Dear American Airlines – Book Review

I honestly thought when I bought the book Dear American Airlines that it was about the airline industry. I vaguely remembered hearing that the book was good but missed that this is a novel written entirely in the form of one very very long complaint letter to American Airlines from a passenger stranded in O’Hare airport overnight and missing his daughter’s wedding.

What starts as a complaint letter turns into an autobiography of the misspent life of the author, Benjamin “Bennie” Ford, who is a poet and translator of Polish literature. Woven through this story is the story of the latest Polish novel that the main character is translating. It is a dark and profane novel but somehow charming at the same time. Bennie’s drinking, failed marriages, suicidal mother all become grist for a novel that weaves comfortably between diatribe, introspection and poetic account. A surprisingly wonderful and captivating novel.