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katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
Based on the author's real-life experience, this is a terrifying prospect - being passenger on a plane taken over by terrorists.
An element of danger is taken away by the fact that, of course, the author lived to tell the tale, but it is still a tense story at times.
Anna, 15 and on her way back to her English boarding school, has left her family in Bahrain to fly solo, and after joking about planes being taken hostage, finds herself in that exact nightmare of a situation.
The prospects of a terrifying psychological battle with captors, of threats, negotiation, shootings... never really materialised. The story focused much more on the boredom, shortages and stifling heat of a desert prison plane. After the initial terror of being taken hostage, Anna and her fellow captives are taken in the plane to await negotiations in the desert, and the long process of sitting still and letting others decide their fate begins.
I did enjoy the read, but it did feel as though more could have happened (even if this is actually a true account of the situation). The ending felt a little rushed as the situation 'ends' (I won't spoil it by saying how). After reading Nick Lake's Hostage Three, about a teenager similarly taken but on a boat, a comparable relationship with a terrorist petered out to nothing and the tension here dissipated without much satisfaction.
It's still a great idea for a story, with a lot to discuss about how the hostages cope, how the staff manage their charges, why the terrorists are doing what they are doing, but it felt a little anti-climactic.
The parts of the story that looked at how the group cope with very little food and water is quite a scary section, and the descriptions of the desert air, whipping storms and cloying heat are excellent.
One for ages 11-15 (no violence other than the initial threat as the plane is taken), good for class discussions.
An element of danger is taken away by the fact that, of course, the author lived to tell the tale, but it is still a tense story at times.
Anna, 15 and on her way back to her English boarding school, has left her family in Bahrain to fly solo, and after joking about planes being taken hostage, finds herself in that exact nightmare of a situation.
The prospects of a terrifying psychological battle with captors, of threats, negotiation, shootings... never really materialised. The story focused much more on the boredom, shortages and stifling heat of a desert prison plane. After the initial terror of being taken hostage, Anna and her fellow captives are taken in the plane to await negotiations in the desert, and the long process of sitting still and letting others decide their fate begins.
I did enjoy the read, but it did feel as though more could have happened (even if this is actually a true account of the situation). The ending felt a little rushed as the situation 'ends' (I won't spoil it by saying how). After reading Nick Lake's Hostage Three, about a teenager similarly taken but on a boat, a comparable relationship with a terrorist petered out to nothing and the tension here dissipated without much satisfaction.
It's still a great idea for a story, with a lot to discuss about how the hostages cope, how the staff manage their charges, why the terrorists are doing what they are doing, but it felt a little anti-climactic.
The parts of the story that looked at how the group cope with very little food and water is quite a scary section, and the descriptions of the desert air, whipping storms and cloying heat are excellent.
One for ages 11-15 (no violence other than the initial threat as the plane is taken), good for class discussions.
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition
3.0
3/5
This was so crazy. After I finished reading this I said to myself this was a crazy story. But this isn't a story this is based on true events that happened. The tense tone really set up the horror that if a plane was hijack how would someone feel. I really don't know what else to say on this book.
This was so crazy. After I finished reading this I said to myself this was a crazy story. But this isn't a story this is based on true events that happened. The tense tone really set up the horror that if a plane was hijack how would someone feel. I really don't know what else to say on this book.
ali_w15's review against another edition
3.0
It was OK. Not the most eloquently written book. It was simple and a quick read. It was interesting to hear about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and I hadn't appreciated just how long this had been going on for. I thought that the representation of hijackers was actually very humanising and it was an interesting depiction of a fascinating life experience. However, I can't comprehend why she decided to fictionalise her experience- why not just tell the actual story? I was disappointed to find out that some of my favourite characters were not actually real. Parts of the prose jarred a bit and I just didn't get that sense of a fully rounded story
libreroaming's review against another edition
3.0
Fictionalized versions of true events are a tricky format to explore. Frequently, there is the feeling that the fiction is a way to sensationalize and coerce meaningful moments from the muddy reality, leaving readers with something that streamlines into the neat narration of the plot. It is even more complicated when said events happened to the author first hand, and readers are left wondering how much of it is personal experiences and what is informed by their need to tell a story.
"Girl on a Plane" seems to move to the other extreme, where the protagonist Anna is almost muted in her reaction to a situation that could easily be the plot of a thriller/suspense novel. Based on the true story of three jetliners hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, Anna and the other passengers on her plane are flown to a remote part of the desert and kept as hostages. It is a ticking time bomb of a situation (at some point, threatened quite literally when they tie explosives to the wheels), ripe for exploration. But there's a restraint to the way things transpire that won't keep readers on tenterhooks with each chapter.
