Reviews

The Seaplane on Final Approach by Rebecca Rukeyser

commiebeatle's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I don’t know if this one was just not that well edited but every paragraph just vanished from memory as soon as I read it. It’s not particularly bad, per se, the words just didn’t stick. I agree with other reviews that the scenes are way to short, usually lasting half a page, which doesn’t fit with this kind of writing style unlike, say, Almond.

All the characters are quite flat, and while the main characters obsession with sleaze and a guy she met once was what made me immediately buy the book I think it’s handled in a way where we never get to know her at all since that is all she ever thinks about.

I find it deeply disturbing that a storyline where a (probably) middle aged man has an affair with his freshly 18 teenage employee is basically a background plot that the narrator and seemingly the author not only doesn’t condemn but rather supports (there’s numerous mentions of how Erin is glowing with love and Stu seems to be truly happy for the first time) even when he has previously molested another teenage employee (then 17). It brings to mind something Polly says when Maureen tells the girls they can’t have a glass of wine because of the legal drinking age in the US: who’s gonna find out? Stu can molest as many teenage girls as he wants – they’re on an isolated island outside of a small Alaskan town, there are no authorities or people to protect these girls. But somehow that is not the story that deserves to be told here, according to Rukeyser. That story is Mira ruminating on whether streetlights can be considered sleaze while she violently masturbates and eats cookie dough for ~300 pages.

Truly just a disjointed novel. Scenes seem to come out of nowhere and nothing really means anything or leads anywhere. The ending is totally random and not based on anything. What was it all about? Who knows? Who cares? It barely seems like Rukeyser does.

oxidized_copper's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

4.0

perfectly captures teenage obsession.  masterful. 

aralawrence's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

skhennessy's review

3.25

refreshingly weird and irreverent

justchillin_cuganesan's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

alxkmz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

madig81's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

4.0

i liked this book because it wasn't about things that other books are about. i've never thought so much about sleaze and coziness.

pixiecircle's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

this book's greatest downfall was its marketing-- this book is neither horny nor thrilling, and reads as if the mc was a deeply neglected child. "sleaze" and anything related to it was only relevant when the author remembered they were supposed to include it. mc's desires are very childish because she is still quite young, and when she fantasizes about her crush, it is always stilted and awkward. the last twenty or so pages were the most interesting, i guess, but i was still never thrilled. everything felt lukewarm, unbaked. all of the characters were interchangeable, one-dimensional, and inconsequential (the book would be completely the same without polly...). i can't even say i enjoyed the writing because each scene was a maximum of two pages long, so the whole book felt like a series of vaguely related vignettes. i never felt close or connected to the characters or plot because of this. speaking of the plot... what was it supposed to be lol? i kept waiting for something to happen but it didn't until the very end. 

could be good as a film, but i will not be reading from this author again.

cricketworm's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

siebensommer's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

The scene made me nostalgic for a girlhood I'd never had.
Three best friends, drinking sweet wine. The prism hanging from the fishing line in the window, and the jewelry hanging from nails, and the nail polish on the dresser, and the uneaten bags of fruit candy. We were sharing secrets in the fading light, laughing like sleigh bells, wearing colorful socks. I felt like I was getting an education.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Death