Before I'd progressed far into Jill Sexsmith's "Airplanes Couldn't be Happier in Turbulence," I started to wonder if it was meant to be satire. If you're wondering, that can't be good. The characters were just slightly... off, not entirely plausible, a little bit over-the-top. But also, not really that funny. Amusing, I suppose, if one was being generous, but certainly not hilarious. So was it just poorly done satire? And if so, what exactly did she mean to be satirizing? Mid-life crises? Gender roles? Marriage? Baby boomers?
That all said, it held my attention and I quite enjoyed how well the title described the main character's mindset. The story revolves around a woman named Madison who hasn't been the most adventurous, who's spent a large part of her life married to a statistic-wielding clod, and who's now desperate to shake things up in order to, paradoxically, gain back some sort of control.
This is the sort of quirky tale that I enjoy in short doses, but would be way too frustrated with if elaborated into an entire novel.
1 comment:
Way too much analysis in this "review". I read this story without trying to understand the author's motivation, and just found it easy mindless entertainment. I want to find out more about Jill Sexsmith, and would love to read a full novel if it is written with such droll humour.
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