Before the Fall

The author of this novel is the Emmy, PEN, Peabody, Critics' Choice, and Golden Globe Award-winning creator of the TV show “Fargo." This story is a thriller-ish mystery but also a very clever political and social commentary.

The story begins with the crash of a private plane returning to New York City from Martha’s Vineyard. The plane was carrying eleven people, including a couple of very important figures. One was David Bateman, the founder of fictional ALC News (written to sound a lot like Fox News), the number one cable news network in the country. Another was Ben Kipling, who was about to be indicted by the SEC for laundering billions of dollars for countries that sponsored terrorism, such as North Korea and Yemen.

Miraculously, show more there are two survivors of the crash. Scott Burroughs, 47, a not-very-successful artist and a former member of his high school and college swim teams, swam for eight hours through the darkness in the Atlantic with a dislocated shoulder and with Bateman's son, four-year-old JJ, on his back. Scott had been invited on the plane by Maggie Bateman, who got to know him at the local Farmer’s Market.

The story of the downed plane is reported by the ALC network’s Bill Cunningham, a Rush Limbaugh type of media figure who cares more for sensationalism than the facts, and who has decided that it is suspicious that this nobody, Scott, was on the plane, and moreover, survived the crash. He declares that “no one on earth can convince me there wasn’t some kind of foul play involved.” ALC ratings soar.

David’s network had become so successful because he realized that “. . . people didn’t want just information. They wanted to know what it meant. They wanted perspective. They needed something to react against.”

Cunningham was the perfect spokesman for this “club of the like-minded”:

"Cunningham was David’s gift to the world, the angry white man people invited into their living rooms to call bullshit at the world . . . who told us what we wanted to hear, which was that the reason we were losing out in life was not that we were losers, but that someone was reaching into our pockets, our companies, our country and taking what was rightfully ours.

. . .

. . . [He appealed to] the people who had been searching their whole lives for someone to say out loud what they’d always felt in their hearts.”

Cunningham digs deeper into the life of Scott Burroughs, using a hacker to help him find Burroughs and monitor his activities, which Cunningham then announces to the world via his broadcasts.

Scott largely ignores the media mania; he is busy trying to process what happened to him and why he survived. He worries about the boy, JJ, whom he saved, and he struggles - along with the government officials who question him - to remember what happened on that plane before it went down. Scott insists he is not special, but understands that people need heroes and “to believe that magic is still possible.” Nevertheless, he has a hard time facing what his life has become.

As the chapters unfold from different points of view, we get ever closer to finding out what happened on that plane. Still, the ending is a stunner.

Discussion: The author turns his sharp wit to pillorying the media’s fixation with sensation; it’s tendency to make too much out of too little and sometimes ruin lives in the process; the willingness of some people to latch onto those who voice aloud what they don’t have the nerve to say because it would expose their prejudices and vindictiveness; and the ways that money and greed drive so much of what happens and what is valued in America.

But the author does all this without a bit of didactism. Rather, he has deftly fashioned a plot that explores simultaneously the farcical hold over Americans of a sensationalist media [its extension into the realm of politics comes to mind] and the impersonal cruelty of disasters, whether caused by Mother Nature or human nature, that can change or end one’s life in an instant.

Evaluation: This book held my attention the whole way through, and raised an incredible amount of issues that could similarly engage book clubs. It is deliciously wicked but with a surprising tenderness and compassion for the human condition. A great read!

Note: Sony Pictures has acquired the rights to the story. show less

Alfred Hitchcock coined the word MacGuffin to signify a plot device that attracts the audience's attention to build suspense but has no relevance to the outcome. Noah Hawley’s novel, BEFORE THE FALL, is chock full of MacGuffins. Most work well enough to keep one turning the pages of this thriller about a mysterious plane crash in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard.

The corporate jet carried 11 people and all but 2 died. Several of the victims could have been targets for an attack on the plane. David Bateman is a wealthy media mogul (think Roger Ailes) who is running a news network that is prone to manufacturing sensational stories (think Fox News). Undoubtedly, he had enemies. Also on the plane is Bateman’s 9-year-old daughter, show more Rachel, who had previously been kidnapped for ransom. Ben Kipling is a Wall Street financier who is about to be indicted for laundering money for some pretty dubious gangster types who might well want to silence him. Gil, the Bateman’s bodyguard is a former Israeli security agent with a dubious backstory. Could he be a target? The co-pilot, Charlie Busch, has been stalking Emma Lightner, the pretty flight attendant. Charlie is a ne’er-do-well Texan with political connections that got him pilot training in the National Guard (think George W. Bush). Prior to arriving for the flight, he had not slept and had been taking drugs and alcohol. Could he be impaired? If one finds this list of suspects insufficiently suspicious, also consider the novels protagonist, Scott Burroughs, who hitched a ride on the fateful flight. He is a middle-aged former drunk and minor artist whose oeuvre consists of paintings of disasters—strange and definitely suspicious. Unfortunately, the reveal at the novel’s end is a little underwhelming, but the MacGuffins are great!

Along with JJ, the Bateman’s 4-year-old son, Scott survives the crash and miraculously manages to swim to Montauk with a dislocated shoulder and towing the boy. We are told that he was inspired to accomplish this feat because of an early childhood admiration for Jack LaLane. That’s right—the 50’s fitness buff who did all kinds of amazing things like swim with a boat in tow containing several people. Of course, Hawley glosses over the fact that Scott is no longer a swimmer and is undoubtedly out of shape due to his recent sedentariness, alcoholism and the 47 years he is carrying. For the sake of the plot, however, the reader is encouraged to overlook this jarring inconsistency.

For a thriller that is entirely dependent of characters to build suspense, Hawley’s characters are curiously cartoonish. The females don’t seem important enough to have been given more than passing attention mainly as tools for the male characters. While receiving more attention, the males are lacking in nuance. Many are essentially thinly disguised caricatures of celebrities (see above). Possibly the most egregious would be Bill Cunningham, the loudmouthed, bullying, opinionated conservative talk show host on Bateman’s network (think Bill O’Reilly). An equally obnoxious man is the husband of Maggie’s sister, Eleanor, who becomes JJ’s guardian. His main interest seems to be getting his hands on JJ’s considerable inheritance.

Hawley aspires to insert topical themes in his narrative, but these tend to come across as rants, rather than analysis. Certainly the misuse of media to create titillating stories is paramount. However, other themes are less prominent but evident as well. These include the toxic confusion of power with masculinity, the downside of celebrity, and the nature of art.

Although he has written other novels, Hawley’s reputation rests on writing for television. Cable TV series (e.g., Fargo) offer a writer much more freedom to develop plot and characters than one finds in the typical FX movie today, yet this novel lacks that level of subtlety. Instead it reads like a screenplay for an action picture, which it likely may become. show less

For the past couple of years I have been OBSESSED with the FX show “Fargo”. I love the movie, but the show has knocked it out of the park the two seasons it has been on, with a third coming up in the nearish future. I seriously can’t wait because I LOVE this show, and I love how it portrays the deep and violent underbellies of Minnesota life. While still being so damn Minnesotan. Little did I realize that Noah Hawley, the showrunner for that series, is also an author. I didn’t realize this until after I had checked out his most recent novel “Before The Fall”, and once I did I was pretty damn excited and even more intrigued by it. Hawley has a skill for writing and creating complex and nuanced characters, as seen in Bear and show more Peggy and Molly and Lorne Malvo on the show he’s in charge of. It shouldn’t be much surprise that he brought that same skill and nuance to a number of his characters in “Before The Fall”. Well, a few of them anyway.

Since the cast is characters is pretty big and their fates sealed from the get go, Hawley only has to really show a little bit of motivation for how each person got on this ill fated plane, and what role, if any, they played in it’s crash. Much of the focus, however, is on former addict and down on his luck painter Scott, an artist with a need to try and understand tragedy and accidents even before he survives a plane crash. Scott is by far the most interesting character in this book, because it is mostly through his eyes that we see the aftermath of such a tragedy. I liked Scott as a character, a pretty good guy trying to figure himself out who finds himself the center of a tragedy, and the person that everyone is trying to get answers from. He wasn’t necessarily a hero in a stereotypical sense; he did what he could in an emergency and was able to save himself and J.J., the four year old lone survivor to a media fortune. But of course the fact he isn’t perfect or the ideal heroic figure, that works against him in the eyes of some, which was a fascinating angle to take. He is a wonderful foil to Eleanor, J.J.’s aunt through his mother, who has been thrust into motherhood while in intense grief. Both Scott and Eleanor care very deeply about J.J., but neither of them really know how to adjust to their new roles that have been heaped upon them, be it hero or mother. It seemed kind of on the nose that Eleanor’s husband Doug was just the worst, more interested in dollar signs than his wife or nephew as they navigate their grief, but he just goes to show that Eleanor is strong, and deep. Perhaps his two dimensional characterization is just there to bolster her when she can stand on her own two feet, but I liked having a clear person to hate, so that’s fine!

And along with that, we see how the world tries to make sense, and tries to point fingers towards blame, and how the media (especially media with vested interests in outcomes) can drive a narrative. The media has been accused of influencing people’s opinions a lot lately, especially in the sense of putting info out there that isn’t totally true, or is flat out false. “Before The Fall” focuses a lot on this plot point, as one of the victims, David Bateman, was the head of a Fox News-esque network that is very controversial because of how it spins things or emphasizes sensationalism over facts. The face of the network, Bill Cunningham, is both incredibly stereotypical and yet one of the more intriguing character in the book, as his need to know what happened to his friend and mentor completely clouds his already super cloudy professional judgement. This of course leads to a very bloodthirsty Witch Hunt that his viewers, and other media, partake in. On one hand you feel for him because he’s very clearly in mourning, but on the other he’s such a bastard for exploiting this tragedy for ratings that you can’t help but hate him as well. So yeah, a bit stereotypical, but at the same time you kind of have to wonder about him. He never really gets a full exploration like many of the other players, but isn’t just flat and boring in his wretchedness like Doug. Friggin’ Doug.

I enjoyed how this book slowly revealed the backstories of the victims of the plane crash, showing the things happening in their immediate lives right before their deaths, or in some cases the events that REALLY put them on this path. I do think that it was kind of a fizzle out in some ways, however, as while we get all this background, so much of it doesn’t really end up being totally relevant to the plot and the outcome. But then, that in and of itself is kind of perfect, because that’s the point. Sometimes things happen, randomly, coincidentally, and these things may not actually matter in the long run, at least at the end of all things. These things may just happen but other things outside of your control can change your destiny. That’s the problem Cunningham never quite figures out, and while some may find it to be pointless, I find it poignant as all get out. And so very “Fargo”.

So while it ended up taking me on a long chase and sometimes superfluously, I did end up really enjoying “Before The Fall”. The twists and turns were a fun ride, and I liked how it ended even if it wasn’t what I have come to expect from thriller mysteries such as these. I say check it out. show less

This was a quick and riveting read. I devoured it in a day. The set up is great, a plane, out of the Vineyard, crashes and only two people survive. Scott, an artist who paints catastrophes and JJ, the four year old son of one of the moguls aboard. What happened to cause the crash is the big question but what also unfurls is a story about media culture and the public's voracious appetite for more chum and the incessant churn.

We get chapters give us the background of those who perished in the crash and current looks in at the survivors and flashbacks of the moments leading up to the crash. The reveal of the precipitating incident was well done but I did feel it was given a bit short shrift. Or it could be possibly that the main point was show more all else revealed about people before that moment.

Our main character Scott, had a life long fascination with Jake Lelanne which inspired him as a child to become a dedicated swimmer. That action and his belief in Lelanne's determination is what saves he and JJ that awful night. Throughout the book there are callbacks to Lelanne's television persona and it's in stark juxtaposition to infotainment king and alphahole extraordinare, Bill Cunningham. Cunningham's boss and friend was David Bateman (father of JJ) and takes it upon himself to decide what's a crime and who's a criminal. And what was even more nauseating is this guy wasn't motivated by grief. His motivation was pure self advancement. He sets his sights on Scott and for the main of the story is just about the worst human being we get to know. But the contrast between he and LeLanne and their audiences are one of the best things this book does. From the nation tuning in to Jack Lelanne giving them a positive view of the world and how to be their better, fitter selves to the nation tuning in to Bill Cunningham giving them a confirmation of their deepest fear that everything has gone to hell and those who know it are in some deeply endangered minority. It's as much an indictment on the media as its audience. Fascinating story, especially as we live in a time where televised media give reports based on tweets and things followed by the caveat "this is unconfirmed" & "we haven't confirmed this but...".

All my questions were answered except the one that provided the best moment of laughter. While on his epic swim and thinking of Lelanne, Scott thinks that if he survives this he'll send a fruit basket to Mrs. Lelanne and he laughed at the thought of standing in Edible Arrangements signing the card. He had a lot going on in the book but it seems that Mrs. Lelanne didn't get that basket after all. Oh well. This is the perfect story to become a summer series. with the whole story told in ten episodes. Definitely recommended. If you take it on a vacation (maybe not if you're flying), do take another book as well as this one won't take you long. show less

Holy shit, Noah Hawley, where have you been all my life?

This is one of those novels that pisses me off mightily, because I have nothing but both love and jealousy for someone that can build such real characters, so monumentally human and fallible, then take those characters and interlace them like the gears and sprockets of a fine watch, so that each one, through their own actions, push or influence those around them, inevitably driving the story forward, even as we live it out of order.

I got this book quite a while ago, and had it sitting on my TBR list long enough that I'd completely forgotten what originally tweaked my interest in it. Hell, I couldn't even tell you what it was about, aside from falling and waves, based on the cover. show more And, as usual in situations like this, I took no effort to find out. Instead, I just went into the book cold, wide open to anything it could offer.

It offers a lot. Each character is meticulously built right in front of you, and each one is someone you know, or you've heard about in the media.

Ah, then there's the media. Hawley doesn't take a poke at the current state of journalism in America, no he slaps it around and makes it his bitch. And he's spot on. He perfectly executes the media spin, taking two friends to an affair, taking an upcoming arrest and death to conspiracy, taking a crash to a terrorist event.

And, at the heart of it all, he has Scott, the only adult survivour of the crash, who is alternately loved and reviled by different characters.

I can't tell you more than this, but I will say, in a year of some pretty damn good books, this one is top three.

I gotta go find me some more Hawley books. show less

Flying High

Media: Audio
Read by:Robert Petkoff
Length: `13 hours

A private jet takes off from Martha’s Vineyard with a bunch of rich passengers on boards. Also along for the ride are an ex-Israeli security guard and an artist who was invited by one of the passengers.

The plane crashes into the Atlantic about 20 minutes after take-off and only two of those on-board survive. It’s a 15 mile swim to shore and it’s night. There’s heavy fog and huge waves. Only two survive, the artist an a four year old boy.

As the book rolls along we get to know the major players, and the suspense level is kept high as the authorities try to unravel the cause of the crash. We learn about the pre-flight lives and social circles of those on board. There is show more a crooked money-launderer with links to the baddies, a good-natured trophy wife, a beautiful Manhattanite, a ‘90s hippy loser, a cute kid, a drowned sister, a nice black cop, a nasty white cop and a farmers’ market. It sounds like the sort of novel I’d normally avoid. But Hawley/ pulls it off.

Hawley is best known as a script write and his work for the U.S. film industry shines through in his highly visual writing style. He paints cinematic pictures of the crash, the passengers’ lives before, and the survivors’ lives after. Hawley’s exposure to big media is also evident in his depictions of the Murdoch media empire, specifically of right-wing hosts à la Hannity which are spot on.

I can easily recommend this book. There are a couple of gray spots where chapters are devoted to some boring passengers and their sub-plots, but despite these the reader is kept in suspense through to the final pages.

The ending was a little too “American”, but we can’t have it all. I enjoyed reading this book. show less

In The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis explains how psychologists Kahneman and Frederickson demonstrated the peak-end rule – that when we remember an experience we give undue prominence to how it ends. And that’s why I’m probably going to be more critical of this book than it deserves.

Scott is a not-quite-successful artist spending the summer on Martha’s Vineyard when he is offered a lift back to New York on the private plane of an acquaintance. She is married to the plane’s owner, who runs a right-wing cable network. Also travelling are their two children, their friend, a hedge fund billionaire and his wife, and the crew and security staff.

The plane crashes over the water, and only Scott and four-year-old JJ survive. The rest show more of the book follows the story of Scott after the crash interspersed with flashbacks to the stories of the other characters immediately before the flight. Scott has to come to terms with his own experience, his new found celebrity, and the ongoing investigation. Meanwhile we try and get a sense of what might have happened in the past to lead to this horrific event.

The endings to the two stories are also intercut: the revelation about the last moments of the plane and a denouement in the present for Scott. The problem for me is that it becomes clear what has happened to the plane some time earlier, both because of the way the story is structured and through some over-zealous seeding. I kept hoping it was ingenious misdirection and there would be some other, more brilliant revelation that I hadn’t even thought of, but there wasn’t. Or that perhaps the ‘who’ was obvious, but the ‘why’ surprisingly complex, but that wasn’t it either.

So we find out (or have confirmed) whodunnit just as there is a more interesting story developing in the present, but then the narrative breaks away to the past, to give you the back story of the crash (which is just exposition now) and your eyes are skimming and it’s not raising the tension, it’s just slowing things down, and then you get back to the present drama and it’s all a bit rushed and confused and then it’s the end. And you suspect it’s the author who’s in a hurry, rather than the characters.

The sad thing is that this then leads me to think of other things that I might have let pass, like the fact that the cable TV mogul and the hedge fund billionaire are quite stereotypical (which may be realistic but isn’t good drama) or that the characters all come with backstories too neatly formulated to suggest they could be either perpetrator or target of the plane crash (which is good drama but not realistic). Or the fact that all the women in the story are only there because of their relationship to the male protagonists, and it feels like the author’s default setting rather than social commentary.

So here is the nice bit after the negativity. Scott is a great character. I did find myself really engaged in his story. The author has some interesting things to say about the nature of perception and reality and I really enjoyed the contrasting world-views of Scott the artist and Gus, the engineer who is called on to investigate the crash, a man on his own journey towards realising that not everything in life can be quantified. The author has a real sympathy for the vulnerable, and a sense of significance of small interactions between characters. His drawing of the relationship between Scott and JJ is particularly moving.

The aftermath of the crash, when Scott and JJ are in the water, is gripping and beautifully written. You’re immersed in the Atlantic cold, the fog, the sense of dislocation, as you wonder, what would I do? How would I cope? How can they possibly get out of this?

I’m glad they made it. I just wish it hadn’t ended that way…
*
I received a copy of Before the Fall from the publisher via Netgalley.
This review first appeared on my blog https://katevane.wordpress.com/ show less