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Oh, That I Had Wings (2009)

by Sarah Pawley(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

144862911X (ISBN13: 9781448629114)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Createspace

review 1: I loved this book, and will be adding the other in this series, Saving Grace, to my list to read. I won this on Goodreads First Reads giveaway...what a thrill! :) The author, Sarah, included a note and signed the book...such a nice touch!This book is an an engaging story of a man who came from a poor Virginia town, and follows him from age 10, through the WWI, his first love, a great loss, a return home...until he begins his new life as an adult. The characters are well written, and very real to the reader. I had difficulty putting it down, as my family will attest. :)Like another reviewer stated, the *only* distraction is what appear to be typographical errors, and odd spacing...I'm assuming from the editing process. A few places seem to have text missing, as if so... moremething was removed, and nothing put back in it's place. There is one *big* error, that really bothered me, but is easy to fix in future publications...the teacher stated that the 2nd amendment guarantees her right to free speech...that is the 1st amendment...the 2nd is the right to bear arms...I don't think Alice would make the mistake.The book ended just right...making me want just a little bit more. :)
review 2: I received the book through Goodreads, which was exciting in itself, and I also received a note from Pawley, which was very kind! Although I received it early in the year, I was bogged down by my graduate work to be able to read anything for fun, so finally getting to enjoy this was a real pleasure. The plotline tracking Jack through his childhood to his marriage reminded me a lot of a male version of Jane Eyre, and I liked Pawley's way of showing his emerging character. However, that said, I felt that in many ways the book was too predictable. Although I liked Alice's character (quite a bit actually, though perhaps her unfailing strength was a tad unlikely), I was a little unimpressed by the ease of their relationship. Even though I like the idea that Jack dreams of his future wife before marrying her, I felt like it was too easy and very unlikely in real life (although I understand that fiction is NOT real life). I was very disappointed in the implausible reunification of Jack and his red-headed love when he returns from the war, and I had to fight against my urge to not finish the book. I felt like the arc of the story ended there, even though there were several chapters that followed with other small conflicts. I found myself wishing that Jack had not found her again. In terms of the other minor characters, I thought Henry was the most fleshed out. I felt like even in the small scenes we had of him, we were able to infer such a depth in his character that we don't have in many of the others. I also liked the Esme plot, and I felt that the scenes in which Jack was in the war and in Paris were the most riveting. As another reviewer mentioned, I too was distracted by the grammatical and syntactical errors in my copy of the book, but it is possible that the version I received through Goodreads was an earlier version of the novel. Overall, I think Pawley did a great job on the plot. Her delving into the mind of Jack Langdon was a feat that she pulled off well. I found myself rooting for him even if I didn't want to at times, and ultimately, his happiness made me thrilled, which, as far as literary absorption goes, is in my opinion, a huge success. Though I haven't read any of her other works, I have no doubt that they are filled with as much heart as Jack Langdon is, and as much faith in humanity as this book proved to have. less

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