Customer Reviews

The Phoenix: A Novel About the Hindenberg

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

 

 

This book reminds me of "The Count of Monte Cristo", not because it has anyting to do with the period or theme, but because of the richness of plot and character. The plot has the driving force to get the book somewhere, and the characters have more than enough power to make the trip enjoyable. There is much of interest about airships here, and also complex human relationships, all set in a time of turmoil. Very well written and produced. Top grade stuff!

Though I didn't like the ending (don't ask me why)I believe it is a good reading. There was a feeling of reading a Cain or Chandler or Hammett novel.
I wonder if the average reader went through all the scientific details?
BTW, an earlier critic comments the title of the book (the Hindenberg was not a phoenix, etc.) Who said the title is about the ship and not about the principal character? A book should be read up to the end before doing a critic...
An historical novel makes you learn a lot, but it is hard to distinguish facts from fiction. Maybe an appendix in this book would have helped? And watch the philosophical ideas in it!
Yes, I do recommend the book to anybody interested, maybe only vaguely like me, by this Titanic of the air.

In 1937 the crash of the airship Hindenberg in a spectacular blaze heralded the end of the era of Zeppelin travel and the beginning of the true age of the aeroplane. This story follows the quest of one of the survivors of the crash to work out what really destroyed the great airship.

The start of this book appears to have next to nothing to do with airships, but stick with it through the first section and you will end up with a story which follows the last flight of the Hindenberg and its end and an interesting theory as to what caused it.

The author has built on knowledge of the Hindenberg gained from his father who was the elevator man on the doomed ship - and the phoenix in the title of the book is NOT the airship but the narrator of the story for whom the ship was both an end and a beginning.

If you enjoy novels that feature airships this book along with ZEPPELIN by Ronald Florence are both highly reccomended to give a genuine flavor to a lost and elegent form of travel.

Zeppelin

While the Hindenburg, like the Phoenix of myth, did in fact perish in fiery death, it did not rise again from its own ashes reborn. Some would say that this rebirth part is the essential - defining, even - trait of the Phoenix. For this reason alone I cannot recommend this book.