fkshg8465's review against another edition
4.0
a couple nagging questions
I enjoyed the story, but I had to suspend my disbelief on a couple of points. (Given the plane blows up on page one, I don’t consider these spoilers.) 1, If the woman’s clothes are torn off during the fall, how did her phone survive and how did she even have it on her if she had nothing else on her, and 2) if Adam picked her up in Kansas, then how was it they stayed in his cabin in Virginia and she kept working in Kansas?
I also am conflicted about her choices and whether she was selfish. She essentially stole choices away from her family. Her motives are explained, but I still can’t decide if she was selfish or selfless. It was her life to do as she pleased, but it seems to me that once you choose to be a parent, your life is no longer your own entirely, and I say this never having been a parent myself. So maybe I’m wrong, but that’s just how it seems to me.
I enjoyed the story, but I had to suspend my disbelief on a couple of points. (Given the plane blows up on page one, I don’t consider these spoilers.) 1, If the woman’s clothes are torn off during the fall, how did her phone survive and how did she even have it on her if she had nothing else on her, and 2) if Adam picked her up in Kansas, then how was it they stayed in his cabin in Virginia and she kept working in Kansas?
I also am conflicted about her choices and whether she was selfish. She essentially stole choices away from her family. Her motives are explained, but I still can’t decide if she was selfish or selfless. It was her life to do as she pleased, but it seems to me that once you choose to be a parent, your life is no longer your own entirely, and I say this never having been a parent myself. So maybe I’m wrong, but that’s just how it seems to me.
michelekendzie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This surprised me with the emotional depth. I thought it was just going to be a mystery but it much more. A story about big life questions. Loved the ending.
readbookswithbecca's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to like this more. Great idea/story, but I just didn't love any character.
ryannreads's review against another edition
3.0
NTSB investigator Charlie is on the scene of a major airline crash when someone reports a survivor has been found. When she disappears from the hospital Charlie wants to believe it is a hoax, but the truth is that the woman was already dying and she wants to live the rest of her life on her own terms.
A compelling premise about doing the right thing and doing what is right. The end of the book was the strongest section and I'd look forward to the next by this author.
Advanced copy received courtesy of Workman Publishing at PLA 2020.
A compelling premise about doing the right thing and doing what is right. The end of the book was the strongest section and I'd look forward to the next by this author.
Advanced copy received courtesy of Workman Publishing at PLA 2020.
openmypages's review against another edition
3.0
{3.5 stars}
“He’s trying to explain why the sky is inside him. If they mined down into his soul, they would find wings. The sky runs through him, into places of himself he still hasn’t mapped. A calling, perhaps, the way a priest is called, or like the great passion of lovers ... The airplane expanded the human imagination, Took us into places that we’d only dreamed about since we first stood erect and told stories. Radford has been more faithful to the sky than to anyone or anything he’s ever loved.”
————————————
I picked this story up expecting thriller but what I got was a real page turner about the meaning of life and the importance of fulfillment. The book is about plane crash… And there are lots of graphic details about the crash and its aftermath. But the book is actually about two people who’s unfulfilled lives are brought together by the crash.
Charlie is a plane crash investigator who is obsessed with flying. All of the passages about him and his love for the sky enraptured me. As someone who loves to fly I got right in his head and loved the prose about flying. I also really liked that his drive to be successful and find the truth was tempered by his humanity and growing emotions about the people around him.
Erin, to me is a wholly unlikable character and while I understood need need for her in the story… I just did not understand her life choices. But they need for me to understand how these two characters fit together and what happened in the plane crash kept me turning the pages.
The ending was not what I hoped for… But I enjoyed the journey.
Thanks to Algonquin books for a copy of this novel. All opinions above are my own.
