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Title: Dear American Airlines

Author: Jonathan Miles

Narrator: Mark Bramhall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 06-09-08

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 192 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Frustrated, irate, and helpless, Bennie does the only thing he can: he starts to write a letter. But what begins as a hilariously excoriating demand for a refund soon becomes the cri de coeur of a life misspent, talent wasted.

Ford pens his letter in a voice that is a marvel of lacerating wit, heart-on-sleeve emotion, and wide-ranging erudition, all propelled by the fading hope that if he can just make it to the wedding, he has a chance to do something right in his life.

Critic Reviews:

"Bennie's command of language as he describes his fellow strandees and his riotous embrace of his own feelings will have readers rooting for him." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Hard to put down

I found myself pulled into this book by the author's use of language, which was by turns lyrical, sarcastic, subtle, wickedly observant, and absolutely believable as the stream of consciousness of a poet manque, but also by Mark Bramhall's reading, which was, for me, spot-on.

It's hard not to love someone who takes aim and fires his wit at the airlines, but Bennie weaves his helpless fury through his tale of missed chances and regrets, and between the author and the reader, I couldn't help but be on Bennie's side. He's a world-class screw-up, but sweet and sad and never malicious, and I came to understand and forgive him.

I must say that having it read to me so engagingly has left me wondering how I would feel about this book had I read it myself. The writing is wonderful, but the performance put it over the top.

I loved it!

I really loved this book. The narrator was wonderful and I think really gave life to Bennie. This was, of course, not about American Airlines at all, but merely the backdrop and opportunity for Bennie to examine his life and his plan. I feel like I need to listen again to the "Valenti" parts, because honestly I found those distracting from the story and wanted to ff through them. Somewhere along the line (early) I had NO idea what was going on with that, and just found those pieces annoying. However, I'm thinking they must weave into the story somehow, so would like to listen to that again.

But overall, this is a great book, humorous, sad, ironic, wonderfully told, wonderfully narrated. I do highly recommend it.

Rambled a bit...

I doubt I would have finished this book if I'd been reading it rather than listening to it. Stories tend to drift around and characters float in and out.

Rather like a really, really, really long lay-over in an airport.

Coincidence? I think not.

Story starts off well, drags.. then ends decently.

Excellent

I don't know what the hell people on this site are looking for in a work of fiction that they're giving this book/reader less than 4-5 stars, but this book is excellent. Perhaps the title encouraged a little misunderstanding into the point of the narrative, but how would a 7-hour diatribe against an airline be at all entertaining? This story is compelling, if a little obvious (the drunken poet recants his misspent talent and youth), but the characters and wit are amazingly detailed and imaginative. The reader was excellent as well.

Love song to language

It's the language in this one that makes it compelling.

Bennie's a flawed character, but he knows that. He keeps trying despite decades of indication that he's going to fail, and virtually every failure is of his own making.