The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky: A True Story by Ken Dornstein (#30, Nonfiction)

I just happened to be passing by the "new arrivals" shelf at the library when I saw this book. It wasn't the title, but more the color of the book that caught me, but after about two sentences into the inside flap, I knew it was a book I was going to regret reading. All I had to see were the words "Pan Am flight 103" and I knew I shouldn't read it, but I knew that wouldn't stop me.

Other than the fact that prior to reading the book I couldn't fly without boozing it up beforehand and now I may need some horse tranquilizers to coax me on board, the book was actually really good. It is the story of Ken Dornstein, a young man who lost his brother David in the Lockerbie plane crash of 1988.

Memoirs always make me hesitant. In this case the tragedy of the situation is apparent, but initially I wondered what story did Ken have to tell about his brother that wasn't the same story of every other unfortunate soul on that flight? Turns out he could have written a book without the plane crash.

The story, although not nearly as horrific, reminded me at times of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. After David's death Ken spends the next decade reading through hundreds of notebooks that David used to document his life. David didn't want to just live, he didn't just want to attend Brown University and be another student, he was unable to complete simple class assignments because anything he wrote, or did, had to be "brilliant". He lived his life in a sort of bohemian way never really having a job, never paying regular rent, I think that he thought to live a "standard" life would be selling out, and that wasn't something he was willing to do.

The book is gruesome-- with more facts about the plane crash than I cared to know, it is troubling--including Ken finding out his brother was molested as a child, and it is incestuous--Ken ends up marrying his brother David's first love.

If you don't have a crazy fear of flying like I do I would recommend reading the book. And even if you are like me, I am still hoping that reading such intimate details about my greatest fear has in some way helped me get over the fear . . . yeah, probably not.