A Book A Week

If there is any silver lining to having to spend the majority of my time at home this year, it would have to be having no excuse to not catch up on my backlog list of TV shows I want to watch. At this point, the list of shows has started to rival even my massive "to be read" list. One show that recently caught my eye was The Flight Attendant on HBO Max. I love a good mystery, so the first episode had me hooked from the start. When I discovered that the show was actually based on a book, I decided to do the only logical thing and read the book before continuing the show. 

Working for an airline has always held an air of glamor and adventure to me. Pre-COVID, I loved flying to far off cities, exploring the people and culture of places that are different from my own, and embracing the unique perspectives that only come from traveling. As a flight attendant, Cassandra Bowen has been fortunate to fly all over the world. She wouldn't, however, call her job glamorous. Shuttling from airport to hotel after long days in the sky has really taken a toll on Cassie. The only thing that seems to be having a worse effect on her is her drinking. You see, Cassie is an alcoholic. 

For years, Cassie has been able to hide her addiction. She's no stranger to drinking all night to the point of blacking out, but she's always up the next morning, ready to fly to the next destination. It comes as no surprise then, that Cassie finds herself living it up with one of her passengers from her most recent flight to Dubai. The couple dines, drinks, and sleeps together all night. When Cassie wakes up in the man's bed the next morning, she has no clear recollection of what exactly happened the night before. She jumps out of bed and expects to make a clean break to the airport. There's only one problem, the attractive man that she spent the night with, is now a murdered corpse in the bed. 

It is oddly fitting that Chris Bohjalian's The Flight Attendant should be the 52nd and final book that I read this year. When I started my blog and yearly goal of reading a book a week, it was mainly because the last book I read took me months to complete. That book just happened to be The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian. Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed that book a lot, but the fact that I was only reading a handful of books each year really bothered me. Fortunately, The Flight Attendant only took me a couple of days to breeze through. Bohjalian strikes a fine balance between a globe-spanning mystery and the more intimate story of a woman battling her demons. The book takes a more serious and dark tone than the show, but I feel that was really to the benefit of the novel. Even if I felt a bit let down by the ending, I can't deny the fun I had reading up until that point. As the sun sets on the roller coaster year that we've all lived through, I'm grateful for books like this one that can both entertain and implore me to think a bit in the process. With the new year quickly approaching, I'm eager to start reading a book a week all over again. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2020, 52)