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pages_and_cacti's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 11, 2001, when the unthinkable happened, all the planes bound for the United States were forced to land, Gander, Newfoundland was the landing site for 38 airliners. Gander had a population of nearly 10,000 but suddenly had close to 7,000 passengers to house and feed.
This book tells the story of how the very worst of people brought out the best of people.
jstaton's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting to read about Gander Newfoundland. Interesting to get details on the diverted planes on 9/11. I had not thought about how many people 9/11 affected outside of NYC so that was interesting to think about. Getting a view on how much organizing was necessary to get planes grounded and the people settled for a few days, was interesting! The writing left much to be desired, hard to connect. It was choppy and spotty, repetitive because it was choppy. I hear the broadway play isn't so good either but the whole concept and actual experience is an amazing story.
yrc's review against another edition
4.0
I'll start as always with the bottom line- I rarely read and Non-fiction, and this was a really good one!
I came across this book on some list as I wanted to to try out NF that would interest me, and the synopsis sounded pretty good. What I liked most about this audiobook were the characters and events brought to life by the narrator. To get a glimpse of the amazing hospitality the people of Gander and the surrounding area filled me up with warmth and appreciation at a time when global issues are on the news yet again, even if from a different area. I had never heard of this event before, and googled a couple of times to get my bearings. To think people offered total strangers a shower, a bed, food and sight seeing is just dumbfounding, and helped me remember people can also do so much good if they choose to.
It was easy to identify with Hannah who was waiting to hear any news about her fire-fighter son Kevin, with Lisa who had gone through Ovarian cancer and with the kindness all the people offered. Even hearing about the "Screeching" initiation with a rotting Cod fish felt loyal to the narrative and showed a complementing perspective to it. I also was furious when a certain pilot deceived by accident or not his passengers about their new destination.
The one star was taken off because in some of the reviews I read, it appeared that in the haste to get this book published, some easily fixed mistakes were made about locations and names of medecine. While this is could be somewhat understandable in self-published books, I feel that a bigger publisher and the journalist writing this could have done a bit more research to earn the last star with fact-checking.
Overall, this was a great listen. and I highly recommend it!
I came across this book on some list as I wanted to to try out NF that would interest me, and the synopsis sounded pretty good. What I liked most about this audiobook were the characters and events brought to life by the narrator. To get a glimpse of the amazing hospitality the people of Gander and the surrounding area filled me up with warmth and appreciation at a time when global issues are on the news yet again, even if from a different area. I had never heard of this event before, and googled a couple of times to get my bearings. To think people offered total strangers a shower, a bed, food and sight seeing is just dumbfounding, and helped me remember people can also do so much good if they choose to.
It was easy to identify with Hannah who was waiting to hear any news about her fire-fighter son Kevin, with Lisa who had gone through Ovarian cancer and with the kindness all the people offered. Even hearing about the "Screeching" initiation with a rotting Cod fish felt loyal to the narrative and showed a complementing perspective to it. I also was furious when a certain pilot deceived by accident or not his passengers about their new destination.
The one star was taken off because in some of the reviews I read, it appeared that in the haste to get this book published, some easily fixed mistakes were made about locations and names of medecine. While this is could be somewhat understandable in self-published books, I feel that a bigger publisher and the journalist writing this could have done a bit more research to earn the last star with fact-checking.
Overall, this was a great listen. and I highly recommend it!
rschroath's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
peaknit's review against another edition
4.0
A feel good book, if that’s possible, about 9/11. When all air traffic was grounded, with the US airspace closed, over 230 jets landed on Newfoundland, a teeny Canadian island. This is the story of how the locals came together to support the stranded travelers, and their stories, and the development of long last friendships. It was great on audio.