High Adventure Book

The American, author James Norman Hall (1887- 1961), writes of his flying in France during the First World War. For the Atlantic Monthly, he agreed to write a series of articles about American volunteers fighting in France's Lafayette Escadrille. The United States had not yet joined the war. What we read are journal entries recording his experiences'how he was taught to fly, daily routines, weekend sojourns in Paris, targeting of enemy infantry troops and combat missions behind enemy lines. He speaks of his own emotional turmoil'recognizing his own fear, thrill, disgust and horror.

The presentation is confusing'background information is scanty. One gets no sense of Hall's personality. One would guess that the writing would be exciting, which it is not, except for one episode when he describes a bombing mission.

At the end of the book is collected background information, which is at this point too late. There is an additional short section presenting biographical details.

The audiobook is narrated by Andre Devin. What is delivered is a theatrical performance including sound effects, snippets of music, off-key singing and an excessive dramatization of the author's written lines. None of this I enjoyed. The French is so poorly spoken that I had a hard time figuring out what he could be trying to say. One star for the narration performance.

Given the work's historical significance it is of course important that the journal entries have been preserved.