Review: The Day the World Came to Town
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
Jim Defede
Synopsis: On September 11, 2001, when the planes hit the World Trade Center, the US airspace was closed and planes coming in were forced to land in various places. One of those airports was in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland. The town’s population doubled almost instantly. The whole town worked together to find food, shelter and other necessities for the stranded passengers.
I was in 8th grade on September 11th, 2001. While I remember that day vividly, I only vaguely recall hearing something about planes that landed in Canada, but didn’t understand the full impact of what had happened there. I went to see the musical “Come From Away” just about a year ago, (Side note- It’s amazing. If you ever get the chance to see it- GO!) and finally got a sense of the magnitude of what actually happened. So when a friend told me about this book, I was anxious to check it out.
I had a hard time initially separating the book and the musical, and had to continuously remind myself that the play wasn’t based on the book. There was some cross over though. Some of the characters, particularly those from Newfoundland, were in the book and the play. I was amused because I had the soundtrack to the musical playing in my head through the whole book!
Overall, I enjoyed The Day the World Came to Town. It’s very interesting reading the stories of where people came from, and how the town pulled everything together, and for anyone who remembers 9/11, there’s an automatic emotional connection to the stories.
On the flip side, I wasn’t a huge fan of Defede’s writing style. A lot of the book is very dry, and to me, almost reads like a journalist report. In some ways, this isn’t an all together bad thing. He is trying to give us the facts of the event, and I can appreciate that. But in several parts I found myself struggling to connect with the characters.
I also had a hard time keeping characters straight. This could be just a “me” problem, but for such a short book (244 pages including epilogue) Defede covers A LOT of ground. He also jumps around from story to story, in keeping with the timeline. But up until the very end, I caught myself struggling to remember which characters were which.
The Day the World Came to Town is worth a read. I suspect that those who remember September 11th vividly will enjoy it more than those who don’t remember it as well. If you don’t already have a connection to 9/11, I think you will have a hard time connecting to the book. It wasn’t my favorite book, but I’m not sorry I read it. As I said, it’s worth a read.