Customer Reviews

On Borrowed Wings: A Novel

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Since work keeps me so busy, I'm very particular about the books I read. When a friend suggested I read "On Borrowed Wings," I was initially skeptical, but I found myself sucked into an engrossing page-turner. Give this a read. I found the plot surprising at several turns. And although I'm not usually one to read historical fiction, I found myself firmly planted in the period.

Do yourself a favor and take this book to the beach, backyard BBQ, or wherever you are going this summer. I picked it up at the bookstore on account of the beautiful cover (shallow, I know), but was delighted with this particular impulse buy. On Borrowed Wings is 100% engrossing. It was a middle of the night, I'll read just five more pages kind of book. Sure enough, I started it in the afternoon finished it at dawn, sleepy, but so engrossed in Adele Pietra's story that I had to keep going.

The early quarry scenes appealed to me most. Prasad has a gift for description; her spare, evocative details perfectly reveal Stony Creek, Connecticut, a class-torn granite town, where options are few for Adele, an ambitious young lady with limited means. I enjoyed the passages about the granite mine, and learning about the tough, but also tender lives of the quarry men. At first I was disappointed when the storyline moved so quickly to Yale University. But Prasad pulls off the swift setting change by giving the reader an assortment of intriguing new characters: Adele's university classmates Wick, Harry, and Phin, and the DeRisios, a charming Italian family that adopts Adele, and that Adele adopts right back.

My only minor quibble with On Borrowed Wings is with the rhetorical questions sprinkled throughout. Prasad uses too many, in my opinion, but maybe that's just her style.

As for highlights, look for the Amelia Earhart cameo, mere months before she disappears for good somewhere in the South Pacific. Earhart's presence in On Borrowed Wings seems to encapsulate the book itself: dynamic, intense, indisputably appealing, and in the end, a story that you wish didn't have to end.

Chandra Prasad has seamlessly woven a fascinating story. The meticulously detailed historical background is
very interesting and actually quite educational but doesn't for a moment detract from the flow of the story. And what a story! It crept up on me. I was about 50 pages into the book before I realized that I was hooked. From that point I could hardly put it down. The moody mysterious suspenseful tone of the book, combined with a strong sympathetic main character makes this book a perfect escape!

This book reminded me of the classic university novel A Separate Peace (John Knowles). On the surface On Borrowed Wings is about a girl who has the guts and determination to attend a boys-only university. You get absorbed in Adele's joyride of a journey, and feel like you are with her as she learns to become a male student and assimilates to her lively and elite college life. But like A Separate Peace, this novel is densely layered.. It is also about the changes the U.S.A. is undergoing in the first part of the twentieth century. It is about how a single person can and must overcome barriers. It is about growing up and shedding one's innocence and finding a greater good. And most of all, it is about how being true to yourself sometimes requires a leap of faith.

I am a high school teacher and intend to recommend this to my students - highly! It has so much to offer.

I LOVED this book. It is startling and fresh and bold. The premise itself is not particularly new: girl disguises herself as boy in order to attend university and achieve both personal and educational goals. What made this book stand out, though, was that Prasad doesn't linger on the been-there-done-that gender-bender issues. Instead, she weaves together a vibrant history of Yale and New Haven, Connecticut, during the 1930s, and she creates the pervasive excitement, fear, and frenetic energy that is part and parcel of freshman year at any college. The main character, Adele (Charlie) Pietra is an intrepid, gawky, fun, always sympathetic character; she/he is all the more endearing for her quirks and occasionally exasperating behavior. Adele is particularly delightful when attempting to maneuver her way around a fitting for a man's suit, a physical examination in the gymnasium that requires nudity, and a school dance in which--yes--she must wine and dine her female date.

Prasad handles social issues of the day with a deft hand, including the Eugenics movement and anti-Semitism. Kudos to the author for giving what is essentially a brisk coming-of-age story exceptional humanity and pathos.

I somewhat reluctantly borrowed this novel from a friend but found I could not put it down.
It starts slow but the author's attention to detail and increasing pace of the story
made it into a late late night read.

