jrsbama69's review
5.0
Most enjoyable read. I appreciate books that draw my imagination into the story and this book drew me in; into the lives of Shaux and Rand, into the air battles and into the war. I enjoyed the history and the characters fictional and real. Touching, bracing account of a critical time. The author’s notes at the end of the book were excellent. Recommended reading.
amandasbookreview's review against another edition
"This book does not feel like a historical fiction novel, but like a historical nonfiction novel."
Check out my full review at InD'Tale Magazine:
http://magazine.indtale.com/magazine/2020/february/viewer/desktop/#page/58
Check out my full review at InD'Tale Magazine:
http://magazine.indtale.com/magazine/2020/february/viewer/desktop/#page/58
literarybelleoftheball's review against another edition
5.0
Breaking Point is an exciting fictionalized account of the Battle of Britain. You will love these heroic RAF pilots and mathematician women. These are true stories that make the reader feel a witness to history. A 5-Star recommended book.
rosseroo's review against another edition
4.0
The "Battle of Britain" is one of those pieces of WWII history that I knew very abstractly as the aerial war for supremacy over England's skies. Everyone knows about "the Blitz" and there are innumerable works of fiction set amidst the bombs falling on London. That's not what this book is about -- rather, it is about a few specific weeks (August 18-September 8) in 1940, when the fate of Britain stood in the balance.
The book alternates between two characters who were friends at Oxford -- Johnnie Shaux was a orphan and scholarship boy, serving as the kind of fourth wheel for Eleanor Rand and her two suitors. Now, he's a Spitfire pilot at a fictional airbase in the south of England, flying up to five sorties a day against the Luftwaffe coming across the channel. Eleanor is a war widow in the WAAF, assigned to Fighter Command, where her mathematical prowess is discovered as a potential tool for analysis. Naturally, over the course of the book, feelings for each other will emerge.
However, the romance is all a bit rote -- what's far better about the book is how it captures the technical and mental aspects of aerial warfare and the potential for applied math in strategy. The author manages to explain the tactics of engagement, as well as the technical aspects of the planes in a way that supports the action and narrative, without being dry. Similarly, he cleverly imagines how Eleanor's application of then-developing minimax theories in mathematics could have been applied to the Battle of Britain, and used to predict strategy and outcomes. The two angles are blended quite well, along with excellent detail about daily life under aerial siege.
There are some minor quibbles to be had, to be sure -- Johnnie's initial commander is a bit over-the-top as a cad, and then a later one is a little too good to be true. And I could have done without all the times that he summons quotes from Yeats, Shakespeare, and Ovid -- those came off as rather clunky. There's also a scene where Eleanor goes up in a plane with Johnnie that's also a bit too much. However, on the whole, it's a very solid story that illuminates a key point of World War II which should appeal to most fans of historical military fiction.
The book alternates between two characters who were friends at Oxford -- Johnnie Shaux was a orphan and scholarship boy, serving as the kind of fourth wheel for Eleanor Rand and her two suitors. Now, he's a Spitfire pilot at a fictional airbase in the south of England, flying up to five sorties a day against the Luftwaffe coming across the channel. Eleanor is a war widow in the WAAF, assigned to Fighter Command, where her mathematical prowess is discovered as a potential tool for analysis. Naturally, over the course of the book, feelings for each other will emerge.
However, the romance is all a bit rote -- what's far better about the book is how it captures the technical and mental aspects of aerial warfare and the potential for applied math in strategy. The author manages to explain the tactics of engagement, as well as the technical aspects of the planes in a way that supports the action and narrative, without being dry. Similarly, he cleverly imagines how Eleanor's application of then-developing minimax theories in mathematics could have been applied to the Battle of Britain, and used to predict strategy and outcomes. The two angles are blended quite well, along with excellent detail about daily life under aerial siege.
There are some minor quibbles to be had, to be sure -- Johnnie's initial commander is a bit over-the-top as a cad, and then a later one is a little too good to be true. And I could have done without all the times that he summons quotes from Yeats, Shakespeare, and Ovid -- those came off as rather clunky. There's also a scene where Eleanor goes up in a plane with Johnnie that's also a bit too much. However, on the whole, it's a very solid story that illuminates a key point of World War II which should appeal to most fans of historical military fiction.
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