Constellation

by Adrien Bosc

Le 27 octobre 1949, le nouvel avion d’Air France, le Constellation, lancé par l’extravagant M. Howard Hughes, accueille trente-sept passagers. Le 28 octobre, l’avion ne répond plus à la tour de contrôle. Il a disparu en descendant sur l’île Santa Maria, dans l’archipel des Açores. Aucun survivant. La question que pose Adrien Bosc dans cet ambitieux premier roman n’est pas tant comment, mais pourquoi ? Quel est l’enchaînement d’infimes causalités qui, mises bout à bout, ont précipité l’avion vers le mont Redondo ? Quel est le hasard objectif, notion chère aux surréalistes, qui rend « nécessaire » ce tombeau d’acier ? Et qui sont les passagers ? Si l’on connaît Marcel Cerdan, l’amant boxeur d’Édith Piaf, si l’on se souvient de cette musicienne prodige que fut Ginette Neveu, dont une partie du violon sera retrouvée des années après, l’auteur lie les destins entre eux. « Entendre les morts, écrire leur légende minuscule et offrir à quarante huit hommes et femmes, comme autant de constellations, vie et récit. »

Genres: Fiction, France, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, French Literature, Contemporary, Aviation

211 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Adrien Bosc, born in 1986 in Avignon (Vaucluse), is a French writer and editor.

Reviews

[charlie medusa · Rating 2 out of 5]

un très long article wikipédia mais pas dans l'ordre chronologique ni dans l'ordre thématique du coup on comprend pas et à la fin on apprend le signe astrologique de l'auteur

[Jonfaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you love, you come back.

People need to read this. It was an early holiday gift which may have afforded my reading a slight elevation---that said, the novel is remarkable. It is a stoic account of a plane crash from 1949, though the crash is a just an instant of definition; Constellation is instead the stories of each of the passengers and crew, it is the struggle to not only understand the how and why, but the "then what?" Very much in the vein of Echenoz novels about Tesla and Ravel, Bosc steadily applies pressure and plumbs not for answer but rather the detail which so often percolates this existence. I can't say this enough, people need to read Constellation.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'avais peur des nombreux avis négatifs, mais au fond de moi je sentais que ce livre me plairait. Parce que je suis moi-même du genre à tomber dans l'obsession vis à vis des crashs d'avions et autres tragédies, cette enquête m'a passionnée. Parce que je suis souvent fascinée par les hasards du destin, j'ai également été impressionnée et songeuse devant la constellation de hasards reconstruite par l'auteur. Et ce style...! J'ai trouvé ça nerveux, élégant, magnifique.

[emmarps · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un très long article wikipédia sur le crash du vol Paris New-York de 1949, livre pouvant aussi servir de dictionnaire de citations si vous avez vraiment rien d'autre sous la main...

[Jill Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Travelers on planes and ships are called "passengers". However, if a plane crashes or a ship sinks, those passengers and crew are referred to as "souls". I don't know if there's a religious reason behind the term, but "souls" are those poor people who didn't land at the next airport or dock at the next port. French author Adrien Bosc has written a book, "Constellation", about the 48 "souls" lost when an Air France Constellation plane crashed into a mountain while landing at Santa Maria Airport, in the Azores, in 1949.

Why write about a plane crash? Of the 48 aboard, 11 were crew and 37 were passengers. And among the passengers were several famous people - boxer Marcel Cerdan, violinist Ginette Neveu, Kay Kamen - as well as 5 Basque shepherds going to a new life in the United States. A mother/daughter, a newly divorced woman, several businessmen...this was a random group of people who were on the Paris/Orly to New York/Idlewild flight that night.

Is author Bosc trying to make sense of the crash, which was determined to be caused by navigation problems? What can anyone say about these poor people? Bosc gives it a "go", but somehow the "souls" don't seem to come alive in his prose. Maybe that's a problem with the translation. Both the dead, and those they left behind to mourn them, are memorialised in Bosc's book by name and deed but I just wish there was more "life" in the descriptions.

