In this stunning, emotionally charged memoir, Ken Dornstein interweaves the moving story of his own coming-of-age with the promise of greatness his...
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May 01, 2008
Yulia
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Jul 19, 2007
Catherine
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The author lost his brother in the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster. This book probably only serves to remember loved ones of his brother, not the average reader. Although I felt great sympathy for the author, he obviously has serious emotional problems of his own, judging by his relationships that follow the disaster. This book was truly a grind to get through and lacked the author's real emotions in his prose. A writer either needs to be willing to give of himself to his readers or don't bother.
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Oct 12, 2009
Trying to read this while studying for the bar was probably a bad idea - this is not really the book to unwind with after spending 15 hours a day studying. In addition to the fact that I was studying for "the most important test of my life" I probably tried to read this book too soon after Brian died. It could be, however, that I will never be able to read this book, given how "real" his pain is. This book was different than both "A Grief Observed" or "The Y
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Jul 12, 2011
Terri
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On page 206 of Ken Dornstein's "The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky" he "...wondered how long I would dedicate my life to retracing his steps." The person he is referring to is his brother, David, who was tragically killed on December 21st, 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. I, myself, wondered the same thing. How much time would he dedicate to retracing his brother's steps, and how long could I stand reading about it? While I understand Dornstein's n
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Feb 05, 2009
Because of the profoundly tragic inspiration for the book, Dornstein errs on the side of restraint; he maintains an objective, even distanced, attitude toward the death of his older brother. Critics generally praise Dornstein for that approach, and the result is a poignant examination of two intertwined lives. Despite the emotional toll that his brother's death and the subsequent rebuilding process take on him, Dornstein reconciles the complexities of his relationship with David while offering a
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Feb 18, 2010
Kate
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In 1988 Ken Dornstein’s brother, David, was killed in the Lockerbie bombing of a Pan Am jet. This is Ken’s tale of David’s life and his attempts to come to terms with his death. Obsessively searching for some connection with his brother, he travels to Lockerbie, Israel, and Holland for the trial of the suspects. Hopeful of becoming a writer of note, David kept copious notebooks, detailing the minutiae of his thoughts and daily life and it is on this material that Ken draws for his memoir. Her
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Jul 26, 2011
Belebe
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Tragic but moving semi-autobiography written in memory of the author's brother David, who died when the plane he was flying in blew up and crashed in Lockerbie. The ill-fated Pan-Am 103. It chronicled Ken's recovery journey as he learnt to deal with his brother's passing. David, an aspiring writer, lived his life in part-darkness of an abused past while trying to live up to his dreams. He finally completed a manuscript which apparently was lost during the plane crash. The amount of research work
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Feb 08, 2012
Diana
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The first and last part of the book were interesting. It told the story of the airline that was bombed out of the sky over Lockerbie a few years ago. The author's brother was on the flight. He researched what happened and tracked his brother as best as he could. The middle of the book was a rambling of the author's concerning his brother and his piles of notebooks as he aspired to be a writer. Also about the author's life during that time. Both seem to have mental issues. I suppose he was
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Oct 08, 2008
Ron
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Ken Dornstein had an older brother, David, whose life was cut short at the age of 25 when he, along with about 270 others from Pan Am flight 103 and others on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland died(December 1988)as the result of a bomb slipped on board by Libyan terrorists.
For the next 15 years or so, Ken obsesses over his brother: what he did, what he didn't get a chance to do, what his work left behind meant. David was a young man trying very hard to be a writer, from before his ma More...
For the next 15 years or so, Ken obsesses over his brother: what he did, what he didn't get a chance to do, what his work left behind meant. David was a young man trying very hard to be a writer, from before his ma More...
Jun 22, 2008
Dwhren
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I decided that reading this book on a plane probably wasn't the best idea. It's a true story written by the brother of one of the victims on Pan Am flight 103 that was taken down by a bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland. The beginning of the book describes the author's trip to Lockerbie a number of years after the death of his brother in order to try to come to grips with it. This includes a description of what happened to the plane and what the passengers probably experienced when the plane went d
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Mar 23, 2008
Sandy
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December 21, 1988 was Syracuse University's 9-11 - among the 282 people who were killed when a terrorist bomb blew up an airplane over Lockerbie, Scotland were 34 Syracuse University students who were returning home after a semester abroad. Eighteen years after living through this tragedy with the Syracuse community, I discovered this book and still couldn't read it for more than a year. The author of the book, Ken Dornstein, also lost his brother, David, that day, an aspiring writer who was fly
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May 19, 2009
Yeti
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A wonderfully written memoir of a young man searching for his brother's memory as he was tragically torn from the sky by an airplane bombing over the coast of England. Dornstein is writing a book about his schizophrenic brother who once dreamed of being a writer, and quite possibly could have been. By the end, one wonders if Dornstein is living his own life, or if he is living out his brother's. The tale stays with you even after you've finished the book.