“He’s trying to explain why the sky is inside him. If they mined down into his soul, they would find wings. The sky runs through him, into places of himself he still hasn’t mapped. A calling, perhaps, the way a priest is called, or like the great passion of lovers ... The airplane expanded the human imagination, Took us into places that we’d only dreamed about since we first stood erect and told stories. Radford has been more faithful to the sky than to anyone or anything he’s ever loved.”
————————————
I picked this story up expecting thriller but what I got was a real page turner about the meaning of life and the importance of fulfillment. The book is about plane crash… And there are lots of graphic details about the crash and its aftermath. But the book is actually about two people who’s unfulfilled lives are brought together by the crash.
Charlie is a plane crash investigator who is obsessed with flying. All of the passages about him and his love for the sky enraptured me. As someone who loves to fly I got right in his head and loved the prose about flying. I also really liked that his drive to be successful and find the truth was tempered by his humanity and growing emotions about the people around him.
Erin, to me is a wholly unlikable character and while I understood need need for her in the story… I just did not understand her life choices. But they need for me to understand how these two characters fit together and what happened in the plane crash kept me turning the pages.
The ending was not what I hoped for… But I enjoyed the journey.
Thanks to Algonquin books for a copy of this novel. All opinions above are my own.
lisagray68's review against another edition
4.0
I have mixed feelings about this book, but I love aviation & I sure hope this author writes more.
lisagray68's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
saschadarlington's review against another edition
4.0
This past weekend before I’d even picked up The Falling Woman by Richard Farrell, I read a New York Times article about Juliane Diller who, in 1971, fell two miles after the plane she was flying in broke apart in midair. She was saved by the cushioning of the dense Amazon canopy. So as I began reading The Falling Woman, I was aware that there was the possibility albeit miniscule that someone could survive falling to earth, if the circumstances were right.
Charlie Radford is looking for his break at NTSB. He is young, lacking in self-confidence, and chasing dreams of emulating his NTSB hero, a former fighter pilot who bucked the system but was excellent at his job. When a plane falls apart during a thunderstorm in Kansas, Charlie is sent there, certain that this could be the break he is looking for.
Erin Geraghty just received news that her pancreatic cancer has stalled. That should be good news, except that her death is a certainty, it’s just been put off for a bit. But she’s tired of the fight, tired of feeling like a former human being so she signs up for a cancer survivor’s retreat in San Francisco, hoping that a week away from everything would renew her. During the flight, Erin’s seat breaks away from the plane and she is falling. She survives but has she?
I am used to reading procedural mysteries in which a detective sorts through evidence in a logical manner and is forthright with the reader. After the rumor of a plane survivor comes to light, I found the reactions of the NTSB agents to be peculiar. None of them wanted to follow up the story. Even Charlie, the protagonist, waffles and walks away, which just struck me as odd. Isn’t this part of the job? Immediately interviewing a possible survivor regardless of whether they could or could not provide information on the crash? Is this the millennial work ethic in practice? His fear is that if he follows the lead, he will be a laughing stock. So? was my reaction. However, I suppose this was a plot device to allow the woman in question the time to disappear from the hospital. The next step in my mind was that Charlie would have taken the photos for those women whose bodies had not been identified yet and immediately ask the nurses and anyone else who had come into contact with her. I waited for about forty pages for this to happen. When it finally did, it tested my credulity. No nurse recognized this woman’s face in any of the photos? Knowing nurses, I found that hard to believe. Suffice to say, that at times I had issues with the way this investigation into the Falling Woman was handled and the lackluster way in which the Charlie et al moved forward.
The best part of the novel for me was when Charlie finds Erin. The resulting conversations, Charlie’s attempt to understand why Erin wants to continue to be “dead” in the eyes of the world is some spell-binding stuff. Farrell writes the heck out of some of these passages. And the last question that Erin answers, that ends the book, is some of the best writing I’ve read in a long time. Amazing.