[Juliette · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'avais repéré Constellation de Adrien Bosc dans la Grande Librairie.
J'attendais beaucoup de ce livre dont le thème abordé et les idées de l'auteur à ce sujet me donnaient vraiment envie de le lire. Pourtant lorsque je l'ai refermé je n'avais pas obtenu ce pourquoi je m'étais plongée dans ce livre. Même si la plume de l'auteur est très fluide et que le livre est bien renseigné (c'est indéniable, l'auteur s'est appliqué dans ses recherches), la façon dont il a organisé son "roman'' est très perturbante : il n'y-a pas de relation entre les différentes parties, pourtant très intéressantes. Au bout du compte je n'ai pas été happée par l'histoire, trop décousue pour moi.
Je regrette également que certains personnages (les plus connus) aient une plus grande importance que d'autres qui pour certains ne sont évoqués que brièvement ou seulement par leur simple nom dans la liste des victimes. Mais après tout, cela est peut-être dû au manque d'informations à leur sujet...

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up a copy of this book because of one the airplane on the front of the book cover. I am always fascinated by stories featuring aviation. The second reason is because this book was based on true events. Living in the US, we do not always know what is happening in other countries. This is a short book. Even the chapters are short and thus it makes for a quick read. Yet at the same time a long read. What I mean by this is that I did not feel a connection with any of the people who tragically lost their lives on October 27, 1949. Therefore, reading this book at times felt like a chore. While I appreciate Mr. Bosc's take on what actually happened on this fatal day, this book felt more like fiction than semi-fiction.

[Jovi Ene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pe 27-28 octombrie 1949, avionul Constellation, aflat pe ruta Paris-New York, se prăbușește undeva în insulele Azore. Nu au existat supraviețuitori. La bordul său se aflau și câteva celebrități ale epocii, precum boxerul Marcel Cerdan, iubitul lui Edith Piaf în acea vreme, sau violonista Ginette Neveu.
Adrien Bosc reconstituie, într-un roman destul de simpluț și fără mari pretenții (deși a luat Marele Premiu al Academiei Franceze) traseul și implicațiile accidentului, dar mai ales viețile și motivațiile alegerii acestui zbor a majorității pasagerilor și echipajului. Ușor de citit, l-am evitat special să nu-l iau pe drumul Otopeni-Roma :D

[Victor Morosoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moi, j'ai aimé l'essor poétique d'Adrien Bosc. C'est vrai que la plupart de son œuvre est réalisée grâce au processus quelquefois fastidieux de documentation; néanmoins, cela ne m'a pas empêché de tirer profit d'une sorte de narration légère, un peu trop faible parfois, j'en conviens, mais notamment stellaire, c'est-à-dire ce dont j'avais besoin en ce moment, et ce qui était tout à fait idoine pour ce livre ayant la nostalgie vague de l'inconnu visible à Saint-Exupéry. 3,8/5

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Faire parler les morts, tourner les tables et convoquer les âmes pour leur extirper un dernier rappel, une voix bissée de l'au-delà. Gangrène des survivants, rongés par le manque, des creux de haut mal en haut-le-coeur. Armée d'inconsolables implorant un signe devant des tombes sourdes, réveillés en pleine nuit par l'appel qui n'est que l'absence martelant sa présence."

[Kati Polodna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not quite a novel. It's not quite narrative non-fiction. So it didn't quite work for me.

[Claudiu · Rating 2 out of 5]

inteleg si nu prea inteleg genul acesta de roman aflat la granita dintre fictiune, reportaj de ziar, memorialistica, evocare etc. ii inteleg modernitatea, dar nu ii inteleg stilul sec, pentru ca asa mi s-a parut: sec. tot pe lista de neintelegeri personale se afla si faptul ca a primit marele premiu al academiei franceze.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cela aurait pu être un coup de coeur si je n'avais pas été perdu par le côté parfois décousu du récit. Cependant, j'ai été tout de même transportée par la plume poétique de l'auteur et le travail de recherches, et de détails qui m'étaient inconnus autour de ce drame et de ses passagers.

