The Time It Takes to Fall

by Margaret Lazarus Dean

Book Overview

It is the early 1980s, and America is in love with space. Growing up in the shadow of Cape Canaveral, young Dolores Gray has it particularly bad: she dreams of becoming an astronaut. At school, Dolores finds herself caught between her desire for popularity and her secret friendship with the smartest and most unpopular boy in her class, whose father is NASA's Director of Launch Safety. At home, discord begins to grow between her parents when her father's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743297237
• ISBN13: 9780743297233
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful first novel!

What a terrific book. Dolores is one of the most realistic teens in recent fiction, and her relationship with couldbe best friend Eric, which is affected by Dolores' need to be accepted by the snobbish kids at school, rings terribly true. Her complex relationship with her mother is also very nicely handled. The backdrop of Florida before and after the space shuttle disaster is fascinating and feels painstakingly researched. Dean manages to give the reader lots of background on the space shuttle program without making her prose feel teacherish; we learn about it as Dolores does, and her "space notebook" is a good device for adding that historical detail to the story. Tension definitely mounts as we approach the space shuttle disaster, and it's handled effectively and with great feeling, rather than being exploitative in any way. I read A LOT, and this book stood out as one of the best things I've read in a while -- it's good enough that I was inspired to fire off an email to the author, something I've never done before. Keep it up, Ms. Dean -- what a wonderful read.

A great read!

Because I have always been interested in the NASA Space Program, I gravitated to this book immediately. I appreciated how well a personal family story was interwoven with the Challenger disaster. The author did a wonderful job of making me aware of facts involving this tradgedy that until now I was unaware of. It is a great read and provided quite in-depth discussion in my book club. I highly recommend this book for everyone!

Delightful

A thoroughly delightful read that brings back fond memories of childhood and harsh memories of a national tragedy. The insight into a somewhat dysfunctional (but in so many ways typical) family; feeling the pains of childhood development; the revelation of facts of the Challenger disaster all come together in a easy reading, free flowing story. No violence or sex is necessary to make this a delightful way to wile away the hours.

A wonderful read!

This is a wonderful book. It fulfills two great reasons I read a book...a great story, and a little education thrown in. If you have an affinity for the space program (even a little one) you'll love the book. If you don't have that affinity, you'll get a fabulous story of a very complex family dynamic. The characters are complex, yet simple. I loved the mother, who although maybe didn't deal with life as most would hope, she was just trying to figure out what it was all about. The father was a technician at NASA at the launch site in Florida, and I found him a tad on the weak side, but he came through in my mind finally. The two daughters were delightful, the younger of the two being adorable, the older coming of age during the book. Fascinating play on family workings. The space program was covered in a way that I'd not seen it done before...delving lightly into the engineers of NASA and the technicians who work on the shuttles. This wasn't heavy, just informative. The Challenger tragedy (death of Christa McAuliffe) is covered which interested me, no end. I felt her death deeply at the time. You won't be disappointed in this book....it's multi-faceted. And, it's a wonderful read!

Wonderful from start to finish

The Time It Takes To Fall is a wonderful debut novel by a clearly promising author. It's a coming-of-age novel set in Cape Canaveral, Florida just before and after the Challenger disaster. Dean perfectly captures so many things but I think I was particularly drawn in by her deft portrayal of eleven to thirteen-year-old girlness. Dean touches on the power that girls have over each other, the awfulness and wonder of being smart, the fear and power of sex, the longing for and resistance against parents, and even that first trip to buy a bra. And yet, Dean also managed for the book not to feel too much about any of these things. She also skillfully captured the one-company town aspect of Central Florida. What must it be like to have everyone's father work for NASA? Dean masterfully weaves together growing up, girlhood, friendship, family strife, NASA, and the Challenger disaster to create a smooth, rich tale that satisfies on multiple levels. I found it nearly impossible to put down. I'm eager for more from this talented writer!