Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Day the World Came to Town



I just finished reading this book. My book club read it a few months ago before I moved here but they let me borrow a copy because they all loved it so much. It really sheds light on how 9/11 effected so many people, people I never even thought of before reading this. It tells the story of a little town in Newfoundland, Canada (the town is about the same population of Riverton) and how they pulled together to help roughly 7,000 passengers of diverted flights from around the world. Some 300 planes were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland the morning of 9/11 because the air space was closed over US. This book follows a few of the passengers on their backgrounds, why they were flying that day, what happened to them while they were in Gander, and how they got home. Some notable stories are of an African Princess, a couple traveling back from Russia after adopting a child, and a couple whose son was a missing FDNY. The people of Newfoundland went above and beyond to help these passengers, and since most of the flights were International a lot of the people didn't even speak English. The logistics of accommodating that many people is incredible.This story is really uplifting and gives you a new sense of hope in humanity and I think every one of you would love this book. It is not long at all, a very easy read. I give it a solid 4 stars.



"We're all Americans tonight." 

-Lieutenant Colonel McKeage, Canadian Air Force, Newfie

3 comments:

Amy said...

I definitely want to read this. I love these kinds of stories. It reminds me a little of a book we read a few years back called, "Once Upon a Town--the North Platte Canteen". A few people can truly make a difference. I knew I liked Newfoundland...and not just because of their cute doggies. :)

Haley said...

I also read the Hourglass door series lately and also enjoyed it. It's relatable to Twilight in that it's a young adult series, a teenage romance, and a fun fluff read. The similarities stop there though. It's a really interesting story and the author, Lisa Mangum is very good at hooking the reader and keeping you on your toes. You can tell she's a new author but I thought all in all they were pretty well written. It has themes of time travel, art history, Dante's Inferno, etc. So if that interests you I would suggest you check it out peeps. (Especially Em and B.)

Haley said...

Crickets............

So are we stopping the movie game? Also, Em, are we going to discuss Travels With Charley because I totally read it.