I Was Amelia Earhart

I WAS AMELIA EARHART

by Jane Mendelsohn

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1998, LA Times Finalist 1996, Women’s Prize Finalist 1997

 

Date Read: August 25, 2023

 

In this fictionalized account of Amelia’s life and disappearance, Mendelsohn has created the most ideal of all endings – landing safely on a deserted island that provides all of the basics of existence and she and Noonan, her navigator, find a way to live together in harmony until their natural end.

 

With all the speculation and intrigue surrounding her disappearance (I mean, what actually happened to her?), this ending is perhaps the kindest. Some believe she, Noonan and her plane are at the bottom of the sea. Some believe she landed somewhere and was interned by the Japanese. Some believe she was eaten by cannibals (seriously). And some, like Mendelsohn, believe she landed on a deserted island.

 

What is not in dispute is that Amelia was truly one-of-a-kind, with an adventurous spirit and an unconventional, for her time, life goals. Her marriage to G.P. seemed not to be a significant part of her life and more of a strategic alliance than a love match. Amelia’s greatest love was flying. And she would do almost anything to raise the significant funds required to continue.

 

What continues to rankle and I’m unsure of whether this is fact or fiction, is that she wanted a beacon put on the tiny island where she was supposed to make a stopover. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to find it. With an alcoholic Noonan as her navigator, finding it becomes even more difficult. If that beacon had been placed, would Amelia still be alive?

 

From a literary standpoint, I didn’t find Mendelsohn’s writing exceptional but the subject was indeed. I have never been fascinated by Earhart’s life but now I’ve caught the fever.

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