[Lauracio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bosc racconta in questo suo "Constellation" frammenti delle vite dei passeggeri di un volo Air France precipitato nelle Azzorre nel 1949. Un volo piuttosto famoso per aver causato la morte di alcuni personaggi in vista all'epoca, casualmente ritrovatesi nello stesso posto al momento sbagliato: il pugile Marcel Cerdan (che tornava in america dalla sua amante, Edith Piaf), la violinista Ginette Neveu, uno dei direttori del settore commerciale della Disney... Bosc ci presenta in questa opera prima il frutto della sua ricerca sulla vita dei passeggeri, fino a raccontarci le circostanze che li hanno portati lì, quel 27 Ottobre. Ci narra un incrocio di destini e coincidenze, un groviglio di piccole e grandi storie che è destinato a lasciare un vivo ricordo nel lettore. Il destino è predominante,Bosc torna continuamente a questo concetto, i protagonisti delle storie appaiono guidati da un filo invisibile.
Ho trovato l'idea alla base del libro molto intelligente e il racconto di alcune storie particolarmente intenso. Ho letto in altri commenti al libro che la critica più frequentemente mossa a Bosc è quella di aver creato un testo frammentario. Comprendo la critica, le storie presentate vengono sciorinate senza un preciso (o almeno evidente) criterio generale, alcune sono puri accenni, ma credo che questo sia dovuto al fatto che non siamo di fronte a un romanzo (di fiction), ma al racconto della vita di persone esistite, più o meno conosciute, su cui sarà stato sicuramente difficile rintracciare informazioni dettagliate. Devo anche ammettere che nonostante mi sia piaciuto il modo in cui fa procedere la narrazione, alcune di queste storie non mi sembrano particolarmente riuscite nella narrazione (o, almeno, non lo sono tutte allo stesso modo). Non ho nemmeno amato il modo diretto (per me un po' semplicistico) in cui si parla del destino, anche se capisco che in racconto del genere non si possa chiedere di non fare di tale concetto la base di tutto l'impianto narrativo.
Sempre in altri commenti ho letto che la scrittura viene definita elegante e "colta", non so una parola di francese quindi non posso giudicare, in traduzione mi è sembrata una scrittura piuttosto semplice, non particolarmente ricercata.
Il libro l'ho letto in un pomeriggio, è veloce e avvincente, mi ha però un po' inquietato, non è forse la miglior scelta per una persona che, come me, non sale sugli aerei fischiettando, per dire, Happy di Pharrell, ecco.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my attempts to read more broadly, I'll often pick up and read something from another country if it's quite short, regardless of the premise of the story. That was the case with this award-winning French novel, which centers around an Air France flight that crashed in the Azores in 1949, killing all 48 on board. Unfortunately, in its English translation, the book is tonally adrift and in blurring the line between fact and fiction never finds solid ground.

The author's form is a mixture of pure reportage around what happened and might have happened to lead to this disaster, and recounting the circumstances of who was on board and why. Had he crafted 48 short chapters -- one for each victim -- it would have been an interesting exercise. Instead, he spends proportionally more time on those with more documentation around their lives (most notably the champion boxer Marcel Cerdan, en route to meet his more famous lover, Edith Piaf, and a renown violinist, Ginette Neveu). For me, this reliance on contemporaneous reporting and biographic detail made it hard to read this as a work of fiction.

Even more so, the sudden authorial voice appearing deep in the book several times, explaining elements of his research for the book in first-person. I suppose these could actually be entirely fictitious, but if so, that strikes me as an even lamer postmodern gimmick. At the end of the day, the author seems to be using his highly detached prose to be commenting on the vagaries of fate and coincidence -- but that's about it. While I found certain threads of it interesting, and some of the imagery occasionally arresting, there's certainly no "story" within the pages, and so I'd be very reluctant to recommend it to anyone except diehard readers of French fiction in translation.

[Knit Spirit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Le 28 octobre 1949, l’avion « Le Constellation » s’écrase dans les Açores où il devait faire escale. Personne ne survit et parmi les passagers, quelques célébrités de l’époque.
Je n’ai absolument pas adhéré à ce livre. Je l’ai trouvé intéressant pour le côté historique mais beaucoup trop décousu à mon goût. J’ai vraiment trouvé que ça partait dans tous les sens (en gros, on découvre la vie de chacun des passagers les uns après les autres). Je suis du coup très mitigée car j’ai bien aimé le côté historique et aussi la description de la vie de certains des passagers mais j’ai eu du mal à m’y retrouver. En fait, je crois que ça manquait de liant.
En bref : vous pouvez passer votre chemin.

[Manon Plommet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiré d'une histoire vraie, ce livre est écrit avec plein de délicatesse et de finesse. Le travail de recherche de l'auteur est aussi très plaisant !

