Helpful Score: 6
Wow. Just...wow. It is truly possible to like a book - the way it is written, the lovely language, the flow...and absolutely HATE the main characters. I know, because I enjoyed the way that Melanie Benjamin told the tale of the fairy-tale Lindberghs, but I had real difficulties with both of them.
I knew what most people know about Charles Lindbergh before I started this book. He was the first to fly a plane alone across the Atlantic. His baby son was kidnapped and was killed.
However, if what Melanie Benjamin tells us is true, he was a horrid, loathsome person. He was cold, manipulating, unemotional, bigoted and selfish. I've rarely met a character in a novel I've disliked more, whether based on a real person or totally imaginary. And as much as I wanted to pity Anne, his wife, I ended up angry with her much of the time. I so wanted to shake her! She knew exactly what kind of person her husband was, and yet she did not have the self-respect and faith in herself to leave him. Her family was wealthy - supporting herself and her children was not the problem. Her problem was her obsession with this horrible man.
I ended up really disliking both of them in many ways. If these people truly were like the people portrayed in Ms. Benjamin's novel, I'm very glad I didn't know them.
The book itself was wonderfully written, and I continued through with it even though I hated the couple in question. That says volumes about the author's ability to tell an absorbing story.
I knew what most people know about Charles Lindbergh before I started this book. He was the first to fly a plane alone across the Atlantic. His baby son was kidnapped and was killed.
However, if what Melanie Benjamin tells us is true, he was a horrid, loathsome person. He was cold, manipulating, unemotional, bigoted and selfish. I've rarely met a character in a novel I've disliked more, whether based on a real person or totally imaginary. And as much as I wanted to pity Anne, his wife, I ended up angry with her much of the time. I so wanted to shake her! She knew exactly what kind of person her husband was, and yet she did not have the self-respect and faith in herself to leave him. Her family was wealthy - supporting herself and her children was not the problem. Her problem was her obsession with this horrible man.
I ended up really disliking both of them in many ways. If these people truly were like the people portrayed in Ms. Benjamin's novel, I'm very glad I didn't know them.
The book itself was wonderfully written, and I continued through with it even though I hated the couple in question. That says volumes about the author's ability to tell an absorbing story.
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