Tailspin (Historical nonfiction) By John Armbruster.
Review by Sean Malone, Editorial Writer with Ten16 Press
“…Cinematically Grand…” – Kirkus Reviews
SMALL PRESS REVIEWS
TEN16 PRESS TEN16 Press, a division of Orange Hat Publishing, housing fiction, non-fiction, YA and poetry books. WWW.ORANGEHATPUBLISHING.COM
74
A P R I L / M AY 2 0 2 2
History is always the most compelling when the human characters have a central voice in the drama. John Armbruster’s Tailspin delivers this in spades, chronicling both the dramatic events and the interview process of Gene Moran — an American airman and tail gunner who fell four miles in the European Theater of WWII and survived the fall without a parachute. Gene’s story of service and endurance continued with long months of captivity, interrogation, and the struggle to survive in overwhelming conditions aboard dark ship hulks or on marches hundreds of miles long. Tailspin transports the reader through many decades, with the centerpiece focusing on 1943–44, presenting a vivid narrative of Gene’s wider story. Instantly, the reader is compelled to feel that they are with Gene and the rest of his crew in the flying fortress for the fateful flight, sharing in the sensory, frenetic experience of each tense moment of dogfighting and of the Rikki Tikki Tavi’s plummeting descent. These moments are complemented and contrasted with the quieter moments of Gene’s life outside of his service, such as his time working as a rural laborer and the different methods he employed to convince the drafting sergeant to enlist him. Presented alongside Gene’s history is the more private battle John’s family faces with his wife’s recurring cancer. In that regard, the narrative flow is smartly interspersed, taking the reader back and forth in a chronology that isn’t strictly linear.
