And you know how I feel about these...lol...the pressure...oh me oh my...
but...
this was a good one! Loved this book!
The Aviator's Wife
by
Melanie Benjamin
My " in a nutshell" summary...
This is a novel about Anne Morrow...how she met and married Charles Lindbergh and the life they shared..the joys...their sorrows...their tragedies.
My thoughts after reading this book...
My first surprise was the gentle way this novel reached out to me. From the start I understood that Anne Morrow felt differently about life. She wasn't as pretty and popular as her sisters...she was quiet...introspective...probably a bit insecure about herself. She loved to write. She was the daughter her parents could count on. And she was the daughter that Charles Lindbergh felt he should spend his life with. I think he felt that she "got" him. And he struck me as an odd duck...undemonstrative...analytical...driven? Perhaps compelled to find just the right wife for his life. One sentence from the novel sticks in my head...they met and married without either of them using the word love.
I think that I knew about Charles Lindbergh without really having any curiosity about his life or his wife. We used to live in St. Louis...every time we went to the airport we saw a replica of the Spirit Of St. Louis...but it meant nothing to me. The Aviator's Wife gets "down and dirty". Charles Lindbergh was not a nice man...he probably had OCD...he ran his life by rules and regulations. He was difficult with his children. He seemed emotionally removed from his wife and his family. He had issues with the government and wanted to live in Germany. Anne put up with all of this. She didn't seem to want to do everything he asked but she did...even when she knew she really shouldn't. She suffered for him and with him and I am not sure why. I have my thoughts about how she felt about him at the time of his death...and I know one thing...she didn't want to be buried next to him...what does that tell you...hmmm.
What I loved about this book...
Oh me oh my...I loved that era, I loved Anne, I loved Anne's mother, I loved the way Anne did whatever her husband asked her to do...she was devoted to him...but I am not sure why...it wasn't passion...it wasn't fear...I think she felt that it was her duty? I loved the way she woke up the day after her marriage...after a passionate romantic night...and she was afraid to hug or kiss him...she patted his arm. And he was sitting on the deck of their honeymoon boat waiting or her to make him breakfast...she had never cooked a day in her life!
What I did not love...
If this is the real Charles Lindbergh...he was a total creep! Anne was a saint for sticking with him...at first...I thought it was weakness but now I think it was strength that made her stay.
Final thoughts...
I loved this author's way with words...her research...this book was a novel that felt like real life. I loved every word of it!
Next up?
Your guess is as good as mine!
I need a vampire dystopian something or other...perhaps this?
