Sunday, May 01, 2011

Review - Airmail

Title: Airmail
Author: Naomi Bulger

Synopsis (Goodreads):
Reclusive old Mr. G.L. Solomon's favorite things are single malt whiskey, Steve McQueen movies, and gingersnap cookies. He hates processed cheese, washing detergent commercials, and the way the teacup rattles in the saucer when he picks it up. Solomon has become accustomed to his lonely routine in Sydney, Australia-until the day he begins sporadically receiving letters in his mailbox from a complete stranger. On the other side of the world, Anouk is a mentally delicate young woman living in New York who insists she is being stalked by a fat woman in a pink tracksuit. When Anouk declares to Solomon that she is writing "from the Other Side," the old man breaks away from his daily grind of watching soap operas and reading Fishing World and travels to New York to find her. As he is drawn into Anouk's surreal world of stalkers and storytelling, marbles and cats, purgatory and Plato, Solomon has but one goal-to unravel the mystery 
before it is too late.

My Review:
AMAZING! I absolutely loved this book from word go! When I was asked to review this by Ms. Bulger, I was thrilled. Mostly I read pdf's, I'm all for saving an author postage (lol), but she was so kind to send me a physical copy - I was ecstatic.
The cover, I thought was so fantastic. I loved how it looked like one of the letters to Mr. Solomon.
The story itself was very intriguing to me as well. As I got towards the last few chapters of the book, I found myself holding my breath, I was flipping through the pages, at what felt like lightening speed. I just wanted to know how it ended. 
Airmail is a fast read. At 103 pages this was a novella of a different kind.

I don't want to include any spoilers, but I'll give my brief synopsis:
G.L Solomon is a lonely old man living in Sydney, Australia. The "highlights" of his day, are putting out the trash, watching the soaps, having a glass of whiskey, and checking the post every day at 4 o'clock. The only real excitement he had, was every fortnight (two weeks for us American folks) his pension would be in. He would fancy himself up and go down to Stanley Street, where he laughed, drank, and smoked like a young man again.
Anouk is young woman living in New York who claims she is being stalked by a fat woman in a velour pink track suit. She corresponds with Mr. Solomon through letters, that range from humorous, to bizarre, to down right unnerving. 
 G.L. leaves the comfort of his daily routine to travel to New York to find Anouk. It is here that he unravels the mystery of what is her, along with re-discovering a few things about himself.

Just superb.

My Rating:
An Amazing Wedding Cake!!!


pick up Airmail @



3 comments:

Evie said...

Sounds really great, Ash! I'm so happy to hear you could enjoy a printed copy :D I definitely know how exciting it is to get a great book in the mail!
I love how this book sounds, so I am definitely going to buy a copy for myself!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts :)

Evie said...

Just wanted to leave this linky with you and invite you to join the fun!

http://evie-bookish.blogspot.com/2011/05/ya-blogger-show-and-tell-1.html

Amy Jones said...

This sounds like an interesting read. I can tell you had fun reading it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it.

Smiles,
Amy
http://amyjonesyaff.blogspot.com

Post a Comment

What I've Read.

Fahrenheit 451
To Kill a Mockingbird
Mistletoe Murder
The Devil Wears Prada
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Lovely Bones
Like Water for Chocolate
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Bridget Jones's Diary
Life Seemed Good, But....
The Nanny Diaries
Exiled, Book 1
Beautiful Sins
The Meteoric Rise of Simon Burchwood
The Hunt for Red October
A PITTSBURGH AFFAIR
The Silence of the Lambs
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire


Ashley's favorite books »
}