Customer Reviews

Leaving Earth

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In August 1933, the famous aviatrix Grace O'Gorman recruits the inexperienced Willa Briggs to accompany her in breaking the world flight endurance record. While circling Toronto, the women must deal with fatigue, the weather, and the sabotaging efforts of Grace's husband. Meanwhile, on the ground, anti-Semitism erupts and affects some of those connected with the women. Unable to communicate with words in the sky, Grace and Willa find new ways of communicating that change their views of the world, and Willa, with this new awareness, finds her feelings for Grace becoming more complicated. "Leaving Earth" is a magical and adventurous story, based on some true events, about women challenging the often-stifling roles of the 1930s. The book glimmers and comes alive, showcasing Humphrey's lush style in her first novel.

I liked everything about this book. It is like a strange dream you have one night and wake up not knowing how things are really going to turn out. If you like books you can feel and smell, you will like this great little read.

'Leaving Earth' by Helen Humphreys is an engaging story of two women aviators from the 1930s in Canada. It's a tale of two women Air Ace Grace O'Gorman and Willa Briggs defying convention and other odds, taking to the skies in their Moth for an endurance test to break the record of non-stop flight of 25 days. The book captures the exhilaration of flight itself and reminded me of the reasons why I love flying so much. The story moves with the pilots circling endlessly over Toronto Bay, inventing a new sign language to communicate when their paper and pencil flies away in a storm. It tells us of Maddy, a 12 year old girl who idolizes them and who would trade in her own mother for Air Ace Grace, not least because Maddy fears the prejudice against her mother's Jewishness as Canadian anti-Semitism gathers momentum.

A lovely book, very evocative and draws us into the flight with a profound sense of aviation and a passion for leaving earth. Recommended reading for anyone who loves the thrill of taking off and staying in the air. Never mind Jet lag.

This is a lovely book. Grace and Willa learn how to deal with discomfort in order to break the distance record. They learn that they do not have to speak in order to communicate. Maddy is a young girl at the age where girls fall in love with "stars" and she falls in love with Grace. this novel is about women and their connection to other women. It tells how women are able to adapt to any situation and work to make the best of it. It is the connection, that Grace and Willa learn that they cannot live without. I wanted more and Helen Humphreys leaves the reader wanting more.

Imagine spending 25 days in an open cockpit being rained on, doing numbers one and two in a pot, and daily being sprayed with fuel. In this book, two women do it. Grace and Willa are aviatrixes during the depression years and they aim to break the world record for endurance. Namely, Grace's husband's record. They aim to spend 25 days circling the islands without once touching down on ground. They must refuel in midair, catch a daily meal in a bag, make wing repairs in the sky, and suffer thru all kinds of weather. They must even find a way of communicating with each other upon the loss of their paper in a storm.

Meanwhile, down below, hostilities are rising between Germans and Jews, a war may be in the making, and a young girl named Maddy is obsessed with the two ladies in the sky. I found Maddy a very unlikable child. She gives midget baths, resents her mother for being Jewish and, quite frankly, I failed to see why she was in the book at all. Except for providing insight as to what is going on down on the ground, her parts had little or no relevance to the story. That is what gives this book a three star rating in my eyes.

Something of interest tho: Grace's husband Jack is not too pleased to be having his wife break his record. Will he sabotage their flight? Grace, being unlikable herself, may have it coming, but Willa will appeal to readers as she blossoms in the sky and grows in confidence while finding out things about herself that she didn't know before.

Will they make it?

The main story was excellent - the story of two women attempting to set a world record for flight endurance in the 1930's. The secondary storyline of rising anti-Semitism didn't seem to fit in very well. There are subtle hints of more than just feminism.