March Book Discussion - As Far As The Stars by Virginia Macgregor

[BlueHeartScraps]

If you haven't had a chance to start this month's book, no worries...there's still plenty of time to enjoy the book and take part in this month's discussion with us. If you need a digital copy to read along with us (epub, mobi, PDF) -- please don't hesitate to email me at ​

[email protected]

I'd be honored to share my copy to help others read and discuss with us!

If you've started, but not yet finished, the book...you might want to close out this tab and revisit it when you've finished reading. While I try not to specifically discussion potential spoilers, others might...and I would hate to spoil anything for you before you have a chance to read the entire book.

Can't wait to hear what all of you think about the book!

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Because I am horribly behind posting this month's book club discussion thread, I'm going to do things a bit different. There will be a few general questions below, but for the most part, I simply want you to tell me your impression of the book, the characters, and the incredibly heartbreaking journey the author took us on (or *I* sure shed quite a few tears along the way!).

As always, though, feel free to ask any questions, make comments and bring up any portion of the book you'd like. These questions are only intended to help get the comments flowing!

1. What did you think of Air and her role as Blake's keeper throughout the story? She says (a few times, I believe) that her 'job' was to get Blake to the wedding...as if her presence only matters when it's tied to Blake's...and therefore can't come to grips with his potential loss. And when potential disaster strikes, she takes it upon her self to solve the problem with a complete stranger, leaving her family hanging in the balance. Does this make you feel pity or sympathy for Air...or frustration?

2. Christopher, a far more subdued character, is well aware of where his father was during the flight, even if he's unable to speak his truth in the beginning. Despite being a side character, we follow along with his emotional acceptance and growth just as much as we do Air's. Do you feel more sympathy for Christopher's inevitable loss because of the life he's lead thus far?

3. One reviewer describes the author's work as: [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Macgregor shows the similarities between two young people dealing with grief and the differences between the two of them. The result is a canvas bag full of emotional turmoil waiting to implode as they navigate the depths of their loss, and also as the reader waits for the external explosion. The finality of acknowledgement as it pours over the characters is like a heavy spring rain shower. What are YOUR final thoughts on the physical and emotional journey both characters experienced?​

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[Grace.]

Thank you so much for another awesome book.

1. I felt sad for Air, and I think she struggled handling the situations, I felt she is highly strung, acting very emotional and I had little bit troubles at the beginning trying to understand her, but, I thought she is quite young and going thru a very hard situation being a teen.

2. I felt sad for Christopher and his relationship with his mum, and also there is some kind of strain with his father.

3. I found interesting that Christopher's dad was the pilot and Air wants to be astronaut, because in a recent study I read that when a pilot pilots his ship, feels free of troubles, owner of the sky and for a while complete and free, which makes me think that Air wasn't very happy with her type of life, I mean, Air being the youngest, is taking care of her siblings, especially of hers brother, that visibly lived the life he wanted, even if his "UK touring" was a fail, he enjoyed it, instead Air has her life mapped, and seems she is feeling afraid of discover her own potential. I loved the evocative story of 2 teens, that come together in a tragic moment, leaning on one another, searching for emotional support, and these 2 strangers become firm friends, but also learn to trust and grow as individuals. I really like how the story develops. The story really touched my heart, is very emotive and the author wrote with such compassion for a devastatingly hard situation for anyone to go thru.

 

[LilyAnn]

1
-I really don't know what to feel about Air! On the one hand she is her brother's keeper. But should she be? She is younger than him! I did get the impression that she was closer to him than any one else in her family. I could see why she was given the "responsibility" of getting Blake to the wedding because everyone else was so involved in prepping for it. But than again, the father always seems to be in his den and not helping much with the wedding plans. Maybe he should have been the one to go get Blake!
-Air wasn't quite sure if Blake was really on the plane that did go down for almost the whole story. If he got on the wrong plane, she gave him the wrong flight information or if he didn't get on any plane at all because that's the way Blake was.
-I think Air picking up Christopher was just out of convenience at first. They were both lonely and needed to head in the same direction. I could tell that the relationship was budding but it wasn't until the last page that we knew it was serious.
-I think her running off to get to Christopher after she tells her family that Blake was on the crashed plane was sort of a relief to her (although I do understand she may have grief too) in that she is free to do what she wants now and doesn't have to be her brothers' keeper. So she chases after Christopher.

2
I could see why Christopher didn't want Air to know that his father was the pilot of the plane. I think Air might have blamed his father and not want to be with Christopher any more, just like she acted when she did find out that his father was the pilot. I do feel sad that Christopher's father died only because he is the only relative that Christopher knew at that point. But at the same time, the relationship Christopher had with his father didn't let the death get to me as much as Blake's death did. Here too I think that Christopher "grew" because he is not being held back by his father. It seemed like he didn't really talk much to his father which lead him to be more of an introvert. When he spent that much time with Air, it made him open up verbally and emotionally.

