Member Reviews
This was not what I expected, unfortunately. I found it to be a lot less polished than I expected. It reads like someone sent out an open call for gossipy stories and then simply printed everything as it was submitted. It made for an uneven read that wasn't quite as entertaining or engaging as I thought it would be. This one just wasn't for me...
Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of “ True Tales of TWA Flight Attendants” byKathy Kompare and Stephanie Johnson .This is a collection of short stories/ blurbs from many former TWA flight attendants through the. years starting in the 40s until the demise of TWA.I learned many fascinating facts from this book I liked the fact that this book had no plot so you could pick up and continue reading.where you left off.I definitely would recommend this book for people like me who was always fascinated with the ins and outs of being a stewardess during the golden years of flying.
As a person who loves to travel and particularly fly I really enjoyed reading this fun book based on actual events. Some of them seemed pretty outrageous and far fetched, but when you are dealing with the public anything is possible.
The book was pretty long but very easy to read because of the small chapters and was just the type of thing to make you smile. It may not be the style of writing for everyone but for me it was perfect.
I really enjoy aviation books. This book of several separate flight attendants experiences is a fair read, but quite dry. I read to the final chapter, but didn't find the writing improved.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing this copy. The opinion in this review is solely my own.
As the daughter of a flight attendant and someone who explicitly recalls the fateful flight 800 on July 17, 1996 this was going to be a major hit for me. The narrations were those of individual people so the choppy stories didn't faze me. The stories were awe-inspiring, sad, and funny. I enjoyed this read. I think this book would make an excellent gift for a previous flight attendant. Things have changed so much.
I am baffled by the low reviews. I found the details of the TWA attendants to be interesting. I could not believe that any prospective employees had to answer such personal questions on an application such as bust size and weight--seriously??? From the training process to the expectations--these females went through a lot.
The personal recollections of their experiences went from hilarious to astonishingly jaw-dropping.. There were also some that were sad, like the little boy with down's syndrome sent off by himself to live at a school who was only about 6 years-old.
Personally, I enjoyed the book.
While I thought the idea of this whole book was SUPER interesting and was the sole reason I requested this, the actual execution and writing of the book was terrible. As other reviewers have noted, it seems like a comment section on a blog post and not an actual book- I could not agree more. There is no organization or cohesive narrative and I did not enjoy this at all.
I would not recommend this to others.
Thank you to NetGalley and Telemachus Press for the ARC!
This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Telemachus Press and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
Fabulous stories about a culture many are fascinated with and the way they operated.
They have so many great stories in this book from a woman who suffered from diabetic coma and yet a fellow passenger insisted the hostess climb over her to get his hanging clothes needless to say that didn’t happen the story span from the first flights to the last and although they’re not all funny they’re all very interesting. Especially the people who wanted a kosher breakfast and all she did was wipe off the bacon juice and they said that was the best song with the rapper head. I found these stories highly entertaining and if you like being a fly on the wall tried being one on the TWA flight with the stewardesses or flight attendants. I received this book from NetGalleyShelf and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
Not the greatest book I've read, but passing. Seems like it was thrown together short notice.
Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.
3.5 stars
Well this was a fun wild ride. I’m not entirely sure how true all these stories are, some seemed quite embellished, but fun none the less. The writing itself isn’t wonderful, but it’s understandable and will likely get better with editing.
Having worked at one of TWA’s hubs for a while back in the 1980s, I was a bit curious to read “True Tales of TWA Flight Attendants” by Kathy Kompare and Stephanie Johnson. I heard a number of true stories from the FAs, as we called them then, ranging from the sweet to the bizarre, to the famous (and infamous), and some of the stories that really did make me either blush or roll my eyes. I really wish that toward the beginning the authors had taken a chapter (or section) to explain who did what on the airplane - including some of the acronyms (TRT is mentioned in one chapter without an explanation). Also, the airplanes themselves would’ve been nice to also be explained (why would someone not have flown on a 747, as mentioned in one story - when were they taken out of service by most commercial airlines? Were they mainly used for international flights? What planes did TWA mostly fly and when?). Luckily all of the stories are short - so if you don’t like one, amongst the stories there probably is one that you will like. The introduction had a lot (and I mean A LOT) of name dropping, so I figured that many of the stories would be about famous people and I was pleasantly surprised that they all were not. Some chapters had me very confused as the background information didn’t read very complete. Some chapters showed determination - such as the one about an incident at Harrods in London. Others showed courage - such as the one about a mishap and subsequent crash due to an engine on fire. Where I did have a problem, though, was that this book felt more like a collection of stories randomly put together opposed to organized in some manner. Additionally not all the stories are actually interesting and, in one case, was mean to prove a point. I’m also really hoping that an editor goes through the book carefully because in addition to a number of grammatical errors and sentence fragments, some famous names were misspelled - ouch! In a few cases, the submitter of the story was not on duty but assisted with the crew if necessary - so that was another thing that threw me for a few stories. Overall, if reading about stories about FAs from another era is up your alley, you might find this one enjoyable. In its present state, I found this book disjoined with many grammatical errors and it read more like comments on a blog entry requesting stories about being an FA. I think this was a good idea, but I wish that the execution had been better - but maybe after the editor takes another whack at it, it might be tighter and more organized. 4 stars for the idea, 1.25 stars for the readability and organization - rounded down to 2 stars.
This was a great light read. The stories take you back to when flying was only accessible to the upper middle class. The stories were short and engaging. I’m not sure how accurate some of them were but they were all 100% entertaining. Reading this also made me appreciate how far women have come in regards to being treated as more than just a pretty face.
The short chapters make this a grab and go read as you wait for kids, appointments or just when you need a few minutes to relax and unwind.
I highly recommend this book! Very interesting. Thanks to the authors, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review
This was a great book worth all the time I spent reading it. For those of us who read Coffee, Tea, or Me, this one is a true version of that, with all the adventures and misadventures of flight.
True Tales of TWA Flight Attendants by Kathy Kompare and Stephanie Johnson is such a fun read, particularly for those of us who have ever dreamed of flying during the golden age of travel in the sixties, seventies, and even the early eighties. There seems to be endless fodder from which to draw upon, some that will make you smile, and some that will have you shaking your head in utter disbelief. As a frequent flyer, it is almost unfathomable to me that flight attendants, or air hostesses as they were once called, had to adhere to such a strict code of personal and professional standards. I did take some exception to one of the author's advice that a traveller only fly on an American airline, but perhaps this was based solely on her personal experience with foreign airlines of the past.
Overall, this is an absorbing and anecdotal read that appealed to my desire to peel back the curtain on the air travel of a bygone era.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Telemachus Press for an ARC.
I could not finish this. It is very poorly written and almost laughable. It reads like a parody. I cannot believe this was actually purchased by a publisher.