First, the choice for first person point of view doesn't really work as a character development except in the epilogue. The few chapters that focus on third person for her family tend to be better written, conveying the dread tension in ways that are more creative than Anna's inner monologue. Even if the constraints of true events leave Anna largely reactive to her captors and not likely to stage an "Air Force One"-esque retaking of the plane, it's difficult to gauge what we should care about from Anna's own scattered reactions.
There is a moment early on when she is walking down the aisle and her belt gets caught on a terrorist's grenade pin that is the most terrified she gets.
There's nothing wrong with this interaction except it's sparse. And it's pretty much the most intense the book allows itself to be. Darker interactions like the second in command's ruthless behavior toward the hostages are brushed over a page later. And an interaction between a passenger and a hijacker that is insinuated to be dubiously consensual is given less weight in Anna's thoughts than the alarm when her seatmate's terrapin goes missing.
In all, "Girl on a Plane" strives to give a view of the story that isn't anymore sensationalized than the story was on its own, but it seems to strip some of the compelling nature of it in its aims by leaving us with a numbed POV. The emotional flux hostages go through could explain why some moments seem immediate to Anna and others just worth mentioning in an offhanded way, and I think the author is diligent in portraying the conflicting feelings that could contribute to her feelings, in an almost shellshocked fashion. But it doesn't do enough to really showcase the range of the rest of the hostages' varied reactions or give a great idea of the microcosm the hijacked plane created in those four days.
Finishing it, I wanted to read more about the events behind it from a non-fiction perspective.
"Girl on a Plane" seems to move to the other extreme, where the protagonist Anna is almost muted in her reaction to a situation that could easily be the plot of a thriller/suspense novel. Based on the true story of three jetliners hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, Anna and the other passengers on her plane are flown to a remote part of the desert and kept as hostages. It is a ticking time bomb of a situation (at some point, threatened quite literally when they tie explosives to the wheels), ripe for exploration. But there's a restraint to the way things transpire that won't keep readers on tenterhooks with each chapter.
First, the choice for first person point of view doesn't really work as a character development except in the epilogue. The few chapters that focus on third person for her family tend to be better written, conveying the dread tension in ways that are more creative than Anna's inner monologue. Even if the constraints of true events leave Anna largely reactive to her captors and not likely to stage an "Air Force One"-esque retaking of the plane, it's difficult to gauge what we should care about from Anna's own scattered reactions.
There is a moment early on when she is walking down the aisle and her belt gets caught on a terrorist's grenade pin that is the most terrified she gets.
"I...was...get...past..." I start to shake uncontrollably. My knees, my legs, my arms.
I can't see. Can't hear. My mind's shutting down.
I'm...going...
The navitgator's voice is muffled, distorded. "She was just trying to get past...caught on him...didn't mean to." Then louder: "It was a mistake."
I feel a wave of gratitude. Sweaty swims in front of me through the blur, looking unsure. He shrugs, waves us away. The young guard in the ammo belt looks shaken, confused, as I stumble past.
There's nothing wrong with this interaction except it's sparse. And it's pretty much the most intense the book allows itself to be. Darker interactions like the second in command's ruthless behavior toward the hostages are brushed over a page later. And an interaction between a passenger and a hijacker that is insinuated to be dubiously consensual is given less weight in Anna's thoughts than the alarm when her seatmate's terrapin goes missing.
In all, "Girl on a Plane" strives to give a view of the story that isn't anymore sensationalized than the story was on its own, but it seems to strip some of the compelling nature of it in its aims by leaving us with a numbed POV. The emotional flux hostages go through could explain why some moments seem immediate to Anna and others just worth mentioning in an offhanded way, and I think the author is diligent in portraying the conflicting feelings that could contribute to her feelings, in an almost shellshocked fashion. But it doesn't do enough to really showcase the range of the rest of the hostages' varied reactions or give a great idea of the microcosm the hijacked plane created in those four days.
