I love reading memoirs! Or any type of historical voyeuristic like journey into someone's life. I just think they're so interesting, especially when they're on people who are no longer with us and can't tell their story. So when I was watching CBS Sunday Morning, a couple of months ago, they did a piece on Lily Koppel's new book, The Astronaut Wives Club.
What's more American than apple pie, big mac's and astronauts? I was instantly intrigued by the idea of doing a book on the woman who were behind some of America's heroes. the picture on the cover is of seven impeccably dressed All American women, which is also a picture that ran on Life Magazine in 1959. It was a window into a period of time that I find so fascinating, I was hooked!
The book starts out with a simple prologue and background about how this book came to life. It also includes a list of all the women and a short one line description. The book primarily focuses on the "Mercury 7" wives, who were the original AWC, but does delve into the lives of the Apollo spouses and beyond as well.
I don't know much about NASA or the Space Program in general, other than the basics. I was really interested to find out about the more personal side of it. I learned a lot about the early days of the program, as well as some really great personal facts. As I said before it focuses more on the first seven wives, who were really the most interesting of the bunch. For instance I never knew that Annie Glenn (John Glenn's wife) had a very severe stutter; She even refused to let Vice President LBJ into her house because she was embarrassed at the thought of having to talk to him and the camera crew he brought with him.
Some wives only got a small paragraph mention, and some none at all. I'm not entirely sure if its because of their husbands small role in the program or because she couldn't find enough material on those particular women. Anyways, that being said, I did not enjoy Koppel's story of writing. I was so excited to read this book, and when I was about thirty pages in I wanted to call it a day. Since it's a historical non-fiction book I expected it to be told in the traditional style. Very heavy on the facts, a straight forward dialogue, and a lot of first hand accounts from the wives themselves. I was not expecting this to be written as historical "chick-lit", because that's exactly what it is. Koppel took the facts which are already pretty meaty on their own and fluffed them up General Hospital style.
I'm guessing the reasoning for that was to keep the targeted all women audience interested. Its annoying, but once you get used to how she wrote it you'll get over it. Other than the style of writing I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought the content (fluffy as it may be) was very good and I learned so much. I could never imagine being one of these very honorable women. To sit and have a photographer/reporter (later a news crew) watching your every move as your husband shots off on a rocket into space, is not exactly something I could do. If you're interested in NASA or are one of those nostalgia driven people, you will definitely enjoy this. Just remember if you're a non-fiction fan to give it a chance, you'll get used to Koppel's style of writing.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book, it gets 4.5 stars from me. It would get 5 if it wasn't as fluffy as Mr. Bigglesworth pre freezing. Well done CBS Sunday Morning, keep the good book recommendations coming!
That's all for now!
<3's Laterz,
Book Website: http://www.astronautwivesclub.com/
CBS Sunday Morning Spot: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57589320/
 |
| Photo Courtesy of www.astronautwivesclub.com |
The book starts out with a simple prologue and background about how this book came to life. It also includes a list of all the women and a short one line description. The book primarily focuses on the "Mercury 7" wives, who were the original AWC, but does delve into the lives of the Apollo spouses and beyond as well.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of Time-Life Magazine |
Some wives only got a small paragraph mention, and some none at all. I'm not entirely sure if its because of their husbands small role in the program or because she couldn't find enough material on those particular women. Anyways, that being said, I did not enjoy Koppel's story of writing. I was so excited to read this book, and when I was about thirty pages in I wanted to call it a day. Since it's a historical non-fiction book I expected it to be told in the traditional style. Very heavy on the facts, a straight forward dialogue, and a lot of first hand accounts from the wives themselves. I was not expecting this to be written as historical "chick-lit", because that's exactly what it is. Koppel took the facts which are already pretty meaty on their own and fluffed them up General Hospital style.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of www.astronautwivesclub.com |
Overall I would definitely recommend this book, it gets 4.5 stars from me. It would get 5 if it wasn't as fluffy as Mr. Bigglesworth pre freezing. Well done CBS Sunday Morning, keep the good book recommendations coming!
That's all for now!
<3's Laterz,
Book Website: http://www.astronautwivesclub.com/
CBS Sunday Morning Spot: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57589320/
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