#CardynBrooksReviews #books
Sky
Girls by Gene Nora Jessen with Foreword by Eileen Collins
Aviation
non-fiction history
Originally
published March 1, 2002; Sourcebooks reprint edition August 18, 2018
Opening
with a foreword from retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Eileen Collins who was a
NASA astronaut and also the first female commander of a space shuttle, this
2018 reissue of 2002’s The Powder Puff
Derby of 1929 starts with a brief overview of aviation from ballooning in
the 1700s. Transitions between centuries, generations, and innovations jump a
bit from point to point in the introduction, but smooth out in the main text
where the daily log format including thumbnail biographical sketches of this
cast of intriguing real-life characters establishes the narrative structure of
an exciting and dangerous adventure being retold by the survivors to their
heirs.
Gene
Nora Jessen’s immense knowledge of aviation mechanics and lore combined with
her direct access to a few of the actual participants in the first women’s
cross-country air race steeps Sky Girls
in the personally intimate tone of a family saga being passed down from one
generation to the next with each younger group adding their own contributions
to the historical record. Each day’s summary begins with a map plotting each
segment of the race. Black and white photos and images of related documents
deepen the feeling of the participants as unique individuals who were risking
their lives in order to pursue their shared passion.
“… Racing opens my door to the world. Don’t cut me off
from the adventure men have been hoarding for
themselves
in the guise of protecting me from danger.” For this
nameless
spokeswoman and for the others, an airplane was obviously
the badge of emancipation. [pp. 70 – 71]
In
telling the story of women in aviation Sky
Girls tells the overall story of aviation. Industry icons Beech, Cessna,
Lockheed and others along with enthusiastic advocates such as Will Rogers (who
respectfully coined the phrase of Powder Puff Derby) and Howard Hughes are
integral elements of this true tale of daring-do. Ninety-Niners, Whirly Girls,
and Ida Van Smith are only some of the organizations and people who worked to
expand access to aviation instruction and employment opportunities to women.
“Finally, in 1973, Chief Pilot Johnny Myers… couldn’t think of any reason not
to hire Howell Warner since she was so overqualified compared to the male
pilots they were already hiring.” [pg. 324]
As
for expanding the general public’s understanding of the science and art of
flight and aviators, the epilogue, afterword, author’s note, acknowledgements,
photo credits, index, reading group guide, and conversation with the author all
contribute to a deeper comprehension of aviation as a professional discipline
and as a personal mission.
Wish
Upon a Bollywood Star
by
Pamela Q. Fernandes
Inkspell
Publishing 10 December 2018
contemporary
romance
During
what some in entertainment media are calling the Bollywood wedding season with
the marriages of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Nick
Jonas, and upcoming nuptials for Kapil Sharma and Ginni Chatrath, the dramatic,
mostly self-inflicted turmoil in Wish
Upon a Bollywood Star is a timely tale. Soumya Ninan, a twenty-six-year-old
Keralite woman, meets thirty-six-year-old Punjabi man Vir Seth at the public
relations firm where she works as a junior agent-slash glorified gofer. Their
best friends Kirti and Dhruva add to the melodramatic rendering of this
Cinderella tale set in the 21st century.
Soumya’s
impulsive short-sighted actions make her seem more like a spoiled brat than a
college-educated professional who has earned a graduate degree. Overheard
misogynistic remarks (sadly and recently echoed with the addition of racist
overtones in real life about Priyanka Chopra) made by Vir regarding the “Shaadi
Trap” lead Soumya to set a chain of events into motion that accelerates to steamroller
pace. A fake relationship, misunderstandings, jealousy, and an attempted sexual
assault by an envious associate are just a few of the familiar romance tropes
included in this contemporary love story with retro attitudes from Barbara
Cartland’s heyday used to examine the double standard of sexual virtue for
women versus men in modern Indian society and most of the world, to varying
degrees.
Initially,
readers are asked to take a hug leap of faith in their suspension of disbelief
with the premise that Soumya as a public relations professional is clueless
about the potential for a variety of negative outcomes directly related to her
prank. In her thoughts on pages 17 to 18, “She knew he was right. She hadn’t
thought of the consequences when she had made that stupid move… Yes, that must
be it: at twenty-six years of age, she was past the age of infatuation,” it’s
clear that Soumya is deluding herself about her motives.
Wish Upon a Bollywood Star works as a
satirical critique very loosely in the tone of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest of the
impact of caste and class on present-day romantic relationships as academic and
professional opportunities expand for women in India. Underlying themes about
the heavy personal costs of fame and celebrity play out in a tangential
storyline about Vir’s relationship with his co-star. Beyond geographical
locations and cultural context, Pamela Q. Fernandes avoids a majority of the
most popular distinctly Bollywood interpretations of romance tropes in favor of
the more basic sources of conflict like age, economic, and career status
disparities. Although challenging and updating Bollywood stories seems to be
one of the author’s intentions, including a spontaneous group singing and
dancing scene in this short beach read would have been totally incongruous and
lots of fun, just like in the movies.
The
author’s other works are listed on her site: pamelaqfernandes.com.
These
two articles about Bollywood tropes were interesting:
www.vagabomb.com/The-Damsel-in-Distress-to-the-Lost-Man-10-Tropes-That-Bollywood-Needs-to-Stop-Using/
www.buzzfeed.com/pulkitd/19-bollywood-tropes-that-would-be-weird-in-real-li-5u4z
Love
Looks Pretty on You
by
Lang Leav
Andrews
McMeel Publishing January 29, 2019
poetry
The
novelist struggles.
The
poet suffers.
[pg.
105]
Love Looks Pretty on You tilts back and
forth between themes of self-reflection and confessions and declarations with
the above poem as the fulcrum of this beautifully balanced collection of notes
to the author’s younger selves. “Too Young” on page 61 was written when Lang
Leav was twelve years old, but the majority of the text ruminates on the whirlwind
of experiences during young adulthood.
The
introduction proclaims Love Looks Pretty
on You as a celebration of the female spirit, which is more directly linked
to the authorship of self on page 5 with, “All this time, I thought I was
writing for the lovers, when I’ve been writing for the writers.” This seemingly
unexpected realization connects the recurring themes of voice, personal back
story, past loves, loss, and flowers with the feminine power of creation,
regeneration, and resurgence. Ideas about actual and imagined selves or
identities wrestle in the past, present, and future.
Lang
Leav taps into a generational spectrum of the musical zeitgeist and transposes
it into present-day chords with deep emotional reverberations that also
incorporate religious and secular imagery. Love
Looks Pretty on You, title and overarching themes about romantic
relationships, harkens back to the wistful regrets in “You Look So Good in
Love” by George Strait. “At Last” on page 6 evokes the yearning ache of the
Etta James version of the tune by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. “The Long Way”
echoes the sense of bewilderment in 1979’s “Take the Long Way Home” by
Supertramp. There’s a little of Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” on page 77, and essential
truths shared with “You Say” by Lauren Daigle, Hailee Steinfeld’s “Most Girls”
and Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” scattered throughout these intimate
reveries.
Some
pieces are titled and some are not. All of them capture a facet of being young
and searching for one’s strongest, most authentic self.
Now
that you have it all, do you ever wish you could go back to when you had it
simple? [pg. 95]
Lang
Leav throws down the gauntlet above and with “This Year: on page 19. It’s a
challenge worth accepting.
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