Oprah Book Club® Selection, March 1999: With five novels to her credit, including the acclaimed The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve now offers a skillfully crafted exploration of the long reach of tragedy in The Pilot's Wife. News of Jack Lyons's fatal crash sends his wife into shock and emotional numbness:

Kathryn wished she could manage a coma. Instead, it seemed that quite the opposite had happened: She felt herself to be inside of a private weather system, one in which she was continuously tossed and buffeted by bits of news and information, sometimes chilled by thoughts of what lay immediately ahead, thawed by the kindness of others ... frequently drenched by memories that seemed to have no regard for circumstance or place, and then subjected to the nearly intolerable heat of reporters, photographers and curious on-lookers. It was a weather system with no logic, she had decided, no pattern, no progression, no form.

The situation becomes even more dire when the plane's black box is recovered, pinning responsibility for the crash on Jack. In an attempt to clear his name, Kathryn searches for any and all clues to the hours before the flight. Yet each discovery forces her to realize that she didn't know her husband of 16 years at all. Shreve's complex and highly convincing treatment of Kathryn's dilemma, coupled with intriguing minor characters and an expertly paced plot, makes The Pilot's Wife really take off.

Starting this out as a bookring...
lapin-blanc...France
musicgirl4...United Kingdom
rebeccaljames...USA
saidenuj...USA

Have just received the book! Thank you very much queensknob.
Will start reading it this week-end.

CAUGHT IN PARIS FRANCE

Oups, I forgot to log in.

Brilliant book, very well written, I really enjoyed it.
This is quite disturbing to think, that you perhaps don't really know the person you live with.

Shipped it to musicgirl4 today.

Book has arrived. Thank you Lapin-Blanc for posting.I have two bookrings ahead of this so will start in a couple of weeks. Hope that is ok.

RELEASE NOTES:

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were described in detail but still left the reader scope to reach their own relationship with them. The characters were never pitied .The ending was not as I expected.Posting on to RebeccaJames tomorrow.

On its way 5th Nov surface mail.

I just received this book today. I have a couple of books before it. I will get to it as soon as possible.

I mailed this book out to saidenuj this morning.

Arrived today in Iowa. Should be able to start it very soon. Thanks!

I loved this book! Such terrific writing, realistic characters, authentic emotions, plus a good plot. I enjoyed the back-and-forth between current time and flashbacks. IMHO too many authors use flashbacks poorly and the result takes away from the flow of the story. Happily, not so in this case! I had a very hard time setting this book down and I was always anxious to pick it up again and get right back into it. Good, good stuff!

I also feel compelled to add that this is one of the few of Oprah's selections that I've *really* enjoyed. I haven't read them all of course, and I don't read them just because Oprah thought they were worthy. Others were good, or okay, but this was great!

Thanks so much, queensknob, for sharing this one. I'll be sending it back your direction very soon.

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed back to queensknob to complete the ring. Thank you!!




Update:
Label/Receipt Number: 0304 1560 0003 8994 9621
Status: Delivered

Your item was delivered at 11:22 AM on February 24, 2007 in WYTHEVILLE, VA 24382.