I dislike doing book reviews.
It requires me to read an entire book, which usually takes a full day or more to do, and then to think ‘outside the box’ and come up with some original and creative comments and observations about the book, and at the end of the lengthy and surprisingly arduous process, there’s ‘only’ a book review to publish. I could write two or more other articles in the time it takes me to write one review.
I’ve some books that have been sitting around for ages waiting to be reviewed. A new book came in the mail this week, and at first I hesitated to even open the package it was in, but then, while waiting for some food to finish cooking, I opened the padded envelope and flicked idly through the pages at random.
To my surprise, I found myself fascinated with each random glance at the material in this book, and decided to devote the time needed to read the book from cover to cover and to comment on it in time for this week’s newsletter.
And so, here now is a review of the book. It is written by a lady – Heather Poole – and tells of her 17 years working as a flight attendant for American Airlines. Although, to be fair, the book doesn’t quite deliver on the ‘tell-all’ claim featured on its cover, and while quite likely, as offered on the back cover
she knows what goes on behind the scenes, things the passengers would never dream
we sadly are fated to continue never dreaming them, because for all her miniature revelations about ‘crazy’ passengers and what she commendably honestly discloses as ‘composite characters’ and ‘compressed timelines’ to ‘preserve the narrative flow’, she doesn’t evenhandedly dish out much dirt on her fellow flight attendants (who seem to be all exceedingly beautiful and man-hungry) or the pilots or other people in the airline industry.
Nonetheless, it is a fun read, even if not a ‘tell all’ tale – perhaps unsurprising considering she probably wishes to keep her job for a few years more. She does however suggest that there will be future books coming out with more material in them, so perhaps we’ll discover more in future books in the series.
Please read my review for more information on the book and the context in which it should be enjoyed.
