the history--their 18 month old son is kidnapped and murdered. Charles is described as a cold man, often insensitive to the feelings of others, especially his wife and children. He was also branded a Nazi during World War II. Anne and Charles drift apart as Anne devotes her life to raising their children and Charles flies around the world.
Throughout the novel, Benjamin brings Anne to life, sharing her inner tenderness and strength to get through life's hard times. Anne has a quiet resolve that is admirable. Her life and achievements echo that struggle that many women still face--success in their careers and in their homes--without many accolades for either. I never knew that Anne Lindbergh was a pilot, like her famous and celebrated husband. I'm grateful to know it now and pleased that Anne's life is celebrated in this new novel from Melanie Benjamin.
Though Anne Morrow saw herself as the plain, shy girl, she became the unlikely wife to the most eligible bachelor of the 1920's--aviator and hero Charles Lindbergh. As part of his "crew", Charles taught Anne all the ins and outs of aviation and she wasn't only his partner in marriage but became his copilot and navigator in the skies. Constantly followed by the press, the Lindberghs explore the world together as a team.
Of course, life for the Lindberghs wasn't easy--tragic, if you will. We all know the history--their 18 month old son is kidnapped and murdered. Charles is described as a cold man, often insensitive to the feelings of others, especially his wife and children. He was also branded a Nazi during World War II. Anne and Charles drift apart as Anne devotes her life to raising their children and Charles flies around the world.
Throughout the novel, Benjamin brings Anne to life, sharing her inner tenderness and strength to get through life's hard times. Anne has a quiet resolve that is admirable. Her life and achievements echo that struggle that many women still face--success in their careers and in their homes--without many accolades for either. I never knew that Anne Lindbergh was a pilot, like her famous and celebrated husband. I'm grateful to know it now and pleased that Anne's life is celebrated in this new novel from Melanie Benjamin.
I would read anything and everything written by Melanie Benjamin. This book taught me about Charles Lindbergh, and makes me want to read more about him, and especially, his wife Anne.
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was just plain boring. I have picked it up and put t back down countless times since February. I officially give up.
Audiobook read by Lorna Raver.
3***
Ann Morrow was a shy young woman, content to stay in the shadows of those around her, including her millionaire father (U.S. ambassador to Mexico) and her vivacious older sister. She is a college senior in December 1927 when she travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family and meets their distinguished guest: Colonel Charles Lindbergh. The aviator has only recently completed the first solo flight across the Atlantic and is hounded by the press. She feels sure he is attracted to her sister (and the newspapers report as much), but it is to the quiet Anne that Charles is drawn. They marry in a headline-making wedding, and begin married life as co-adventurers. Yet, despite her own impressive achievements, Anne is viewed merely as the aviator’s wife.
Benjamin has mined history in her previous novels and the life of Anne Morrow Lindbergh provides a wealth of information on which to base this work. The reader sees Anne as a shy young woman, unwilling to assert herself against the wishes of her parents or her new husband. If he says she will learn celestial navigation so she can be his co-pilot, well, she’ll learn. If he wants to propel her off a cliff in a glider, well, she’ll become the first licensed female glider pilot. If he says, “Leave the baby with a nurse and come to the Orient with me for six months; that’s why we hired her!” Well, Anne will leave and help Charles chart a new course over the polar ice cap for potential future commercial flights. If he insists they never mention the child they lost, she’ll pretend it never happened. If he wants to move to Europe, she’ll move. And if he asks her to help him convince America that the German model has many good aspects, well, she will put her talents as a writer to use crafting the message he wants to send.
But all that denial of her own wishes, desires, dreams, ambitions and opinions comes at a significant price. Yes, she continues to live a life of privilege, but it is an increasingly isolated and lonely life. While Charles continues his work across the globe, promoting the advantages of commercial air travel, Anne is left at home to maintain the household and answer the difficult questions of her children. Even more distressing, she is left alone and frustrated without a clear purpose of her own, without her husband’s recognition of her need for her own dreams and accomplishments. And with a growing realization that the dream she married is not the man she is living with.
I’ve read several biographies of the Lindberghs; I’ve read Anne’s book A Gift From the Sea and several of her diaries. And I’ve read books about the Lindbergh Kidnapping, too. So, little of the information I found in this book was news to me, and maybe that’s why I cannot rate it higher. For me it was adequate but not special. The way Benjamin portrays these characters made me really dislike them – both of them. Yes, I recognize that this was a different era and she was a woman brought up in a very specific and narrow way to conform to society, but Anne’s blind devotion to the myth of Charles Lindbergh made me want to slap her silly. And Charles? Well, to paraphrase Scarlett O’Hara – I can’t think of anything bad enough to call him!
My frustration with Anne is best illustrated in this passage:
To my children, I was just Mom. That was all. And before that, I had been Charles’s wife, the bereaved mother of the slain child. That was all.
But before that, I had been a pilot, An adventurer. I had broken records – but I had forgotten about them. I had steered aircraft – but I didn’t think I would know how to, anymore. I had soared across the sky, every bit as daring as Lucky Lindy himself, the one person in the world who could keep up with him.
