twinmamaplusone's review against another edition
2.0
I would have given this 3 stars (or close to it anyway), until the ending. It was, as someone else said, as if the author ran out of ideas and chose the most outlandish last few pages he could imagine. Very disappointing because this book did have a lot of promise.
booksuperpower's review against another edition
2.0
Fly Me by Daniel Riley is a 2017 Little Brown publication.
This is one strange, trippy book-
Sisters, Grace and Suzy both work as ‘stewardesses’ during the early 1970s. Grace loves her job and is content to continue on doing it as long as she can. The hitch is- she’s married- which stewardesses are not allowed to do. So, she must keep her marriage a secret.
Suzy, however, is Vassar educated and looks at the job as being temporary, but when the girl’s father becomes ill, Suzy finds herself sucked into a lucrative drug smuggling scheme. Suzy raced cars as a kid and appears to thrive on adrenaline, compelling her to learn to pilot a plane herself.
But, life’s curve balls put her in an untenable situation, trapping her into a life she will have to take drastic measures to free herself from.
Full disclosure- I think I stumbled across this novel in the book review section of the New York Times, a while back. I honestly can’t remember what it was that piqued my interest about it. Maybe it was because it was set in the seventies and I thought it might be a little nostalgic, with a feminist slant, maybe a little quirky- which is something I’m always on the lookout for, and I seem to remember thinking it might be humorous- maybe in a dark way- but, funny nonetheless. Regardless, I thought I might like it.
However, my library did not have a copy, so I put it on a wish list and requested a copy. After a while, I went through my wish list and noticed that the library had never purchased the book. I wondered why- so I looked up a few reviews on GR and discovered the book had mixed reviews. I decided the library would be better off skipping this one.
So, I took it off my wish list and promptly forgot about it. But, I neglected to remove it from the ‘request’ list and so, out of the clear blue sky, over a year later, I get a notification that this book has been purchased and automatically checked out for me.
Naturally, I felt obligated to read it, even though I was not all that excited about it. But, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
First of all, I had to adjust to the writing style. The story is very dialogue driven, and jerkily moves from one scene to the next without much tethering. At times the story is absorbing, with a number of emotional punches served up, but I never could relax into it.
The rules stewardesses were required to adhere to were just ridiculous- but I was aware of many of them because I had an aunt who worked as a flight attendant in this exact same time frame. So, I wasn’t as shocked as some readers might be. The attempts at high-jacking planes was so commonplace, it was mind boggling, and the ease in which the drugs and money were exchanged was astonishing.
But, at the end of the day, the nostalgia didn’t carry any weight, the feminist statement fell flat, the story was not at all humorous- dark or otherwise. However, if the ending had been different I might have been mollified. However, I was left thinking- WTH??? Um- no- just- no.
UGH- I think the NYT should give my library a refund. They clearly steered me in the wrong directection with this one. But, hopefully other patrons will find some merit in it, so it won’t be a total loss.
1.5 stars
This is one strange, trippy book-
Sisters, Grace and Suzy both work as ‘stewardesses’ during the early 1970s. Grace loves her job and is content to continue on doing it as long as she can. The hitch is- she’s married- which stewardesses are not allowed to do. So, she must keep her marriage a secret.
Suzy, however, is Vassar educated and looks at the job as being temporary, but when the girl’s father becomes ill, Suzy finds herself sucked into a lucrative drug smuggling scheme. Suzy raced cars as a kid and appears to thrive on adrenaline, compelling her to learn to pilot a plane herself.
But, life’s curve balls put her in an untenable situation, trapping her into a life she will have to take drastic measures to free herself from.
Full disclosure- I think I stumbled across this novel in the book review section of the New York Times, a while back. I honestly can’t remember what it was that piqued my interest about it. Maybe it was because it was set in the seventies and I thought it might be a little nostalgic, with a feminist slant, maybe a little quirky- which is something I’m always on the lookout for, and I seem to remember thinking it might be humorous- maybe in a dark way- but, funny nonetheless. Regardless, I thought I might like it.
However, my library did not have a copy, so I put it on a wish list and requested a copy. After a while, I went through my wish list and noticed that the library had never purchased the book. I wondered why- so I looked up a few reviews on GR and discovered the book had mixed reviews. I decided the library would be better off skipping this one.
So, I took it off my wish list and promptly forgot about it. But, I neglected to remove it from the ‘request’ list and so, out of the clear blue sky, over a year later, I get a notification that this book has been purchased and automatically checked out for me.
Naturally, I felt obligated to read it, even though I was not all that excited about it. But, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
First of all, I had to adjust to the writing style. The story is very dialogue driven, and jerkily moves from one scene to the next without much tethering. At times the story is absorbing, with a number of emotional punches served up, but I never could relax into it.
The rules stewardesses were required to adhere to were just ridiculous- but I was aware of many of them because I had an aunt who worked as a flight attendant in this exact same time frame. So, I wasn’t as shocked as some readers might be. The attempts at high-jacking planes was so commonplace, it was mind boggling, and the ease in which the drugs and money were exchanged was astonishing.
But, at the end of the day, the nostalgia didn’t carry any weight, the feminist statement fell flat, the story was not at all humorous- dark or otherwise. However, if the ending had been different I might have been mollified. However, I was left thinking- WTH??? Um- no- just- no.
UGH- I think the NYT should give my library a refund. They clearly steered me in the wrong directection with this one. But, hopefully other patrons will find some merit in it, so it won’t be a total loss.
1.5 stars
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