Finishing it, I wanted to read more about the events behind it from a non-fiction perspective.
jessdemarest's review against another edition
3.0
Memoirs and YA novels are some of my favorite things, so I was really excited to read this book. Unfortunately, it didn’t really stand up to my expectations. Despite the characters being in an incredibly high pressure situation, I never felt any tension while reading. I want to be invested in the story. I also think there was so much room to explore some really interesting sub plots and characters, especially because the author chose to go the fiction route. It was an interesting story, and I think the author did try this a little with Jamal but didn’t quite get there. In the end, it just fell kind of flat.
theresab93's review against another edition
3.0
Girl on a Plane is based on the authors own experience of being on a hijacked plane during the 1970's Dawson's Field Hijackings. While Moss did fictionalize friendships, certain scenes, dialogue etc, the core of this story was real.
However, it just fell a little lackluster with heart and even tension
However, it just fell a little lackluster with heart and even tension
kamckim's review against another edition
4.0
Well, when I picked this one, I had no idea what I was in for. This is a work of fiction based on the true story of the author's experience in the 1970 hijackings of 4 airplanes by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. I learned something completely new. While at first I was worried that the book could be seen as anti-Palestinian, I wanted to learn more about the events that took place. Miriam Moss was on her way to England from Bahrain when the plane was hijacked, refueled in Beirut, and then re-routed to Dawson's Field, an abandoned British airstrip near Zarqa in Jordan. Passengers of this and 2 other planes were held hostage while the PFLP negotiated for the release of political prisoners. I won't tell you the story, as the history is easy to find online. It's part of the events of Black September, a dark period in Jordanian-Palestinian relations. Moss tells the story from the point of view of Anna, and while several of the events in the story actually happened to her, there are details she needed to fill in after 45 years. It's an amazing work of empathy for the writer. In a Q&A at the end of the book, she explains how she felt when talking to the hijackers: "Their stories of suffering and homelessness touched me, made me really think what it might be like to have nothing: no home, no possessions, no country, and no prospect of any of these things in the near future. I couldn't feel empathy with them for putting so many people's lives at risk, but I could feel empathy for their situation as refugees." Both of those feelings are evenly portrayed in this YA novel. It's an amazing read about facing and overcoming fear.
saidtheraina's review against another edition
3.0
Written for someone else:
In this contemplative, fictionalized memoir, Moss writes about her experience as a passenger cum hostage on a hijacked airplane when she was fifteen years old. After a couple of short chapters introducing her family and circumstances (British, military, stationed on Bahrain), Moss puts us on the plane. She paints a picture of what it was like to be restricted onto that vessel -- with very little food, water, or comforts -- for several days, grounded in the hot Jordanian desert. Moss writes in the Postscript and Q&A at the end that she doesn’t remember many of the people or details of the experience, hence the fictionalized nature of this telling. The atmosphere on the airplane is uncomfortable and stressful, boring and psychologically traumatizing at the same time. The hijackers came from Palestine, and their motivations in taking over the plane are discussed, but the focus is on Moss, and what she was thinking and feeling. The story not only covers her time on the plane itself, but also some of what happened immediately afterwards, which extends the book farther than many authors might choose to go, even before the back matter. Many aspects of life in 1970 are included, such as alcohol usage and underage smoking, and gendered behavior conforms to the era. Recommended for thoughtful readers in middle and high school, but do not promote this book as an action adventure.
Written for GR:
The meta of this book is the main reason I'm into it.
If it was a fully fictional account out of someone's brain, I'd probably move on, but the fact that this author is also the protagonist IRL really sells it for me. I picked it up hoping it would be actiony, figuring a Title that seemed modeled off of [b: The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490903702s/22557272.jpg|41107568] would certainly belie some similarity in literary vibe of the book inside, particularly when combined with the subject heading "hijacking." I was surprised to discover that I should have paid more attention to the vibe of the graphic design of the cover. This is not a fast-paced book, and it took me a few weeks to finish it.
Some of the content caused me some concern as well. Although I'm sure it's historically accurate, there's a section on page 56 that seemed unnecessarily gendered, as well as a lot of smoking (both adult and underage). Granted, it was a very stressful situation, and I totally believe that the alcohol and cigarettes did flow.
I was also pulled in by the promise of a military kid, and this is a pretty minimal element, more told than shown.
The epilogue, btw, is totally from the perspective of the past-middle-age adult, reflecting on the experience of going back to the location where the hijacking took place.
There are also chapters which take us to the parental perspective, which didn't feel true to the YAness of the book.
I really liked, tho, that she shows us (without even really telling us) the psychological trauma of the experience, including some of the recovery.
When all is said and done, tho, I liked it. I think I'll booktalk it to middle schoolers, and just make sure to address the setting and author of the book in a very clear way.