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Constellation by Adrien Bosc is a novel centering on Air France Constellation BAZN flying on the night and morning of October 27 and 28, 1949. Bosc is a French writer and editor. The French edition of Constellation won the Grand Prize novel by the French Academy in 2014, Literary Award for Vocation 2014, and the Price Gironde News Scriptures 2014. The Constellation referred to in the title was Lockheed L-749A airliner. It was four engine propeller driven aircraft. It started regular service in 1947 and was still used by TWA until 1967. The aircraft line was finally retired in 1993.

Without knowing this was a novel the reader could easily think he or she was reading a detailed researched account of a fatal air crash. BAZN was scheduled to fly from Paris-Orly Airport, France to New York City, with a stopover at Santa Maria Airport, Azores. By 1949, transatlantic flights were routine and Air France was coming up on its 2,000 non-stop crossing. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the fatal flight on October 27 except the changing of the refueling stops from Shannon, Ireland to Santa Maria in the Azores because of weather. The pilot had over 60,000 flight hours including eighty-eight ocean crossings. His crew consisted mostly of former combat pilots. This was an experienced crew flying a plane with proven safety record.

Bosc weaves a story together alternating strands of the flight, search, and repatriation and the passengers. Of the forty-seven passengers, eleven were crew. The remainder included a Middle Weight Champion, a French violinist and her brother, a Walt Disney director, an artist, a Montreal newspaper editor, and five Basque shepherds coming to work ranches in America. The story of the flight is broken down into sections and brief biographies of the passengers are used to separate the flight and recovery. Even in a grim story, Bosc puts together some almost poetic passages:

...Atlantic. Reflected in the infinite puddle are the Big and Little Dippers, Orion, and Scorpio.

I have always been a fan of aviation stories most of them, however, not as tragic as this story. From an early age, stories of WWI pilots to specifications of commercial planes always interested me. The story of the flight is well done and the biographies add the human touch to the book. What confused me while reading the book was what to take as factual and what was made up by the author. The flight information seems to line up with the actual events. The passengers are all correctly identified. The question is where does reality stop and fiction begin. There are no citations through the book and reads like narrative non-fiction except that the author is entirely too young to be a witness to any of these events. I am left to assume that the book is more in the style of writing rather than the more cut and dry American style. The literary term is “faction” or nonfiction novel. The style was popular in the United States earlier with notable works such as Alex Haley’s Roots and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. The problem for some, like me, lies in what is true and what is fiction. For others looking for something interesting to read without the urge to fact check, this is an excellent novel of tragedy and the human connection to the fallibility of technology.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eu sunt sfredelul uriaş Care străpunge coaja împietrită a nopţii.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Aeroplanul papei
În seara de 27 octombrie 1949, pe pista aeroportului din Orly, avionul F-BAZN al companiei Air France se pregăteşte să-i primească pe cei treizeci şi şapte de pasageri cu destinaţia Statele Unite. Cu un an înainte, Marcel Cerdan debarca învăluit în nimbul gloriei pe care i-l dădea titlul de campion mondial de box la categoria mijlocie, cucerit după o luptă pe viaţă şi pe moarte în faţa lui Tony Zale. Pe 7 octombrie 1948, mulţimea îl purta pe braţe. Un an mai târziu, aflat în aeroport, Cerdan, însoţit de impresarul lui, Jo Longman, şi de prietenul său Paul Genser, se pregăteşte să plece pentru a-şi recuceri titlul, deţinut acum de Jake LaMotta, Taurul din Bronx. Fără nici o îndoială, anul următor în decembrie, va reveni cu titlul, la bordul unui avion Constellation. În holul aeroportului din Orly, bravează, asigurând jurnaliştii: „Vă spun eu că o să vin cu titlul… O să mă bat ca un leu”. Leu contra Taur, o chestiune de zodii şi de constelaţii. Leul din Nemeea contra Minotaurului, fabulosul afiş din 2 decembrie 1949 de la Madison Square Garden.
Jo Longman are o zi proastă, a trebuit să se grăbească, a anulat călătoria cu vaporul, a profitat de dreptul la prioritate pe distanţa Paris-New York, şi toată bătaia asta de cap numai ca Marcel Cerdan să se întâlnească cu Édith Piaf dimineaţa devreme.
— Să vă întoarceţi cu titlul! îi aruncă un angajat al Air France.
— Doar pentru asta plec! răspunde Marcel.
— Mda, mormăie Jo, care nu se poate abţine să nu adauge: Dacă m-ai fi ascultat, am mai fi aşteptat câteva zile. Pe cuvântul meu! Plecăm ca nişte hoţi. Marţi aflam că data meciului s-a stabilit pe 2 decembrie, ieri eram în provincie, şi abia astăzi ne-am fi putut face valizele. Îţi propusesem să rămânem aici toată săptămâna, iar luni să asistăm la întâlnirea de la Palatul Sporturilor. Era simplu, prea simplu, iar mâine o să tuni şi-o să fulgeri, pentru că, normal, în graba asta, ai uitat jumătate din lucruri.
Furia este simulată, sunt obişnuiţi să joace teatru, lui Marcel îi revine rolul nestatornicului amuzat, lui Jo cel al profesionistului contrariat. Peste câteva clipe, cu coatele sprijinite pe tejgheaua barului companiei Air France, face haz de asta. După plecarea antrenorului Lucien Roupp, Jo a urcat în grad. Cu nelipsiţii ochelari negri, cu părul dat cu Pento, fondatorul Clubului celor Cinci – cabaretul-restaurant unde s-au întâlnit Édith şi Marcel -, Jo are toate datele unui personaj dubios. Boxerului îi place logoreea lui, felul în care ştie să petreacă şi să facă afaceri, este tovarăşul perfect pentru drumurile dus-întors între Paris, New York şi Casablanca.

