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Airframe

Airframe

List Price: $39.95
Your Price: $26.37
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Information at the expense of character
Review: One thing about a Crichton book, you will learn things.The problem you usually learn them at the expense of little things like character development. The idea of a book dealing with the study of an airplane malfunction, with occasional rants against the people who are supposed to protect our safety was a good one. Crichton once again fills a book with a tremendous amount of information and barring a background in the field, the casual reader will be dazzled by the quantity of info presented. (The quality would need a more expert opinion than mine.)However cookie cutter characters abound and they are often interchangeable with the most cursory of description and motivation. Sometimes I think Chrichton decides to research things that he is interested in and than thinks, "This might make a good book." Not this time.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great Story
Review: I had to read this book for an aviation safety class. I didn't particularly enjoy the dramatization of the story, but the depth of research into the aviation industry is noticible. If you like a good story about turmoil in the aviation industry, not to mention a quick peek at how the industry operates, this is an amusing book. I found it modestly entertaining.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Subject Matter Details
Review: Give it to Mike, he will write about it. Most authors now days just develop a formula and just pump out he books one after the other. That is one of the reasons I always give him a little slack, he tries to take on new and different themes and topics - ok the T Rex books are all about a new vacation home. I am a bit of an airplane junky and read a good amount on the industry so I loved the extra details he throws in, it gives the book more depth without slowing it down at all. The book also has a good, thriller type of pace that keeps you interested. The only draw back I have is that maybe he could give us more on he characters, a little back story or maybe a sub plot of two. Becuase the story is very straight forward and not complicated with anything extra it reads easy, if that is what your looking for this is an integrating book

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The plot is in the title
Review: This is my first Michael Crichton novel. At first, I hated it. At the beginning, I found his style too slow moving for my taste. Nothing seems to happen. Yet, Crichton is a crafty writer. Reading AIRFRAME is like putting together a fascinating puzzle. It starts slow but builds and builds and builds to the point of supersonic speed and intrigue. He teases the reader to continue to read with mere tidbits of unrevealed clues - then he slaps the reader in the face. Everything is laid out for the reader, but I missed it. That's what makes this a great novel - the element of surprise.

Crichton's characters are also vivid. In my experience, character development is the most complex and difficult task for a writer. Crichton's mastery of the English language enables the reader to feel that the characters are real rather than fiction. The pace in describing the main characters demonstrates his crafty writing skill. His style produces a rare kind of realism that pushes the reader on the edge of the chair. The vividness of being chased and falling are so genuine, one feels like one is watching a film rather than reading a book.

Lastly, and this will not spoil the plot, the story line can be found in the title. Yet, I doubt that most readers will be able to put it all together until the last chapter.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Perfect vacation companion
Review: Despite this book's focus on a plane accident, I picked it up at an airport. As such, it was the perfect quick read. Like all other good "vacation books," after it was digested, I completely forgot everything about it. That's exactly what you want when you're travelling! Much of the plot is unbelievable, and the main character makes many judgment errors (e.g., repeatedly entering airplane hangars alone at night and then being chased), but the plot hums along. A good page turner.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An fun and engrossing suspense novel; also educational
Review: ***** LOOKOUT for the review by Lauren Brown. Her 2nd paragraph is pure spoilers!! *****

While not in the same league as many of Crichton's earlier novels, the story is enjoyable enough as it is. I felt empathy for the main character and appreciated all the obstacles she ran into. I learned some neat stuff about commercial planes and aviation. Don't worry, it's quite easy to follow for anyone of reasonable intelligence.

I especially liked the last 50 pages or so, as he really brought the story in for a rapid landing (get it? ;-)

If you read real carefully on the last page or so, you get a good chuckle when you realize what the "official report" actually said (and WHY it was said that way).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not Michael Crichton's Best Book
Review: I don't know if it's just me, but the older books by Michael Crichton were just so much better than the last few he's written (Full Disclosure, Rising Sun and this one). Michael Crichton is known as one of the greatest writers of speculative fiction working today. He is a wizard at taking a group of people (usually experts in one scientific field or another) and isolating them in extreme conditions, and letting them either solve a mystery (as in Congo, Sphere and the Andromeda Strain) or simply survive (as in Jurassic Park and the Lost World).

