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    Flyover Lives: A Memoir
    Unavailable
    Flyover Lives: A Memoir
    Unavailable
    Flyover Lives: A Memoir
    Audiobook8 hours

    Flyover Lives: A Memoir

    Written by Diane Johnson

    Narrated by Suzanne Toren

    2.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Growing up in the small river town of Moline, Illinois, Diane Johnson always dreamed of floating down the Mississippi River and venturing off to see the world. Years later, at home in France, a French friend teases her about her Americanness: "Indifference to history. That's why Americans seem so naïve."

    The j'accuse stays with Johnson. Are Americans indifferent to history? Her own family seemed always to have been in the Midwest. Surely they had gotten there from somewhere? In digging around, she discovers letters and memoirs written by generations of her stalwart pioneer ancestors that testify to more complex and fascinating times than the derisive nickname "the Flyover" gives the region credit for. This is the story of the people who struggled to reach places like Ohio, Iowa, and Illinois two hundred years ago and saw no reason to leave.

    Johnson weaves in passages from these cherished records, illuminating the westward journeys shared by so many American families and the bedrock character that enabled them to survive a brutal pioneer period to become the sheltered guardians of Americana in both its best and worst incarnations.

    With the acuity and sympathy that her bestselling novels are known for, Johnson captures the magnetic pull of home against our lust for escape and self-invention. Here is the small-town charm of a midwestern childhood as well as the series of adventures that led to her unlikely situation in France, so far from Moline-yet, as her history reveals, the birthplace of her first ancestor to brave the New World. A dazzling meditation on the mysteries of the "wispy but material" family ghosts who shape us, this spellbinding memoir is also a keenly insightful exploration of how we shape ourselves.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJan 16, 2014
    ISBN9781480575547
    Unavailable
    Flyover Lives: A Memoir

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    Reviews for Flyover Lives

    2.5/5

    14 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. I'd like to apologize to the author for taking so long to post a review. I had a lot going on around my haven, including a new puppy and that has put me behind on my reading. This book was a tad different from my regular reading material (which varies). It took me a little while to grow an interest in the book, but as I continued through I began to enjoy it more. Diane Johnson is a wonderful writer and this book shares some of her family history along with stories from various parts of her life. There's a lot of nostalgia in the book that I could relate to despite the generation difference. I most enjoyed the parts about the summer house and teenage years. As she stated, it seems to be more of a travel book and though I struggled in the beginning I am glad that I completed it. I can understand some people's frustration but I don't understand the extremely low ratings. I believe it is worth the read and I appreciate the opportunity to do so.
    • 2/5
      Very disappointing and I didn't finish it. I've never read Johnson and this sounded intriguing but it was not. I found it dull and flat.
    • 2/5
      I don’t review books I don’t like; there is always the possibility that it is just me. So all I will say is that I did not like this book. I read it, cover to cover, but I had to force myself to keep reading. I didn’t take anything away from it. My favorite part was the beautiful cover. And that’s it.Apologies. Most likely it is just me.