[Vava' · Rating 2 out of 5]

I casi sono due: o i francesi hanno qualche problema di distinzione dei generi, oppure sono dei gran furbacchioni.

Denominare questo libro “Roman” nel frontespizio può tradire una totale incomprensione di cosa è un romanzo (con tutte le estensioni e flessibilità del caso), oppure può indicare una furba operazione commerciale (un romanzo vende di più).

Oppure c’è una terza via. Quella del giornalista o scrittore emergente che si crede artista e – avendone l’opportunità – pubblica un testo che assomiglia più a una inchiesta, a coacervo di aneddoti biografici, di fatti diversi che solo lontanamente riportano una parentela con l’oggetto del testo, con la pretesa di trovarci una trama sottile, una rete di misteriosi parallelismi.

Ora, capisco che il disastro aereo del 27 ottobre 1949 in cui persero la vita, tra gli altri, il pugile Marcel Cerdan (amante di Edith Piaf) e la violinista prodigio Ginette Neveu deve avere avuto un forte impatto sull’immaginario collettivo di una nazione. Questo testo è un omaggio alla loro memoria e a quella degli altri quaranta passeggeri “anonimi”. Ricordare la tragedia può essere importante e magari necessario per i francesi, ma questo è quanto. Volere trovare dei “liens inattandus”, come recita la quarta di copertina, nelle coincidenze e negli anfratti del caso mi sembra un esercizio di retorica inutile e affettato. Soprattutto se lo si fa ricorrendo a continue citazioni di poeti e scrittori, tanto per darsi un tono.

Una lettura per me inutile, faticosa nonostante la brevità. Inspiegabile il premio letterario Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française , non soltanto perché non riesco a trovare meriti letterari a questo testo, ma perché mancano i presupposti del romanzo.
Essenzialmente sconsigliato.

[Mike White · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Cuba now became a brothel and casino to the United States. Under the leadership of Lucky Luciano and his project manager Meyer Lansky, Havana, a state within a state, became the playground of the Italian-American Mafia. Headquarters were at the Hotel Nacional. Over Christmas, 1946, Lucky Luciano, just out of prison, organized a great gathering of the crime world there. A Bretton Woods Conference with a Mafia accent, one thousand people in attendance, including the Capone cousins, Charlie, Rocco and Joseph Fischetti, who arrived by plane with Frank Sinatra in tow.”
In 1949 a Constellation airliner with 48 on board crashed into a mountain in the Azores. There were no survivors. This novel is a collection of the author’s research, interviews with relatives, and fictionalised accounts of passengers and crew.
I chose this book mainly because the beautiful Lockheed Constellation is one of my favourite aeroplanes. I’d have preferred a lot more technical data but accept that for many readers this would have been less interesting than details of the passengers. These included a famous boxer, a virtuoso violinist and five Basque shepherds. A rather poetic read, filled in with tangential sections, e.g. the quotation above.

[Agnès · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adrien Bosc nous fait voyager dans le temps et nous plonge dans la France de l'après-guerre avec brio en se focalisant sur le crash du vol Air-France au-dessus des Açores en octobre 1949.

