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A review by cher_n_books
81 Days Below Zero: The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska's Frozen Wilderness by Toula Vlahou, Brian Murphy
1.0
1.5 stars - I didn't like it.
This survival story would make for an interesting magazine article, but there were simply not enough events or information to force a novel out of the story. Instead, the author cobbled together numerous tangents which make up the majority of the material, and created this very fractured and disjointed book. Unfortunately, the result is that it feels long and drug out despite its very short length.
The reader does not even feel like they really get to know Leon Crane, whom the title misleads you into thinking the whole book will concern. There was never a feeling of suspense, in part because the survival story is constantly being paused to go off on yet another tangent. I simply wasn't concerned with what happened next. This book was easy to put down and was only ever picked back up to finish it for a book club discussion.
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Favorite Quote: War is always a negative-sum outcome. It subtracts, removes, empties. No one who has witnessed combat can, with any honesty, describe it another way.
First Sentence: These are true stories.
This survival story would make for an interesting magazine article, but there were simply not enough events or information to force a novel out of the story. Instead, the author cobbled together numerous tangents which make up the majority of the material, and created this very fractured and disjointed book. Unfortunately, the result is that it feels long and drug out despite its very short length.
The reader does not even feel like they really get to know Leon Crane, whom the title misleads you into thinking the whole book will concern. There was never a feeling of suspense, in part because the survival story is constantly being paused to go off on yet another tangent. I simply wasn't concerned with what happened next. This book was easy to put down and was only ever picked back up to finish it for a book club discussion.
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Favorite Quote: War is always a negative-sum outcome. It subtracts, removes, empties. No one who has witnessed combat can, with any honesty, describe it another way.
First Sentence: These are true stories.