I’ll start with my first impressions. I chose this book as it was out of my comfort zone, not quite political and literary enough and definitely looked like nothing like my normal light read. I wanted a challenge.
The cover of the novel is nice, but the GIRL ON A PLANE font looks too much like the Hollywood text and the scene seems heavily photo shopped. So good... but just good. Nothing better.
And I know they say don’t judge a book on the cover, but the cover reflects the text in so many ways and the judgement I made from the beginning was (for once) so very correct.
My first and last problem with Girl On A Plane was the characters. The novel is based on a true story and once I saw that plastered across the front page I expected somewhat more relatable characters. But the author felt the need to only base her story upon it and while I’m sure this was to make the characters more interesting, with this came the fact that the antagonists and some side creations feel extremely forced. There were many things I doubted about the teenager’s un-teenage-like behaviour and the adults’ un-adult behaviour, to the very terrorists that hijacked the plane.
The main problem with the novel is that it is dipping into the ocean without actually swimming; it’s recalling a true event but at the same time it feels as though it isn’t really. Which leads me to my next point: I really believe that Girl On A Plane could have been great if the author based it fully upon what had happened. Yes, perhaps it could have created something extremely boring; I admit 4 days in a closed plane with nothing to do does not make for a very interesting novel. However Moss still could have done it. Sometime the best authors are not those who can create the most interesting plots but those who use the simplest ideas to write something great. I could give you many examples: Roald Dahl and R.J. Palacio, who wrote Wonder, are just a few.
Girl On A Plane did not need all the things I suspect the author made up to create a more interesting story. All Miriam Moss needed was a faint string of a memory from her very unique childhood. She could have made something great with what she had, because I have no problem with the fast-paced writing style or the plot – just that in the quest to create something good, she ruined what she had. It could have been better, but sadly it wasn’t.
Rating: 2.5 STARS (RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE)
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
