Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent tale of loves choices...
Review: The Man Who Ate the 747 is a remarkable tale of love and hope. This story tells the tale of what a man will do to prove his love for the woman of his dreams. It also will tell a story of unrequitted love, love lost, and a love like none other. You will be pulled into the small town of Superior, Nebraska and you will be unwilling to seperate yourself from a town that is bigger then it believes just by the mere size of its heart. This story will take you into its heart and make you ponder your own. What would you do for love? Has your thoughts of love blinded you to the truth that the greatest love is there just under the surface? Unknowing and unchallenged until, one day, it walks into your life and surrounds you when you least expect it. That's what happens to the characters here. Wally eats the 747 to get the attention he wants from the woman he loves. J.J., the record keeper, finds his all encompassing love in the most unexpected of places. Willa finds a love that will break all the records of her life and Rose will open her heart to her true love. It's a heartwarming tale like none other. It will be a classic love story that will withstand all the odds and break any record you have ever imagined. This is a must read tale for the true romantic heart. It will turn the most hardened of hearts into true believers of love.
Rating: 
Summary: Utterly predictable--where's the discovery?
Review: The best part of this novel is the prelude, written in the first person from the perspective of one its characters. The prelude is highly credible and drew me into the story. But then, suddenly, the perspective shifts. The rest of the story is written in the third person. Why this inexplicable shift?The author is apparently unfamiliar with the maxim, "Show, don't tell." He closes Chapter 6 with the explanation, "Within 12 hours Superior would become the center of the universe," and lo and behold, Chapter 7 begins with the words, "The invasion took less than 12 hours." Where's the suspense in that? Why should anyone read further if the author informs you ahead of time what is going to happen? Similarly, in Chapter 3, we're introduced to Wally, where we witness him eating his 747. Then, in Chapter 4, we're supposed to pretend we haven't been witness to this scene, and we're supposed to share in J.J.'s questioning and ultimate incredulity that a man is eating a 747. What for? Why? The characters lack credibility and depth. Why, for example, would J.J. Smith announce that he is a recorder from The Book of Records and then act annoyed that the townspeople of Superior respond predictably to his presence? If he is as travelworn as the author would have us believe, why doesn't he know better than to keep his identity incognito, or at least, not blurt it out as soon as he arrives in town? Why would both he and Wally chase after a woman who is obviously not interested in either one of them? Why would Willa be wearing her father's red cardigan on a hot summer day when the air conditioning is broken? Would a 747 really crash gracefully and its pilots walk away unharmed and uncaring? If Wally is eating the 747 to attract Willa's attention, why does he keep it a secret? And anyway, it's not a secret: everyone in the town knows, but nobody cares. If nobody in Superior cares, why would the rest of the nation? It's not even made clear in the first place why Wally is eating a 747; it's only implied from the book cover. The only value I would suggest that one could gain from reading this novel is the realization that you, too, can write a novel. It's a depressing read, not much more challenging than watching a television sitcom. To see the way the nation is portrayed as getting utterly caught up in a Nebraska farmer's feat of eating a 747 by grinding it up and mixing it in with the ketchup on his hamburgers is ultimately depressing. Mr. Sherwood confirms that we have become a culture of voyeurs.
Rating:
Summary: Give this one to the one you love
Review: This is a book that sneaks up on you. Written in a lyrical style, it's a tale that grabs your heart when you're not looking and won't let go. Give this one to the person you'd be willing to eat a 747 for. You won't even need to sign your name. She/he will know it's from you. As a matter of fact, this is the perfect book for your love on anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day, even Veteran's Day. Trust me on this. Give this book and you're in like... well, Ben.
Rating:
Summary: Silly and boring
Review: Sorry, this is a silly and boring tale. The characters are well carved, and so the little town. But I want to believe that the hearts (and the minds) of everybody reading this Amazon's page are rich enough not to need someone teaching things like "love is love", or that when you love someone, sometimes may be you do strange things. And to consider how much people are crazy is enough to open a newspaper and to see what happens in the real world. The last thirty pages are good, but it's too late. The plot is weak, but Sherwood is a very good writer, and his writing technique deserves better ideas.
