I Wonder If Ann Napolitano Has Read Ernest K. Gann????????????????

                         

                                            I put off reading "Dear Edward" for a long time, because I thought the subject matter of the book would be so depressing.  In the 1950's, and for years after, Gann's novel, "The High And The Mighty" was the definitive plane crash novel.  And though we had it in my house, growing up, I never could bring myself to read it.

                                             Then, in the midst of a pandemic, and craving contemporary fiction, I decided to risk reading "Dear Edward."  You may think me crazy, darlings, but it brought to mind, of all things, "The Song Of Bernadette," and here is why.  Both stories are about children thrown into situations they cannot control.  Bernadette was granted a visitation by the Blessed Virgin Mary, while Edward Adler is the sole survivor of a plane crash that takes his entire family.  He is raised by an aunt and uncle, with issues of their own, but both he and Bernadette are so regarded by the populace of their times as "miracle children" that everyone wants things from them, to reach out, and touch them, in hopes of obtaining some of their divinity.

                                                That's as far as the novel goes, in relation to Bernadette.  It does follow Edward into adulthood, his relationship with his aunt and uncle, which grows over time, the same with next door neighbor, Shay, and an old friend from his NYC neighborhood, named Mahira

                                                   His story is played out against looking back on the crash, which, harrowing though it be, I was not afraid to face.  Maybe because I already knew the outcome.

                                                    I cannot imagine what it must be like to be someone like Edward, or even Bernadette.  Ann Napolitano, who looks familiar to me, as I also live in Brooklyn, has written an emotionally resonant novel that got even I beyond my squeamishness.

                                                     Congratulations, Ann!  This could be one of my books of the year!