La Crosse County Library discussion

Our December 2022 book club pick is Tailspin by John Armbruster. We were excited to pick this book because the author and Gene both lived close to our area. We also we lucky enough to have John Armbruster visit our library.

Feel free to post what you thought of the book below and feel free to ignore the questions as they are just there to get the ball rolling for a discussion.

Hear a discussion of the book with the author on Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR): https://www.wpr.org/shows/newsmakers



What did you think of the book?

What accounts have you heard of the Hell ship and European death march?

Outside of Gene who was your favorite person depicted in the book?

Do you have any friends or family that served?

The author interweaves the story of his wife's brain cancer with the loss of gene's crew mates respectfully without making it about him. How did these interviews help them both with their pain and grief?

Do you think the narrative style enhanced the story?

Gene experienced a lot of trauma and grief after serving in the war. Do you think practices have changed since then in helping to cope with trauma for returning veterans?

To see our thoughts on the book (spoilers warning): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Spoilers warning, just in case!

I had heard the buzz regarding the author visiting our library back in August, and the book almost immediately went on my to-read list!

This was a fascinating and well put-together book about a historical figure from Wisconsin whose story hasn't been told until historian and author, John Armbruster (a fellow Wisconsinite), interviewed and then wrote a book about him.

Gene Moran, a WWII tail-gunner, survived being shot down in the most improbable way possible. Tailspin tells the story of Gene's improbable survival and the other hurdles he faced before he got back home after the war: the "Hell Ship," Nazi detention/prison labor camps, forced marches, and more.

A parallel narrative to Gene's life story is Armbruster's own struggles. His wife has an aggressive cancer that recurs repeatedly after treatments like chemotherapy, and was likely terminal. These narratives are weaved together in a way where they did not clash too much.

Tailspin then is not only a WWII survival story, but also the beautiful story of two men healing in the wake of immense trauma and suffering. (I'll admit that I didn't have dry eyes by the end of the book!)

Without revealing too much else about the book, I will say that Tailspin is a beautiful, poignant work in the biography/memoir and history genres.

I look forward to the discussion on this one!

My library does not a copy of this book - sniffle, sniffle. But I hope to get in on the first book of 2023.

This book is also on my list to be read. The author had a compelling and well attended visit sponsored by the Friends of the Onalaska Library. Many attendees knew Gene or his family or had other ties to the story.

♥ Sandi ❣ wrote: "My library does not a copy of this book - sniffle, sniffle. But I hope to get in on the first book of 2023."

Sorry to hear that :(

Do you use Hoopla or Libby? It might be on there.

Sherri wrote: "This book is also on my list to be read. The author had a compelling and well attended visit sponsored by the Friends of the Onalaska Library. Many attendees knew Gene or his family or had other ti..."

This book is a great read. It's no wonder his author visit event was so well attended!