Rating: 
Summary: All in the Name of Love
Review: I bought this book for two reasons: 1)I read an article in a magazine a few years ago about a man who really was eating an airplane. This article provided me with a few interesting comments at dinner parties and my students were shocked by the story when I told them during a discussion on eating disorders. (I'm an ex-Nutrition teacher) So, of course I was curious how this guy in the book would do the eating and why. 2)I live in Nebraska not too far from where the novel takes place. Of course, there are a few of the Nebraska farm folk sort of stereotypes, especially the word usage, but I mostly ignored those. The book is great fun with all sorts of amusing amazing feats cited. The love stories are nothing new or unusual (except for the plane eating thing) but they are fun just the same. This is not a great literary work that will make you see yourself in a different light or generate masses of academic citiques. BUt if you are interested in something light-hearted and not a total waste of your time, this is a good pick. The best line in the book occurs in the prelude which almost makes you think there is going to be a deep and substantial work coming up. "We chase wild dreams and long for all that eludes us, when the greatest joys are within our grasp, if we can only recognize them." I understand that this is going to be made into a movie. I guess I am going to have to come up with a new unusual eating story to amuse students and dinner guests.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled.
Review: The review-length sketch outline of this book appealed to me greatly -- it was hyped as a sort of magic realism fairy tale-come-love story. It is not. It isn't anything. Except bad. What it is, is pedantic, poorly-written pablum. Sherwood doesn't even trust the reader to "get" his ham-fisted, overwrought and entirely cliché message, so he reminds us what it is every ten pages ("[He] know everything about the fastest coconut tree climber...but [he doesn't] know the first thing about love.") Please...*please* do not read this book. It is not worth your time. Read anything else.
Rating:
Summary: Great Maiden Voyage
Review: At first, I was a little skeptical about the plotline: a farmer eating a plane that crashed in his field. Ben Sherwood, though, not only made this plot work, he made it soar. "The Man Who Ate the 747" is one of the most romantic, funniest, wittiest books that I've read in quite some time. Sherwood infuses more honest romance into an egg tossing scene than most writers can do wth a bedroom filled with candles. The writer also has a great command not only of language but of voice and an enviable eye for detail. Unless I miss my guess, we are seeing the first effort here from a major talent who will one day take his place among John Irving and Christopher Buckley as writers who have not only mastered the slightly offbeat plots but people them with larger than life characters that make them downright magical.
Rating:
Summary: Simply delightful
Review: No this is not a brilliant literary work. Sherwood is not going to win the National Book Award. He does not have a deep social message like the Pulitzer prize winners. If you are looking for that kind of sophistication in this book, you have come to the wrong place. HOWEVER, this is a unique and beautiful story. It has colorful characters and darling subplots. Sherwood draws a kind, accurate picture of small town America that is totally amusing (yes, I lived in a small town for 19 years). If you are looking for a fun, light read, this is hard to beat. Save it for a lazy day when you want to let your mind escape in a delightful tale. By the way...if you enjoy hearing quirky world records, this book will be twice as fun. People looking for literary genius...Stay away! People looking for a fun, wholesome tale....Welcome home!
Rating: 
Summary: The Man Who Ate the 747
Review: I do not think this book has lived up to all the hype. I was looking forward to reading it bc of all the positive publicity, but was dissapointed in the fact that it did not live up to my expectations. The book was slow moving and I do not think I was every fully "into" the book. Nonetheless, it was still a cute story and seemingly quite imaginative. This is not the love story it was made out to be, but a sweet enough story.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure corn -- and not even authentic corn.
Review: Predictable and manipulative, this book doesn't have a single original idea. Will the small-town heroine overcome her distrust of the wordly stranger and return his affection? Will outcast Wally, the 747-eater, ever gain the town's respect? I'll give you one guess. The plot is basically a retread of The Music Man, right down to the parades and the stranger's "rescue" of the heroine's kid brother. (When the town holds a dance, you expect the band to play "Shipoopi.") Sherwood attempts to conjure a homespun, "Lake Wobegon" kind of feeling ("'Hope you're not one of those vegetative types,"' [Righty] said. 'Not much to eat here at the Git-A-Life [Cafe] that isn't deep-fried or cut off a cow.'"), but it doesn't ring true. Sherwood doesn't have Garrison Keillor's writing ability, to be sure; more important, he doesn't really know the people he is writing about the way Keillor does. (Sherwood grew up in Los Angeles, got his degree from Harvard, and was a Rhodes Scholar before becoming a correspondent for ABC and NBC news.) What's more, he's willing to let us write his next book for him; he solicits contributions to his "Book of Wonders" at the end of this novel and on his Web site. If you're looking for a pleasant diversion, wait until this book comes out in paperback (or wait for the movie; the movie deal was announced before the book was even published). But if you're looking for something with literary merit, there are many more accomplished authors to choose from.
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