Bennie Ford, a fifty-three-year-old failed poet turned translator, is traveling to his estranged daughter’s wedding when his flight is cancelled. Stuck with thousands of fuming passengers in the purgatory of O’Hare airport, he watches the clock tick and realizes that he will miss the ceremony. Frustrated, irate, and helpless, Bennie does the only thing he can: he starts to write a letter. But what begins as a hilariously excoriating demand for a refund soon becomes a cris de coeur of a life misspent, talent wasted. Bennie pens his letter in a voice that is a marvel of lacerating wit, heart-on-sleeve emotion, and wide-ranging erudition—all propelled by the fading hope that if he can just make it to the wedding, he has a chance to do something right in his life.
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More than Expected
On some level this is a "novelty novel" built around the complaint letter format, but Miles soon transcends the genre as he leads you into Benny's story. . .Benny is our first person narrator, stuck in Chicago, forced to ruminate on his life and what led him to this unfortunate layover. Along the way we have a cast of memorable characters. Just long enough with a bittersweet ending. The reading is excellent!