Dear Edward is the story of a boy - Eddie Adler, the sole survivor of a passenger jet crash that killed 190+ people, written by Ann Napolitano. It is fiction and not a real-life incident although the author says she did draw inspiration from the Afriqiyah Airways 771 crash at Tripoli in 2010 where a lone 10-year-old Dutch boy survived. 
The weather conditions used in the crash of the LA bound jetliner from Newark airport in the book are modeled on the conditions of an Air France passenger jet crash over the Atlantic in 2009.The final minutes of conversation between the pilots in the novel is taken from the black box recording of the Air France carrier.These acknowledgements by the author led me to spend a few hours on YouTube watching documentaries on these particular plane crashes before I moved on to several types of Top 10 crash lists - like top 10 deadliest airplane accidents due to pilot error, top 10 crashes where an octogenarian survived, top 10 worst air disasters due to bird strikes and other such morbid compilations. Like everyone who has flown on jet-liners, there has been fleeting micro-seconds before a flight when I have doubted the airworthiness and reliability of these flying tin cans. Then that brief moment of doubt is wiped clean by science and statistics (more chance to die in a car crash than an air crash yada yada)
There was one time in the recent past though that made me question my faith in air travel. Two summers ago, right after Boeing 737 Maxes were grounded the world over due to their faulty MCAS, we got on a Boeing Dreamliner flying from London to the U.S. The name Boeing was still freshly suspect in our minds with all 737 Maxes still grounded everywhere when we got on that Boeing-made plane run by one of the best budget airlines in the business. The airplane was brand new, must have been built around the same time as the grounded Maxes, I thought, as we took our seats, towards the middle of the aircraft.
We were seated a row in front of the galley, the plane was cruising westward over the Atlantic. Two hours into the flight we noticed all the cabin crew quickly putting back the food trays which they had taken out to serve the passengers and talking in hush hush tones huddled around the phone in the galley. This went on for a few minutes. Through the window I could see the blue-black inky stillness of the Atlantic below. Then the captain's voice came on, "we are experiencing an electrical issue and we are returning to Gatwick," I experienced a minor heart attack right then. Immediately after the announcement the power was cut off to all electrical outlets and the interior lights were turned off which added to gravity of the situation.
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| Inflight info : From London Gatwick to London Gatwick |
We were about a fifth of the way to our destination and the pilots have decided to turn back - this was a sign of something serious. Should have only gotten tickets on the airlines that had Airbus fleets instead of Boeing, I reprimanded myself as I checked the in-flight map showing our location. Faroe Islands will forever be etched in my memory, that is where I saw our plane making a 180 degree turn, planning to return to our port of departure. The islands looked lonesome out there in the middle of the vast Atlantic Ocean. There will be sheep grazing on the islands who couldn't care less if an aircraft burst into flames overhead, I thought, as I looked over at my kids. They are too young to die. All the way back, I who didn't believe in any God, tried to make our case with the universe to let our airplane travel back without any electrical hiccups and land in one piece. Thankfully it did. After about a couple of hours waiting, the airline put all the passengers back on another Dreamliner which made its way to the US without any problem. I am yet to make an overseas flight after this incident, mainly because of the Covid19 pandemic and not because I've sworn off air travel.
I picked up Dear Edward for the same reason our mind cheers the triumph of indestructible human spirit in the worst tragedies or rejoices seeing a dandelion poke its bright yellow head out of a crack in the pavement. The central character Eddie Adler is a sign of hope and jubilation amidst disaster and death. Like most humans I find it uplifting to read about hope. I find myself eager to know the ways and worlds the hope that is Eddie will grow into.
On the basis of this triumphant survivor rationale, I was expecting a heart-rending gut punch, some hairs-on-end reunions or revelations but the novel overall had a lukewarm effect on me. It could also be that my expectations are misplaced after not having read fiction in a long while. The chapters switch between Eddie's current world and reminiscences of a handful of passengers on that ill-fated flight. The recollection chapters are styled as characters thoughts during the last few hours of their life, before the crash happens, not knowing the fate that is awaiting them. All in all it is an okay read, but there is some key ingredient missing that could have transformed it from mediocre to phenomenal. I don't know what it is.
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