Yet motherhood had brought me down to earth with a thud, and kept me there with tentacles made of diapers and tears and lullabies and phone calls and car pools and the sticky residue of hair spray and Barbasol all over the bathroom counter. Would I ever be able to soar again? Would I ever have the courage?
Did any woman?
Yes, many women did, and do. Benjamin gives us an Anne Lindberg who gave up and then blamed others for her own failings. THAT is what I found so disappointing in this book.
Lorna Raver does a pretty good job of narrating the audio version, although I thought her voice sounded too mature for the young Anne that is the focus of much of this book. Still, her pacing was good and she had sufficient skill to differentiate the many characters, male and female, in the novel.
3***
Ann Morrow was a shy young woman, content to stay in the shadows of those around her, including her millionaire father (U.S. ambassador to Mexico) and her vivacious older sister. She is a college senior in December 1927 when she travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family and meets their distinguished guest: Colonel Charles Lindbergh. The aviator has only recently completed the first solo flight across the Atlantic and is hounded by the press. She feels sure he is attracted to her sister (and the newspapers report as much), but it is to the quiet Anne that Charles is drawn. They marry in a headline-making wedding, and begin married life as co-adventurers. Yet, despite her own impressive achievements, Anne is viewed merely as the aviator’s wife.
Benjamin has mined history in her previous novels and the life of Anne Morrow Lindbergh provides a wealth of information on which to base this work. The reader sees Anne as a shy young woman, unwilling to assert herself against the wishes of her parents or her new husband. If he says she will learn celestial navigation so she can be his co-pilot, well, she’ll learn. If he wants to propel her off a cliff in a glider, well, she’ll become the first licensed female glider pilot. If he says, “Leave the baby with a nurse and come to the Orient with me for six months; that’s why we hired her!” Well, Anne will leave and help Charles chart a new course over the polar ice cap for potential future commercial flights. If he insists they never mention the child they lost, she’ll pretend it never happened. If he wants to move to Europe, she’ll move. And if he asks her to help him convince America that the German model has many good aspects, well, she will put her talents as a writer to use crafting the message he wants to send.
But all that denial of her own wishes, desires, dreams, ambitions and opinions comes at a significant price. Yes, she continues to live a life of privilege, but it is an increasingly isolated and lonely life. While Charles continues his work across the globe, promoting the advantages of commercial air travel, Anne is left at home to maintain the household and answer the difficult questions of her children. Even more distressing, she is left alone and frustrated without a clear purpose of her own, without her husband’s recognition of her need for her own dreams and accomplishments. And with a growing realization that the dream she married is not the man she is living with.
I’ve read several biographies of the Lindberghs; I’ve read Anne’s book A Gift From the Sea and several of her diaries. And I’ve read books about the Lindbergh Kidnapping, too. So, little of the information I found in this book was news to me, and maybe that’s why I cannot rate it higher. For me it was adequate but not special. The way Benjamin portrays these characters made me really dislike them – both of them. Yes, I recognize that this was a different era and she was a woman brought up in a very specific and narrow way to conform to society, but Anne’s blind devotion to the myth of Charles Lindbergh made me want to slap her silly. And Charles? Well, to paraphrase Scarlett O’Hara – I can’t think of anything bad enough to call him!
My frustration with Anne is best illustrated in this passage:
To my children, I was just Mom. That was all. And before that, I had been Charles’s wife, the bereaved mother of the slain child. That was all.
But before that, I had been a pilot, An adventurer. I had broken records – but I had forgotten about them. I had steered aircraft – but I didn’t think I would know how to, anymore. I had soared across the sky, every bit as daring as Lucky Lindy himself, the one person in the world who could keep up with him.
Yet motherhood had brought me down to earth with a thud, and kept me there with tentacles made of diapers and tears and lullabies and phone calls and car pools and the sticky residue of hair spray and Barbasol all over the bathroom counter. Would I ever be able to soar again? Would I ever have the courage?
Did any woman?
Yes, many women did, and do. Benjamin gives us an Anne Lindberg who gave up and then blamed others for her own failings. THAT is what I found so disappointing in this book.
Lorna Raver does a pretty good job of narrating the audio version, although I thought her voice sounded too mature for the young Anne that is the focus of much of this book. Still, her pacing was good and she had sufficient skill to differentiate the many characters, male and female, in the novel.
Wow. Just wow. This book was absolutely amazing and I was really engaged. She was an incredibly remarkable woman who is too often overlooked for her famous husband. This book puts a whole new meaning to the phrase “Behind every great man is an even greater woman”. A wonderful book for fans of historical fiction!
medium-paced
The complaining got a bit tiresome, but the story was in interesting peek at what being married to such an icon might be like.
This started out slow for me, but once it got going, I really enjoyed this story about Anne Lindbergh and her marriage to the famous Charles. She was also an aviator, taught by the best pilot ever, and a remarkable woman. I appreciated being able to pull together the bits of their story that I knew, and found Benjamin's characterization strong and very believable. I am so sad for this brilliant man who never quite found what he was looking for personally, and this woman who suffered such great tragedy. But very glad to know their story.
Unlike men, women got less sentimental as we aged, I was discovering. We cried enough, when we were young; vessels overflowing with the tears of everyone we loved.
Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad.
Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad.