Fearless

Max Klein has serious problems when it comes to flying. Like pretty much everything else in his life, Max sees flying as just another disaster waiting to happen. But, remarkably, when he finds himself in a passenger jet that is almost certainly going to crash, Max is one of the calmest people on the whole plane. He is the guy who takes the time to comfort a young boy who is traveling alone, assuring the boy that everyone will be alright despite sincerely believing they would all soon be dead. Then, improbable as it is, the pilot makes a miracle landing without killing everyone and Max becomes a folk hero. Suddenly, the man who was terrified to fly feels invincible.

Carla Fransisca, on the other hand, boarded the plane with her young son show more figuring that this was going to be just another plane ride. Now, because she was unable to save her son, Carla is crushed by the realization that she failed in the most important job of her life. She blames herself for the toddler’s death and seems perfectly willing to live the rest of her life in seclusion. `

Fearless begins with an airplane crash, one so vividly described by Rafael Yglesias that readers with even a tinge of the fear of flying will find themselves cringing at what the passengers are enduring. The book looks at how people react to almost dying, how it changes the way they see the world and how they plan to spend the rest of their lives. Living on “bonus time” is, it seems, a blessing for some, but a burden for those overcome by survivor’s guilt.

When, in the aftermath of the crash, Max finally meets Carla, he feels compelled to help her through the grief of losing her only child. As their spouses watch helplessly from the sidelines, Max and Carla must decide who they will be for the rest of their lives. This 1993 novel, part comedy and part tragedy, is both entertaining and thought provoking as it forces the reader to consider how he might react to his own near miss.

Rated at: 4.0 show less

In this book, Yglesias tries to capture the depth of human soul: what makes us tick? what do we fear? how would we react in a catastrophe? I think he did a good job of describing the various reactions of survivors of an air crash: everything from tearful thankfulness, to shameful guilt and unabashed anger. The plot reads well although some of the characters' actions were, I thought, rather outrageous, especially the two protagonists' acts of redemption, which seemed unlikely and staged. The families, however, were well depicted both in terms of personalities and unease faced with such dramatic circumstances.
The ending is surprising, a little disheartening, as though no one has really learned from the experience - life goes on as it show more always has. This left me with an ambiguous feeling where the normal suddenly overshot the extraordinary. An interesting read which could have been developed for a more fulsome exploration of people's capacity for resilience. show less

Fearless starts with a harrowing account of a plane crash experienced by the main characters Max and Carla, in which Max's business partner and Carla's son die. We then follow Max and Carla through the next few months, as they deal with the various emotions and life changes, some of them unexpected, that come from such a catastrophic event.

Gripping and disturbing at times, this novel explores how people deal with fear and loss, and how such an event can change one's outlook completely. It is interesting to contrast the actions and thoughts of Max and Carla, who react quite differently. I found certain parts of the plot not entirely believable, and as mentioned by some other reviewers, the ending is a bit too neat. Nevertheless, this show more novel is a good read, though not always a pleasant one. show less

Fearless follows the story of two survivors of a plane crash: Carla, who lost her 2 year old son in the crash and blames herself; and Max, who rescued two children from the wreckage and becomes known by the media as the 'Good Samaritan'.

This is an excellent, well-paced novel. I was gripped from start to finish. The description of the plane crash at the start of the book is realistic and harrowing without being over-sensational - although I wouldn't recommend reading this if, like me, you're already afraid of flying!

The contrasting reactions of the two central characters - Carla retreats into despair, while Max becomes increasingly reckless and, well, Fearless - were very well handled, and realistically written. I've only 3.5 stars show more instead of 4 because I found the ending slightly disappointing - it all seemed a little too neatly wrapped up - although this wasn't a big issue really. The ending was disapointing to me, but it was true to the characters and the story established up to that point. show less

This is a beautiful story full of intense drama. The reactions of the characters to surviving the trauma of a plane crash are realistic: one, a middle-aged man acting in reckless abandon, feeling invincible while reflecting a resentment of his life before the accident; the other a young mother whose two-year old died in the crash, debilitated by a guilt made more intense by her Catholic upbringing.

At times the writing is a bit weak,but this is more than balanced by perceptive descriptions of human emotion. Actually, the novel deserves 4 1/2 stars. I would give it that if I could.

Max Klein is an architect with a strong fear of flying. However, his job often requires that he does fly, and one day his worst fears come true, when the plane he is travelling crashes. Max survives, and is hailed a hero when he helps other survivors as well.

The accident has a strange effect on Max, and he appears to believe himself to be invincible, and keeps testing his powers or invincibility, creating tension between his family. He becomes friendly with Carla, another passenger on the ill-fated plane, whose baby boy was killed in the crash, and who blames herself for his death. Max decides to help her and they developa unique relationship.

This is a great book that really made me think. For any movie fans, the film is great too, show more although somewhat different from the book. show less

I was excited when I first started reading this book. It started off with a bang, a very scary description of a plane crash. It was like I was on the plane. After the plane crash, and we were brought into the lives of the survivors, it went a little downhill for me. I never felt fully engaged with the characters. It was always just at the surface. At times the dialog was not believable and I didn't understand the actions of the characters because I never connected with them. Seems most people liked this book, so maybe it was just me. I just never fully embraced this story for some reason.