3
Both of the characters had lives that were affected by the deaths of those on the plane. Both kind of grew as a result of it. Air felt relief and went out and did what she wanted. Christopher finally got to meet his mother and her family who has been waiting for him her whole life. Both characters had emotional bursts through out the story. Air was more emotional because she had so many people around her that was affected by her and getting back to the wedding. That was a lot for a young lady to handle at such a young age. Christopher, I think, held in his emotions by not talking or telling Air how he felt.

Please give me feedback. I feel I always think differently than others when it comes to peoples' feelings and emotions.

 

[A-M]

1. Air seemed a fairly high strung person in a sense. Her family demanded a lot of her with her being responsible for Blake getting to the wedding and other things in their life as well. I felt subconsciously Air knew deep down Blake was on that plane and was dead because of all the places she took Christopher to on their journey as it was places she had such vivid memories of being with Blake.
I think I felt sorry for Air because of the demands her family put on her and of course I had great sympathy for her when she discovered she had made the wrong flight booking. I was not expecting that twist in the story.

2. I felt a lot of sorrow towards Christopher because of the life he lead with only one parent and that parent not really be there for him and expecting him to live a life that he really did not want. But then his grief was so real for the loss of his Dad and the thought that his Dad was not the perfect pilot he thought he was according to the news reports.
I enjoyed seeing the blossoming of a young man being lead along by such a strong young woman's crazy ways. In her crazy ways Air was such a great encouragement to Christopher to be the person he should be.
I was so pleased the author had the role of mother be as she was. And so happy that Christopher would then have such a normal family to be part of.

3. At the start of the book I nearly gave it up but then it started to get more interesting. Sometimes I felt Air's memories of events surrounding Blake went on for too long but then that was part of the background to who Air was in her family. The surprise Blake had for the wedding was not what I was expecting and that was a nice surprise. The author had me thinking at times that maybe Blake will turn up at the wedding. When Air was singing I had guessed correctly who it was who had turned up at the wedding.
Of course I liked the ending with the artwork Christopher created from flight tickets and being the shape of the stars because of Air. So the ending tied the story up very well.

 

[CindyB]

1. I felt some sympathy for Air, but mostly her situation made me mad! For a high schooler to be dealt such a huge responsibility, I just feel like the situation was a little forced and unrealistic. I guess, the Mom in me couldn’t get past that long, pointless road trip…did anyone else dwell on the situation rather than the underlying, smoldering relationship happening…not to mention the insane amount of denial by Air?

2. I did feel Christopher was a little more relatable. His desires discounted by his father and his lack of a relationship with his mother, this touched me more than Air.

3. Whew, this journey was a lot…I have to admit I found the bulk of this story really long. I wish the author would have dove a bit deeper into the relationship between Air and her family, especially her sister. The middle and the road trip seemed to just take forever without a ton of revelation. I almost wanted to skip to the end. I didn’t seem to get the warm fuzzies with this one.

 

[bcgal00]

I'm not reading your reviews yet as I'm only 1/3 into the story so far but its a fast easy read and I should finish it up over the next 3-4 days. I think I'll curl up in my chair this afternoon with a coffee and get through some more of it.

 

[bcgal00]

Here's my thoughts.

1. What did you think of Air and her role as Blake's keeper throughout the story? She says (a few times, I believe) that her 'job' was to get Blake to the wedding...as if her presence only matters when it's tied to Blake's...and therefore can't come to grips with his potential loss. And when potential disaster strikes, she takes it upon her self to solve the problem with a complete stranger, leaving her family hanging in the balance. Does this make you feel pity or sympathy for Air...or frustration?
​

The family seemed fairly well adjusted in their roles and family dynamics so thought the burden on Air was a bit too unrealistic but didn't stop me from enjoying the story and being engaged with the characters.

2. Christopher, a far more subdued character, is well aware of where his father was during the flight, even if he's unable to speak his truth in the beginning. Despite being a side character, we follow along with his emotional acceptance and growth just as much as we do Air's. Do you feel more sympathy for Christopher's inevitable loss because of the life he's lead thus far?
​

His story was more believeable to me and provoked more interest and sympathy than Air's storyline.

3. One reviewer describes the author's work as: Macgregor shows the similarities between two young people dealing with grief and the differences between the two of them. The result is a canvas bag full of emotional turmoil waiting to implode as they navigate the depths of their loss, and also as the reader waits for the external explosion. The finality of acknowledgement as it pours over the characters is like a heavy spring rain shower. What are YOUR final thoughts on the physical and emotional journey both characters experienced?
​

I had a hard time with Air being her brother's keeper. I didn't like how she was so immature and selfish which didn't seem to mesh with the responsibility she took on by being her brother's keeper. Her personality and responses frustrated me at times. I was much more invested in Christopher's story and wish we had heard more about that.

Nonetheless, it was a great story, it flowed well, was an easy read and I couldn't wait to hear how it all turned out at the end. I kept hoping that the brother would turn up but knew that was unlikely but I was rooting for him right up until the end b/c you never knew for sure all thru the story if that might happen. It was a tragic story but also had its funny and warm moments too. I thought that overall it was well written and am glad to have read it.