Scan barcode
A review by emilyusuallyreading
Girl on a Plane by Miriam Moss
4.0
What I Liked
The cover and the name immediately intrigued me. I was also interested in the fact that Moss wrote the novel based off of her own account of being hijacked on a flight at only 15 years old. What a story!
I appreciate Moss's use of all 5 senses. Anna doesn't only sit on the plane. She feels the rough fabric brush the backs of her bare leg. She smells the heavy fog of cigarette smoke (yep, they allowed smoking on flights back then). She tastes the dry air. Moss is heavy on senses, which helps the reader picture themselves in the same situation.
What I Didn't Like
Moss is a children's book author and this shows a little too clearly in Girl on a Plane. Her descriptions and narrations are childish and over-simplified. Anna doesn't write like a 15-year-old; she writes like a 9-year-old. In fact, this is a book I would give to an older-elementary-aged child, not necessarily a sophomore in high school.
Even the tip-toeing around potential sexual abuse was frustrating to me. As a 15-year-old witnessing a horrific and traumatizing hijacking, I wanted to see a little more realism of the situation, a little more horror. Instead, with the child-friendly tone, I was never really that worried for anyone.
The cover and the name immediately intrigued me. I was also interested in the fact that Moss wrote the novel based off of her own account of being hijacked on a flight at only 15 years old. What a story!
I appreciate Moss's use of all 5 senses. Anna doesn't only sit on the plane. She feels the rough fabric brush the backs of her bare leg. She smells the heavy fog of cigarette smoke (yep, they allowed smoking on flights back then). She tastes the dry air. Moss is heavy on senses, which helps the reader picture themselves in the same situation.
What I Didn't Like
Moss is a children's book author and this shows a little too clearly in Girl on a Plane. Her descriptions and narrations are childish and over-simplified. Anna doesn't write like a 15-year-old; she writes like a 9-year-old. In fact, this is a book I would give to an older-elementary-aged child, not necessarily a sophomore in high school.
Even the tip-toeing around potential sexual abuse was frustrating to me. As a 15-year-old witnessing a horrific and traumatizing hijacking, I wanted to see a little more realism of the situation, a little more horror. Instead, with the child-friendly tone, I was never really that worried for anyone.