Straight-forward, lawyer-like, and completely human with all that entails, Erin was the most interesting character to me. She was not immediately a likable character, prickly and demanding at first, but she was the one I wanted to know more about. Her world-view and actions were compelling and I wish we had seen more of her after the plane crash. On the other hand, Charlie and his wife Wendy drove me nuts as they appeared to me to be weak and whiny and self-focused. Only one (extremely major) action on his part slightly redeemed him in my eyes
The Falling Woman is a novel that asks questions and I suspect that it will raise many too, making it a perfect novel for book clubs. What do we owe the people who love us? What does it mean to really live? How intertwined should work and life be?
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Charlie Radford is looking for his break at NTSB. He is young, lacking in self-confidence, and chasing dreams of emulating his NTSB hero, a former fighter pilot who bucked the system but was excellent at his job. When a plane falls apart during a thunderstorm in Kansas, Charlie is sent there, certain that this could be the break he is looking for.
Erin Geraghty just received news that her pancreatic cancer has stalled. That should be good news, except that her death is a certainty, it’s just been put off for a bit. But she’s tired of the fight, tired of feeling like a former human being so she signs up for a cancer survivor’s retreat in San Francisco, hoping that a week away from everything would renew her. During the flight, Erin’s seat breaks away from the plane and she is falling. She survives but has she?
I am used to reading procedural mysteries in which a detective sorts through evidence in a logical manner and is forthright with the reader. After the rumor of a plane survivor comes to light, I found the reactions of the NTSB agents to be peculiar. None of them wanted to follow up the story. Even Charlie, the protagonist, waffles and walks away, which just struck me as odd. Isn’t this part of the job? Immediately interviewing a possible survivor regardless of whether they could or could not provide information on the crash? Is this the millennial work ethic in practice? His fear is that if he follows the lead, he will be a laughing stock. So? was my reaction. However, I suppose this was a plot device to allow the woman in question the time to disappear from the hospital. The next step in my mind was that Charlie would have taken the photos for those women whose bodies had not been identified yet and immediately ask the nurses and anyone else who had come into contact with her. I waited for about forty pages for this to happen. When it finally did, it tested my credulity. No nurse recognized this woman’s face in any of the photos? Knowing nurses, I found that hard to believe. Suffice to say, that at times I had issues with the way this investigation into the Falling Woman was handled and the lackluster way in which the Charlie et al moved forward.
The best part of the novel for me was when Charlie finds Erin. The resulting conversations, Charlie’s attempt to understand why Erin wants to continue to be “dead” in the eyes of the world is some spell-binding stuff. Farrell writes the heck out of some of these passages. And the last question that Erin answers, that ends the book, is some of the best writing I’ve read in a long time. Amazing.
Straight-forward, lawyer-like, and completely human with all that entails, Erin was the most interesting character to me. She was not immediately a likable character, prickly and demanding at first, but she was the one I wanted to know more about. Her world-view and actions were compelling and I wish we had seen more of her after the plane crash. On the other hand, Charlie and his wife Wendy drove me nuts as they appeared to me to be weak and whiny and self-focused. Only one (extremely major) action on his part slightly redeemed him in my eyes
The Falling Woman is a novel that asks questions and I suspect that it will raise many too, making it a perfect novel for book clubs. What do we owe the people who love us? What does it mean to really live? How intertwined should work and life be?
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
bookanonjeff's review against another edition
5.0
Tough Choices. Great Debut. This is a solidly written, compelling story that is a tremendous debut book. Farrell manages to use a miracle during a disaster to show that miracles... are not always that... while also showing just how complicated and messy real life is in oh so many ways. The mystery is solid enough to keep the reader invested, and then the action kicks into high gear a bit as things begin to unravel. Finally, a choice is made in an instant that will affect numerous lives - and Farrell shows all of this with remarkable reality. The overall style and tone won't necessarily be exactly to everyone's liking, but stick around - the book really is very, very good. Very much recommended.
torigarx's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting story. Like nothing I've ever read before. The writing was alright but conventional. I didn't feel like I cared about the characters enough by the end.