Fearless (Mass Market Paperback)

by Rafael Yglesias (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A powerful examination of denial and guilt, Yglesias's ( Hot Properties) terrific new novel opens with a gut-wrenching scene incarnating the worst nightmares of anyone who is afraid of flying. Forty-two minutes after takeoff, a DC-10 en route from New York to Los Angeles loses its rear engine. Max Klein, an architect traveling with his business partner, imagines the worst. Carla Fransisca, her two-year-old son in her lap, refuses to believe that she and her child are in danger. When the plane crashes, both are ironically confounded: Max walks away unhurt, and Carla blames herself for her son's death. The ordeal crushes Carla, elevates Max to a higher level of perception and strips them both of everything except brutal, fearless honesty. Yglesias chronicles their actions after the flight with the same candor, often portraying Max and Carla as abrupt and abrasive without making them any less real or less likable to the reader. A screenwriter as well as a novelist, he makes good use of cinematic techniques. Each image in his simple, precise prose is vivid and memorable; the pre-crash scene on the plane and a later re-enactment of the accident, in particular, linger in the mind. Film rights to Spring Creek Productions; audio rights to Simon & Schuster; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Acclaimed author Yglesias ( The Murderer Next Door , LJ 8/90) examines how almost dying can affect one's life. His protagonists are Max and Carla, who experience psychological problems after surviving a DC-10 crash. An architect traveling on business, Max accompanies his partner, who is killed in the crash. Having outwitted death, Max decides that he has nothing further to fear. Carla, traveling with her baby, feels unworthy to live once she loses him. Consumed by guilt, Max and Carla reexamine their lives, their relationships, and their religious beliefs, and eventually realize that they alone can make each other whole. Yglesias, a talented writer, immediately involves readers in the fate of his characters, telling their story extremely well. Highly recommended.
- Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 10 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; Rep Mti edition (November 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446600806
• ISBN-13: 978-0446600804
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #522,815 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Overflowing with Good Fortune, July 31, 2007

By	Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Max Klein is traveling on business for his architecutural firm on a DC-10. Carla is traveling with her young son Leonardo, (Bubble). There are two explosions, chaos in the cabin, and the plane is scheduled for an emergency landing. Max and his partner Jeff anticipate the generous settlement their families will receive in the event of a crash. In the partnership, Max had been the worker, Jeff the rainmaker. Jeff had harassed Max about his clothing choices.

After the crash Max flees, going to Pittsburgh, the scene of his college years. Max believes he lives in a reductive age. The crash is stupid, senseless, he opines. Personnel from the airline find him in Pittsburgh and arrange for him to return home to his wife and son in NYC. Max becomes annoyed that reporters are trying to make him into a hero for saving the lives of two children.

Carla's husband Manny retains a lawyer to represent them, (Leonardo dies in the crash), and she is supposed to recount her story in a tape recorder. The kinds of people involved in the post-disaster industry are interestingly described by the author.

Why Max is fearless because he is overflowing with good fortune is the part of the plot I will leave to the readers to discern. They are urged to find out what happens to Max and Carla when for the first time in Max's life he feels talented. This is pretty good beach fare.

2 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fearless, April 25, 1999

By A Customer

Fearless is about a man who is on a business trip. The plane where he is in crush down, and he with a number of other people survive. He thinks that he can't be hurt and that he is a sort of God. He tryes to test himself (that he is a God)by doing strange thinks. Than he meets a other surviver and he desides to help her. The end is very original.