Bennie Ford, a fifty-three-year-old failed poet turned translator, is traveling to his estranged daughter’s wedding when his flight is cancelled. Stuck with thousands of fuming passengers in the purgatory of O’Hare airport, he watches the clock tick and realizes that he will miss the ceremony. Frustrated, irate, and helpless, Bennie does the only thing he can: he starts to write a letter. But what begins as a hilariously excoriating demand for a refund soon becomes a cris de coeur of a life misspent, talent wasted. Bennie pens his letter in a voice that is a marvel of lacerating wit, heart-on-sleeve emotion, and wide-ranging erudition—all propelled by the fading hope that if he can just make it to the wedding, he has a chance to do something right in his life.
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"Well-written story about a guy who's let alcoholism tear his life apart, and how an extended and unwanted stay at O'Hare Airport is thwarting his last-ditch effort to salvage something. " — Zahid (4 out of 5 stars)
"Well-written story about a guy who's let alcoholism tear his life apart, and how an extended and unwanted stay at O'Hare Airport is thwarting his last-ditch effort to salvage something. "
“A crisp yowl of a first novel…scathing yet oddly joyful…Bennie’s command of language as he describes his fellow strandees and his riotous embrace of his own feelings will have readers rooting for him. By the time flights resume, Miles has masterfully taken Bennie from grim resignation to the dazzling exhilaration of the possible.”
“A heartfelt exploration of one man’s psychic deterioration and the slim reed of hope to which, miraculously, he still clings…Miles has created a human being adrift, like all of us, in circumstances mostly not of his making and with no other choice but to try to muddle through.”
“A crisp yowl of a first novel…scathing yet oddly joyful.”
“Begins as a scathing letter of complaint from a stranded traveler en route to his estranged daughter’s wedding but quickly evolves in to a personal and surprisingly astute rant about life’s challenges.”
“This first novel is a tale of loss and regret that allows a hint of hope and forgiveness to beckon from the final pages.”
“Miles…offers a funny, poignant first novel about reaching middle age…Miles, a sharp, stylish author, has created a complex novel from a simple premise. This is a compassionate, often hilarious book about laying the past to rest and moving forward into the future.”
“An intelligent, playful, and, above all, moving story full of humor and well-written digressions. Bennie is a remarkably flawed but sympathetic man…this affecting and laugh-out-loud-funny tirade should stay with readers long after they’ve reached their final destinations.”
" great writing, funny and entertaining! "
" It seemed like a good idea for a funny story. Unfortunately it degenerated into a rant on a life wasted drinking too much. The bits about the Chicago airport were witty, but too much self loathing in the book to bother reading those bits. "
" I am only on page 20 and I really hope it gets better, It made so many book top lists-I must be missing something "
" Some good parts, some boring parts. It does have great turns of phrase, but fizzles about 2/3 in. "
" Story of a sad but funny man who lives a sad but funny life. "
" I really, really enjoyed this book. The writing style, content, and ending all worked. "
" This book was as interminable as the airport wait it describes. The idea of telling a character's story through an irate letter to an airline is intriguing, but it wasn't handled well. Especially when you throw in bits of a random Polish novel the main character is translating. Ugh. "
Jonathan Miles is the author of Dear American Airlines, Want Not, and Anatomy of a Miracle. A former columnist for the New York Times, he is a contributing editor to such magazines as Details, Garden & Gun, Men’s Journal, and Field & Stream. His work is frequently anthologized in Best American Sports Writing and Best American Crime Writing. A former longtime resident of Oxford, Mississippi, he currently lives along the Delaware River in rural New Jersey.
Mark Bramhall has won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration, more than thirty AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has repeatedly been named by AudioFile magazine and Publishers Weekly among their “Best Voices of the Year.” He is also an award-winning actor whose acting credits include off-Broadway, regional, and many Los Angeles venues as well as television, animation, and feature films. He has taught and directed at the American Academy of Dramatic Art.
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