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bethgiven 's review for:
The Aviator's Wife
by Melanie Benjamin
This is a fictionalized account of the life of Anne Lindbergh, wife to the aviator Charles Lindbergh. I think I am like the people the author describes in her note: someone who "loves the Lindberghs" but really didn't know much about them besides something about Charles's importance in aviation, that their baby was kidnapped, and that Anne had penned [b:Gift from the Sea|77295|Gift from the Sea|Anne Morrow Lindbergh|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328312670s/77295.jpg|37467]. This fleshes out more of their story in a completely engaging way.
Rationally speaking, I can't say why I enjoyed this book so much. There was a lot of unhappiness, both because of external circumstances and internal attitudes. I was definitely disappointed by the choices that some of the characters made, especially Anne's decisions toward the end of the book, even if the author was accurately representing the lives of the Lindberghs. Anne seemed moody and angsty on pretty much every page, which you'd think would be annoying.
But no -- somehow, I still really liked this book. Something about the writing just sucked me in. I loved the voice, the pacing. The themes explored in this novel (particularly the role of a wife as a support to her husband) gave me a lot to think about. And regardless of all the wrong turns the characters took, I liked them anyway. I am impressed with this author and will definitely look for more of her books!
A passage I liked (pages 81-82):
"Tell me something about yourself, Anne. What do you want to do?"
"That's quite a large question."
"No, it's simple, really. What do you want to do? The one thing you can't stop thinking about? For me, it was Paris. On all those long flights delivering the mail, I couldn't stop thinking about it, puzzling it over until I had the answer, and when it came to me, I did it. So what do you want to do?"
See the Pyramids. Make my brother healthy and happy. Marry a hero -- so many thoughts to choose from, so many ideas coming to mind, that I had to gather them to me, quickly, before I blurted them all out ...
"I would -- I would like to write a great book. Just one. I would be satisfied with that. To paint pictures with words, to help people see what I see, through my language -- oh, to be able to do that!"
Charles studied me in silence, his face impassive. And the man who had flown across an ocean on the power of his own belief and no one else's told me, "Then you will."
Rationally speaking, I can't say why I enjoyed this book so much. There was a lot of unhappiness, both because of external circumstances and internal attitudes. I was definitely disappointed by the choices that some of the characters made, especially Anne's decisions toward the end of the book, even if the author was accurately representing the lives of the Lindberghs. Anne seemed moody and angsty on pretty much every page, which you'd think would be annoying.
But no -- somehow, I still really liked this book. Something about the writing just sucked me in. I loved the voice, the pacing. The themes explored in this novel (particularly the role of a wife as a support to her husband) gave me a lot to think about. And regardless of all the wrong turns the characters took, I liked them anyway. I am impressed with this author and will definitely look for more of her books!
A passage I liked (pages 81-82):
"Tell me something about yourself, Anne. What do you want to do?"
"That's quite a large question."
"No, it's simple, really. What do you want to do? The one thing you can't stop thinking about? For me, it was Paris. On all those long flights delivering the mail, I couldn't stop thinking about it, puzzling it over until I had the answer, and when it came to me, I did it. So what do you want to do?"
See the Pyramids. Make my brother healthy and happy. Marry a hero -- so many thoughts to choose from, so many ideas coming to mind, that I had to gather them to me, quickly, before I blurted them all out ...
"I would -- I would like to write a great book. Just one. I would be satisfied with that. To paint pictures with words, to help people see what I see, through my language -- oh, to be able to do that!"
Charles studied me in silence, his face impassive. And the man who had flown across an ocean on the power of his own belief and no one else's told me, "Then you will."