With his last several books, however, the author seems to have deliberately strayed away from writing stories with an adventurous, science-fiction feel. Instead, he has begun to write things like detective stories, legal mysteries, and now this book about the investigation of an airline disaster.

While Michael Crichton's worst writing is much better than most writing out there today, the problem is that he can do much better. In this story, an airplane almost crashes, and the airline investigator is trying to figure out what happened, all the time being hassled by a impending strike of the airline workers (which was a very contrived element to this story, in my opinion, written in just to provide a bit of suspense). All that's certain is that no one is telling the truth, and the story isn't what it first appears to be.

The investigation moves forward in a satisfying way, though the unnecessary interruptions from the striking workers were a distraction that I didn't enjoy. The mystery seems interesting enough, though the solution to it isn't due so much to the diligence of the investigators as a lucky coincidence that solves everything.

While I was reading this book, I don't remember thinking that it was a bad book. But after I finished, I distinctly remember thinking 'this is it?'. Let's face it, Michael Crichton can do a lot better (witness Congo, the Andromeda Strain, and Sphere). In this book, we get a chance to see what happens when a fantastic author decides that he wants to publish a book, but he doesn't want to work really hard to come up with a great story, or do much real work to live up to his past triumphs.

I wish I could say that this was as good as the other books he's come out with, but it isn't. However, if this is the only book of his that you've read and you're unsure of whether you should read another of his, take my word for it. Read Timeline, The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, and Congo.

Like me, you'll be hooked.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: MOVIE IN THE MAKING -- NOT AFTER 9/11
Review: When I read this book, back in 2000 I was sure I was reading a script to a movie. Instead I was reading a Crichton novel, which to no surprise this producer, director, screenplay writer and novelist, makes the transition from page to screen a rather seamless one.
It would have made a GREAT action blockbuster, along the lines of perhaps "Air Force One" but hopefully with the Crichton touch alot better.
The book was well written, with a slow start, but picks up pace quickly when our heroine discovers the true cause of the wreckage, and her inevitable lover comes and saves the day during a perfectly illustrated fight errupts in the hangar.
Unfortunately, after the events of September 11, I doubt this book will ever become a movie, atleast anytime soon. The mainstream public is still too sensitive, and not willing to withstand two hours of painful flashbacks of the greatest aviation castatrophe in the history of the world. No matter how little the plot of Airframe has in similarity with the accidents of that Black Tuesday, the country will no doubt be thinking of that in the back of thier minds.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Loved the Short Chapters
Review: Only Michael Crichton could make the investigation of an airplane crash interesting. Chapters that ranged from 2-10 pages also made it appear to be a quick and easy read.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Two Foundations of Airframe
Review: In Michael Chrichton's, Airframe, there are two obvious literary devices that prove to
be essential in the novel. The first, setting. Setting is where the story takes place-date and
location. Airframe takes place just outside Glendale, California. This is important to the
developement of the story because it is where the Norton Aircraft Hangar is located. Everything
in this novel revolves around the hangar. It is where complications erect and where conflicts are
solved. The story takes place sometime during the 1990s. One thing that I really liked about this
novel was being able to peek inside the executive offices of an Aircraft plant, and seeing how they perform in a time of chrisis. Another aspect of the novel and its setting that really appealed to me was seeing the competition that exists in the business world, and more specifically the Airline world. The second literary device that proved to be a foundation of the novel was the authors tone. A "tone," is described as a manner of speaking or informing. Chrichton's tone throughout Airframe is somewhat unique. If I had to choose one word that describes it, it would be informal. If you were counting, there were numerous references to aerodynamics. I am sure most people will agree, that unless you are thoroughly interested in the field of aerodynamics, you probably did not enjoy this book. I must admit that Chrichton's tone is somewhat confusing, however, his overall writing style impressed me. This is the first Chrichton novel that I have had the chance to read, and I am told his others are very much like Airframe. I learned to look past all of the technical terms and acronyms, and that is why this book was readable to me. Chrichton obviously has a hobby for the subject or just put in a lot of research because at least 10% of this book was compiled of difficult terms. In the end, I found that Airframe was an enjoyable book, after I learned to look past the use of all the aerodyanmic references. I stand by my position of the setting and tone being the foundation of this novel. They definetly proved essential to the story.


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