Having lived in CT before, I was suprised and excited by reading
descriptions of life decades before: from bars and sex shows to
struggling families and an inside look at Yale. Especially interesting
was the glimpse at the academic eugenics movement at the time--trying
to stamp out the "inferior" immigrants--and how the main character
in disguise deals with these situations.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I usually do not go for fiction but this got me from the very beginning. I am recommending this book to everyone I know. In fact, I am going to give it as a gift this holiday season. Prasad has presented her story with the clear-eyed perspective necessary to allow the reader to relate to Adele's specific circumstances. There are no parallels between my life and Adele's, but I felt for her every step of the way; her triumphs, her failures, her insecurities etc. Prasad is a very impressive young new writer - I can't wait for her next effort.

maybe it's just me, but whenever i walk into a bookstore lately, it seems like the majority of female authors are either rehashing history (i.e.The Other Boleyn Girl) or wallowing in crass 21st-century consumerism (i.e. Shoe Addicts Anonymous). how refreshing, then, to read "on borrowed wings." chandra prasad uses a vivid historical setting to tell a story that is fundamentally unique, despite the long literary tradition of gender-swapping tales; she creates characters and moments that will continue to live in your mind long after you've finished the book.

in fact, your first thought upon reading the final sentence will be to wonder whether ms. prasad plans to continue adele's story in a subsequent book, and to hope that she does.

with its insightful handling of difficult themes and its sensitive depiction of late adolescence, this book would be an excellent choice for high school english classes.

What a lovely story!!! And so many stories in one... so many issues dealt with by the characters.. There is a well to do, spoiled girl that marries "beneath" her and is indefinetly estranged from her parents. There is a tense marriage between an Italian immigrant and a woman not quite used to doing for herself. There is sibling rivalry as one child is always favored over the other. There is mother/daughter discord, death, grief, and of course, the main plot, a girl dressing as a boy to attend Yale. It all blends so beautifully together.

I loved Adele and I enjoyed watching her mature and grow throughout the novel. When she steps into her dead brother's shoes and attends Yale in his place, she is a scared young girl. By the time her first year is over she is blossoming into a mature, strong minded woman hidden in a pair of trousers. I also liked the sexual tension between her and one of her friends. I was in suspense wondering where that would go. Adele also pulls off a very admirable stunt with a professor that is a closet Nazi. This being pre World War 2, I thought it was an excellent touch. I liked the friends and "family" Adele adopts along the way too. I found myself warming to the characters and even felt as tho I was in their homes.

My only complaint: A sequel is in order. I am left somewhat hanging. I think Prasad should write another book with Adele.. What does she do after college? What becomes of her relationship with Wick? How much longer can she pass herself off as a boy? Tell us more, Prasad!

Have you ever fallen in love with a book so deeply that you wanted to keep it and read it again and again? Maybe this is a normal occurrence for you, not so for me. I am a love `em and leave `em reader. Once the last page is read, I am on to my next conquest. That was until I read "On Borrowed Wings".

This book moved me beyond words. I'll admit, I was a bit surprised. The book is unpretentious. But when you read the pages, this matches to perfection with the main character, Adele Pierta.

The author places the reader in the middle of the character's quandary, which is to marry a quarryman. In the 1930s, the little town of Stony Creek had three classes of people. There were the cottagers, who were rich vacationers that visit the little Connecticut town from May to August. There were the townsmen, the town's merchants and businessmen. And last were the quarrymen. They worked twelve hour days, six days a week mining granite.

Adele's mother had once been a cottager. But when she married a quarryman, her family disowned her. This rejection drove her mother to educate Adele's brother so that he'd have chance to go to college and not end up a quarryman. Adele's father insisted both his children be educated, but there weren't many opportunities for women.

The same day Charles, Adele's brother, receives an acceptance letter to Yale, a freak mining accident takes his life along with their father. Rather than be forced into an early marriage, she changes her appearance to look like a man and goes to Yale in Charles's place.

"On Borrowed Wings", so appropriately titled, is the story of Adele's first year at Yale. She transforms from a shy, wispy girl into a force to be reckoned with. It's a true treasure of a book!