--
Edit to add:
This ended up being one of the runaway hits of my 2018 middle school booktalk lineup.
I took parts of chapter 25, and focused on the feelings Anna's having on the plane, then ended with a suspenseful line from page 127.
It was really fun to act my way through, you could hear a pin drop when I got to the end.
Then, you let them know it's a true story. Mic drop.
Awesome booktalk.
In this contemplative, fictionalized memoir, Moss writes about her experience as a passenger cum hostage on a hijacked airplane when she was fifteen years old. After a couple of short chapters introducing her family and circumstances (British, military, stationed on Bahrain), Moss puts us on the plane. She paints a picture of what it was like to be restricted onto that vessel -- with very little food, water, or comforts -- for several days, grounded in the hot Jordanian desert. Moss writes in the Postscript and Q&A at the end that she doesn’t remember many of the people or details of the experience, hence the fictionalized nature of this telling. The atmosphere on the airplane is uncomfortable and stressful, boring and psychologically traumatizing at the same time. The hijackers came from Palestine, and their motivations in taking over the plane are discussed, but the focus is on Moss, and what she was thinking and feeling. The story not only covers her time on the plane itself, but also some of what happened immediately afterwards, which extends the book farther than many authors might choose to go, even before the back matter. Many aspects of life in 1970 are included, such as alcohol usage and underage smoking, and gendered behavior conforms to the era. Recommended for thoughtful readers in middle and high school, but do not promote this book as an action adventure.
Written for GR:
The meta of this book is the main reason I'm into it.
If it was a fully fictional account out of someone's brain, I'd probably move on, but the fact that this author is also the protagonist IRL really sells it for me. I picked it up hoping it would be actiony, figuring a Title that seemed modeled off of [b: The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1490903702s/22557272.jpg|41107568] would certainly belie some similarity in literary vibe of the book inside, particularly when combined with the subject heading "hijacking." I was surprised to discover that I should have paid more attention to the vibe of the graphic design of the cover. This is not a fast-paced book, and it took me a few weeks to finish it.
Some of the content caused me some concern as well. Although I'm sure it's historically accurate, there's a section on page 56 that seemed unnecessarily gendered, as well as a lot of smoking (both adult and underage). Granted, it was a very stressful situation, and I totally believe that the alcohol and cigarettes did flow.
I was also pulled in by the promise of a military kid, and this is a pretty minimal element, more told than shown.
The epilogue, btw, is totally from the perspective of the past-middle-age adult, reflecting on the experience of going back to the location where the hijacking took place.
There are also chapters which take us to the parental perspective, which didn't feel true to the YAness of the book.
I really liked, tho, that she shows us (without even really telling us) the psychological trauma of the experience, including some of the recovery.
When all is said and done, tho, I liked it. I think I'll booktalk it to middle schoolers, and just make sure to address the setting and author of the book in a very clear way.
--
Edit to add:
This ended up being one of the runaway hits of my 2018 middle school booktalk lineup.
I took parts of chapter 25, and focused on the feelings Anna's having on the plane, then ended with a suspenseful line from page 127.
It was really fun to act my way through, you could hear a pin drop when I got to the end.
Then, you let them know it's a true story. Mic drop.
Awesome booktalk.
greenvillemelissa's review against another edition
4.0
Book #92 Read in 2016
Girl on a Plane by Miriam Moss
This is a story about Anna, a 15 year old girl, who is on her way to boarding school when her plane is hijacked. The author went through a similar ordeal as a teenager and she felt that now was the time to write about it, fictionalizing it. This book was emotionally raw and displayed the emotions of the hostages while they were wondering if they would live or die. This book was fairly action packed and would be a recommended read for high school and adult readers alike. I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a honest review.
Girl on a Plane by Miriam Moss
This is a story about Anna, a 15 year old girl, who is on her way to boarding school when her plane is hijacked. The author went through a similar ordeal as a teenager and she felt that now was the time to write about it, fictionalizing it. This book was emotionally raw and displayed the emotions of the hostages while they were wondering if they would live or die. This book was fairly action packed and would be a recommended read for high school and adult readers alike. I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a honest review.
carlos1979's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A strange book which is fiction based on fact, a very tense situation managed to have no tension at all when down on paper.
The epilogue and postscript were the two best bits of the book where the author spoke of her real life experience which Inspired the book.
The epilogue and postscript were the two best bits of the book where the author spoke of her real life experience which Inspired the book.