Mar 11, 2008
Liddy
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I've read A Grief Observed and The Year of Magical Thinking, and as valuable and well-respected as those books are, The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky is an even more powerful and insightful book about grief. The author's brother David was killed on Pan Am flight 103, and Ken devotes himself to David's legacy: sorting through his volumes of journals and notebooks and unfinished journals, interviewing his friends, and traveling to the places David lived and died. In the end, though, "whatever h
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Mar 05, 2010
Allie
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I have to give the author credit for even writing this book as I can't imagine researching a sibling's death (and life before death) to this extent. The book starts off with details of the plane explosion which was both horrifying and fascinating to learn about. When he really delved into David's life, though, I began to lose interest. I just didn't have a lot of sympathy for David and found it hard to keep reading about how pissed off he was at the world and how little he was doing to change th
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Aug 02, 2011
Can't really recommend this one, unless you're interested in the terrorist bombing in Lockerbie or neurotic, self-absorbed, obsessive, and egotistical men with delusions of granduer. This desription applies both the author and to his brother, whom the memoir focuses on. Again, I just don't like memori.
Jul 07, 2010
Kelly
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this book left me sobbing at the end.....very unexpected, since it was a little slow & tedious at times.....but something kept drawing me in. I read the last 200 pages from 9-11pm last pm. part of the author is hard to understand (how? why? really?), but the other part is something I can't relate to; nobody can unless they have lost a loved one (particularly in this manner; no spoilers: his brother was on the Pan Am Flight 103 that crashed in Scotland back in the mid 80s, this is his brother
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Oct 31, 2009
Saturday's
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Pan Am Flight 103 haunts me with the images of the wreckage of the plane and the township of Lockerbie. This account of one young man who lives with the fact that his brother was on board the plane makes for sad and yet at the same time interesting reading. His journey to find out what really happened to his brother left me wondering what I would do if I were in his shoes. Is it better to know the awful facts or remain in the dark about what happened?
Mar 13, 2008
Greg
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I didn't like this as much as Liddy did, but I don't really enjoy memoirs that much. When describing it to me, she mentioned A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, but the writing in AHWOSG is in another class altogether. This book felt very authentic, but it also felt poorly written. The story he tells has inconsistencies (where did they live growing up, where a particular scene took place, how does the sister he barely mentions fit into his life) which sometimes outweigh the story he te
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Mar 19, 2011
Robert
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Promising story, but the author fails to get beyond his own obsessive relationship with his brother, who would, I think, be fairly easily classified as schizophrenic, though he is never treated.
Feb 17, 2008
Kristi
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This was a tremendous journey through one man's grief, the grief of losing his older brother. I loved it. Having seen so many friends and neighbors begin different journeys through grief, I appreciate someone writing so honestly so I can share in the experience. At one point, Dornstein quotes C.S. Lewis, "I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state, but a process."
I was amazed too, at how prophetic Dornstein's brother More...
I was amazed too, at how prophetic Dornstein's brother More...
Jan 10, 2008
Bethany
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Ken Dornstein’s brother was an aspiring author who wanted to write the next Great American Novel. In his case, his opus would be the story of a young aspiring author who is killed in a plane crash, told by the deceased. Tragically, he never got his chance; he was killed in a terrorist bombing on a plane returning from a writing retreat in Scotland.
Ken Dornstein collected his brother’s works and set about trying to figure out who he is himself, who his brother had been, and who he c More...
Ken Dornstein collected his brother’s works and set about trying to figure out who he is himself, who his brother had been, and who he c More...
Dec 17, 2009
Maggie
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Another book I read during my tenure at Build a Green Bakery between customers. I somehow saw myself somewhere in Ken Dornstein's recollection and reconstruction of his brother's life and his own inability to find or make distinct himself from his brother. Led to my discovery of the Hungarian Pastry Shop (well-known to very many, integral now that I am a Columbia student, but hitherto unbeknownst to me), sparked nostalgia for the nineties for a way I was unable to experience them with my age in
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Sep 09, 2008
Fiona
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Ken’s older brother, David, desperately wants to be a writer. He stays up all night bashing away at an old typewriter, amasses huge piles of ideas and half-finished stories, goes to creative writing classes, and writes letters to Norman Mailer. Then he dies in the Lockerbie bombing on 21 December 1988. Ken tries to come to terms with David’s death by trawling through his brother’s papers, hoping to find evidence of the Great Unpublished American Novel, and instead finds eerie premonitions about
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Oct 17, 2010
Mary
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Intensely personal but well written. Guess it did give a brother closure, describes the process of dealing w/ loss and making sense of something that never should have happened.
Mar 19, 2010
Michael
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Interesting exploration of grief and the life of the artist. Definitely worth reading.
Nov 22, 2009
I learned that listening by listening to NPR, you can find some good reads.
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Jul 15, 2008
Lennie
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In this memoir, Ken discusses his brother's life, who died at the age of 25, when he was aboard Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. I felt this book started out really well, with the author revisiting the crash site but then several chapters were devoted to trying to understand his brother through his journal entries and other papers that he left behind, and I started to lose interest. Nonetheless, it was nice to get a different perspective on a family who has to deal w
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Apr 05, 2010
Emily
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I enjoyed this book - it was well written. However, I just never got really into it.
