Goodbye Mickey Mouse [Mass Market Paperback]

Len Deighton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1983

In Goodbye Mickey Mouse Len Deighton has written his best novel yet: a brilliant, multi-dimensional picture of what it is to be at war! and what it was to be in love in the England of 1944. Goodbye Mickey Mouse is Deighton's fourteenth novel and a vivid evocation of wartime England, the story of a group of American fighter pilots flying escort missions over Germany in the winter of 1943-4. At the centre of the novel are two young men: the deeply reserved Captain Jamie Farebrother, estranged son of a deskbound colonel, and the cocky Lieutenant Mickey Morse, well on his way to becoming America's Number One Flying Ace. Alike only in their courage, they forge a bond of friendship in battle with far-reaching consequences for themselves, and for the future of those they love.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'It is a novel of memory, satisfying on every imaginable level, but truly astonishing in its recreation of a time and place through minute detail. Deighton has written well of the air before, nonfictionally, and he informs us in an afterword that it took six years of research to do this novel. It shows. The only way you could know more about flying a P-51 Mustang, after reading this book, is to have flown one.' Washington Post 'He writes, as usual, with authority and a superb sense of period' Daily Telegraph 'The sheer charge of the writing swept me into another world all the while I was reading, and now that piece of the past is a piece in my mind.' HRF Keating, The Times 'A master of fictional espionage.' Daily Mail 'The poet of the spy story.' Sunday Times 'For sheer readability he has no peer' The Standard

From the Publisher

'The sheer charge of the writing swept me into another world' - H R F Keating, The Times

'It is a novel of memory, satisfying on every imaginable level, but truly astonishing In Its recreation of a time and place through minute detail. Deighton has written well of the air before, nonfictionally, and he informs us in an afterword that it took six years of research to do this novel. It shows. The only way you could know more about flying a P-51 Mustang, after reading this book, is to have flown one' - WASHINGTON POST

'He writes, as usual, with authority and a superb sense of period' - DAILY TELEGRAPH

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Publishers; Silver Jubilee Edition edition (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0586054480
• ISBN-13: 978-0586054482
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,222,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From one of the best writers, one of his best, November 6, 1999

By 

Doug Briggs - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goodbye Mickey Mouse (Mass Market Paperback)

Fifteen years after reading this splendid, poignant story I still choke up thinking about it. Len Deighton is unknown to many readers of even truly good literature -- partly because he took his time to do a craftsmanlike job and therefore didn't turn out a stream of quickies to keep himself constantly on the shelves.

I'm a pilot with 11,000 hours of flight time, some in fighters. I finished Goodbye Mickey Mouse convinced that Len Deighton was a WWII fighter pilot. Only a pilot, I thought, could describe to the satisfaction of another pilot the feel of the stick when a plane is approaching a high-speed stall, the feedback a pilot gets when his plane is damaged or a system has failed -- how he goes about trying to nurse the crippled bird home, sometimes successful and sometimes not . . . Then I read his explanation in the back of the book wherein he describes that he read 200 odd books on the subject of flying fighter airplanes in order to be able to write about it with credibility that satisfied himself.

Goodbye Mickey Mouse begins with a scene that dislocates your perception of how this story will conclude. At the very end he clears up your misperception in the most moving and satisfying way.

This is a story of real airmen, their distinctive personalities laid bare, buddies all, men who must accept the loss of buddy after buddy, but who manage to have some fun in the air and on the ground. There is real romance here, the kind Deighton is noted for -- sensitive for the most part but hilarious at times.

A fine read for discriminating readers, exciting, suspenseful, sad and haunting . . .

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The love of flying, the lovers of flyers, February 7, 2001

By 

"michaeleve" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goodbye Mickey Mouse (Mass Market Paperback)

The book starts and ends in the same place - an abandoned and overgrown WWII fighter base in England in 1982. A group of American ex-servicemen are visiting their former base where 40 years ago they flew their Mustangs, fought the enemy, made friends, found themselves, and for our two central characters, fell in love.

The story centers on two Mustang pilots, Jamie Farebrother and Mickey Morse - nicknamed Mickey Mouse as in the quote "Goodbye Mickey Mouse", said by whom and in what context provides the poignant and emotionally powerful conclusion to the book. There are also two British women - the somewhat sheltered but nevertheless self assured Victoria Cooper who falls in love with Jamie and the married Vera Hardcastle who goes for Mickey. They are not in the book simply as the loves of the pilots, they are well developed characters and central to the plot of the story.

Besides developing the romance between these couples, other relationships Deighton explores are those between father and son, parent and child, military professionalism and discipline and human compassion and caring. It's all subtle though and does not in any way make this a weighty book. It's a good, fun, easy, straightforward read with the best examples of Deightons writing prowess in the detailed descriptions of the aerial battles. The visual pictures created by his words are so strong you'll be convinced he is writing from personal experience (you'll be wrong). Make that your only mistake and do not pass on this Deighton classic.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Novel about Fighter Pilots-Also a Romance, April 10, 2001

By 

Rob Morris (Idaho Falls, ID United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goodbye Mickey Mouse (Mass Market Paperback)

Len Deighton is one of the great writers of aviation fiction and nonfiction. He spends a great deal of time researching his stories and it shows in the final product. His novel 'Goodbye Mickey Mouse' is not a great book, but it is a good book. Deighton, in writing the book, seems to have been as interested in portraying the love lives of American aviators in England as he was in depicting the air war over Europe from the point of view of P-51 Mustang pilots. The result is a somewhat trite love story--brash American fighter pilot tamed by straightlaced English lass. The other love story in the book is a bit more interesting because it is more original. The title character, Mickey Morse, falls for an older married English woman, and this threatens his dream of becoming a celebrated fighter ace. There are some good plot twists in the book, and most of the characters are interesting, but the best segments of the book are when Deighton focuses on the flying and the military politics. This is where he shines as an author. The romance element is no better-or worse-than what you find in any book on a newstand rack and read to pass time on a plane or on a trip. The most intriguing character is the main character, Mickey Morse (known as Mickey Mouse), who grew up at a gas station in Arizona and is trying to improve his chances in life by becoming a famous fighter ace. He hopes to get a job working in the air industry after the war. However, he is blinded by love for the older married woman, with serious repurcussions. His friend, Jamie Farebrother, is the privileged son of a business tycoon who has become a general to help run the war effort. His father, who is estranged from the son but trying desperately to develop a relationship, is also an interesting character. The British characters are less well-drawn, which is rather surprising because Deighton is British. They tend towards cardboard cutouts and stereotypes. Even Jamie Farebrother's love interest Victoria is lacking in depth. That having been said, "Goodbye Mickey Mouse" is one of the best books I've read for getting a feeling for what life was like on a fighter base during the war. As a historian researching the American air war over Europe, specifically the 8th Air Force, the book provided me with some valuable insights. To be fair, I am not a big fan of romances and that element of the book didn't appeal to me; however, I think most people might enjoy the way Deighton develops the romances in the novel, and the way he weaves them together. Some of the plot twists are a bit improbable, but hey, this is fiction, where the author, especially if he is established, can get away with that kind of thing. Overall, an entertaining book, well researched, but lacking in depth of characterization as well as probability.