A bord de l'avion, un "constellation" justement, 48 personnes donc le boxeur Marcel Cerdan et la violoniste Ginette Neveu, mais aussi des industriels, des bergers basques ou encore une ouvrière de Mulhouse. L'auteur alterne les chapitres biographiques de ces personnages, certains connus et admirés, d'autres de simples voyageurs qui rêvent d'Amérique ou rentre chez eux. En parallèle de cette constellation de destins, Bosc nous fait suivre le parcours de l'avion pour essayer de comprendre ce qui a conduit au crash.

Cet ouvrage questionne les communautés de destin, le hasard ou les coïncidences que l'on essaye d'expliquer. Le style est léger mais le propos pas si innocent.

[Bart Van Leeuwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit boekje leest lekker weg maar verwacht geen literair wonder. Gebaseerd op een waargebeurde vliegramp in 1949. In Frankrijk had deze ramp een behoorlijke impact op de maatschappij en is onderdeel van het collectieve geheugen. Dat zal de reden zijn dat dit boekje in Frankrijk gelauwerd werd en de kritieken in ons land lauw waren. Ons zegt deze ramp niet zoveel. Het blijft wel fascinerend dat vlieg- en scheepsrampen, waarbij in 1 keer veel slachtoffers vallen, veel meer impact hebben en tot de verbeelding spreken dan de hogere aantallen van de dagelijkse ongelukken. Misschien eens een boek schrijven over mensen die op dag x overleden zijn...

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on an actual plane crash that took place in 1947 in the Azores, on a flight from Paris to New York. Bosc was fascinated by the mysterious history of this tragedy, for which there was little explanation. The flight was carrying a number of well-known people, as well as a group of Basque shepherds. The book tells the story of many of these people, and gives them a voice, as well as piecing together what he can about the story of the crash itself. An interesting blend of actual facts and a degree of surmise. Here's a story about the inter-connectedness of collective tragedy, engagingly told.

[Hyperliteratura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ceea ce surprinde la povestea aceasta este tocmai modul de a o spune: solar, legendar, de la înălțimea rampei de îmbarcare; adică de acolo de sus de unde toate viețile strălucesc în lumina reușitei sau cel putin a orizontului ei.

Acesta nu-i un roman jurnalistic şi nici măcar un roman al unei tragedii aviatice, cum la fel de bine cum nu este vreo încercare de a demonstra principii universale ori imperative categorice.

Citește continuarea aici https://hyperliteratura.ro/constellat...

[Eibhileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Globalement, ce fût une bonne lecture, on apprécie suivre les passagers dont on connait déjà le destin tout tracé. Je regrette juste le fait que, sur si peu de pages, décrire chaque personnage relève d’une telle gageure qu’il ne reste finalement que peu de traces de chacun une fois le livre refermé.

Ma chronique sur le blog : https://sweetalmondandbooks.wordpress...

[Anamaria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating can be misleading; this is a well-written and well documented book. However, it was not what I was expected, which was a somewhat dramatized story surrounding the event of the plane crash. This is largely about the facts, the names and the places (in which I kept getting lost), and while the author has a great style that infuses emotion into his writing, it was not enough for what I had in mind or wanted to read at the moment.

[Delphine Tran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Autant j'ai aimé l'aspect historique et l'histoire du crash et de l'enquête... autant j'ai eu du mal avec les histoires de certains passagers et surtout j'ai trouvé les recherches de relations entre certains événements trop souvent tiré par le cheveux... Bref ce livre se lit mais on en ressort quand même un peu déçue. ..

[Stelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

La vie et ses coincidences...beau recits de ceux qui auraient du etre a bord du Constalation mais n'y etaient pas et ceux qui n'auraient pas du etre a bord mais y etait...bien plus que le recit du son crash...toutes ces vies prises de court...litealement...a bored Marcel Cerdan... Ginette Neveu et autre eminent personalities...magnifique.

[Sylvain Romieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une femme travaillant chez Stock donne un tas de livres à son petit ami. Celui-ci me rend visite et dans l’avion de Paris à Nairobi lit Constellation. Constellation comme le nom de l’avion qui de Paris s’écrasa dans l’archipel des Acores en 1949. Constellation comme l’ensemble de personnalités voisines qui reliées pas des liens imaginaires forment la trame de ce livre.