BOOK REVIEWS

PLANE INSANITY

In his debut book of hilarious essays, syndicated columnist Hester expertly recounts "lowlights" from his 16-year career as a flight attendant for major U.S. airlines. Like an angrier, more street-wise Dave Barry, Hester zeroes in on bad trips, in-flight fighting, intolerable co-workers and airline procedures, broken airplanes, bad layovers and sex on airplanes (aka the "Mile High Club"). Hester's careful, well-paced descriptions show that what happens behind the scenes is worse than one could imagine and that modern attendants take this craziness for granted.
– Publisher's Weekly


Hester has a lively writing style and is an engrossing storyteller. His point hits the mark. At book's end, we swore to be angelic passengers from this day forth.
– Andrea Sachs, The Washington Post


[Plane Insanity's] success shows that we can at least laugh again about the fundamentally miserable, and altogether unnatural, experience of traveling by air. It's certainly good for a flight attendant who, like Mr. Hester, moonlights as a writer dependent on the amusing, if sometimes annoying, foibles of the traveling public (not to mention his airline colleagues).
– The New York Times


Elliott Hester brings the whole heaving mess to life in this tattle-all-and-then-some book of air travel–air travel the way it really is, not the way airline ads make it out to be. Hester's gift for storytelling will keep you turning pages long past your bedtime.
– Chicago Tribune


Hester is a consummate storyteller.
– San Francisco Chronicle


[PLANE INSANITY] is very funny. Chock full of miscreants and buffoons. Many of the laughs come from awful incidents–getting vomited on, breaking up brawls, dealing with drunken louts. Hester, a 16-year employee at a major airline (he isn't saying which one), has written a tell-all that is part confessional and part payback to all those rude, smelly and obnoxious people he has flown with over the years.
– USA Today


In PLANE INSANITY, Hester has assembled a snappy collection of personal anecdotes and newspaper clippings that show air-travel high jinks at their greatest extremes. There are plenty of yuks, and some real gross-out moments, too. by the last page, the reader is left grinning with incredulity and a sense of "ain't work a pain?' solidarity.
– Lily Burana, Washington Post Book World


[Hester's] self-deprecating wit, keen eye and skillful writing make these "tales of sex, rage and queasiness at 30,000 feet" a wonderful read.
– New York Newsday


[Plane Insanity] contains humorous stories about passengers who step into an airplane and follow their inner chorus of "Let's Misbehave". It's not material that automatically brings comedy to mind. Yet somehow the combination works.
– The Boston Globe


Hester is a skillful raconteur, and no matter how bizarre or maddening the story, he tells it with grace and abundant good nature. Flight attendants, if this book is any indication, work in an environment that could make a war zone seem sedate, and we emerge from this comic horror show with a new respect and admiration for them. Fans of humorist Dave Barry or travel writer Bill Bryson, should not miss this one.
– Booklist


This is not one of those sterile "as told to" accounts. Indeed, Hester is a master storyteller . As the title suggests, his main tool in Plane Insanity is humor–often rib-splitting humor.
– Houston Chronicle


One of the year's funniest reads!
– Amazon.com


Breezy. delightful. filled with gossip, humor and anecdotes, a goodly number of them involving bodily fluids.
– The Globe and Mail (Toronto)


It is hardly a pretty picture, but it often is a funny one because Hester writes with a surfeit of sarcasm and wit.
– The State (Columbia, SC)


An insider's account, and a funny one, about life in the jet lanes. Hester's stories about smelly, amorous and/or pushy passengers and mean flight attendants will bring a smile and a nod to anyone who has flown.
– San Antonio Express-News


This is a hilarious, eye-opener!. It's full of outrageous stories!. It's a fantastic book which gives a whole new meaning to "in-flight" entertainment.
– Glasgow Evening Times (Scotland)


[Plane Insanity] might be the only thing funny about flying these days.
– The Denver Post


A fun book!. Plane Insanity is stuffed with marvelous little stories of passenger mischief and flight crew lunacy. It's just the book to read on a flight.
– New York Press


A thoroughly enlightening and entertaining new book.
– Lonely Planet


The tales of onboard sex, violence and silliness, while not always amusing as they happened, are rendered hilarious by Hester's witty, imaginative retellings. I was laughing out loud by page four.
– Chicago Sun-Times


Elliott Hester's column was one of the gems of Salonís late, lamented travel site, Wanderlust. A natural raconteur, Hester manages to be witty about even such unpromising topics as carry-on baggage restrictions, while his yarns about the jaw-droppingly bad behavior of travelers have given me a whole new respect for the patience of flight attendants everywhere.
– Salon.com


[Hester's] writing style is conversational. He's sitting next to us at a bar or at a ballgame, spinning yarns that, for the sake of entertaining us, focus mostly on the outrageous tangents off the everyday monotony.
– St. Petersburg Times


This book of short, extremely funny tales of high jinx in the sky is written in such a way that it can be read in short spurts. Beyond the chuckles, it is also a great pick me up. Do you ever feel that your job is the worst in the world and need a quick affirmation? Read about flight attendants you will grin and chuckle and share a story around the water cooler.
– Lethbridge Herald (Alberta, Canada)


You'll never complain about stale in-flight pretzels again after reading PLANE INSANITY. Take off with this shocking and hilarious collection of behind-the-scenes tales straight from a veteran of the skies.
– Endless Vacation


[Hester's] tales of sex, rage and human folly at 30,000 feet are amazing and entertaining. PLANE INSANITY is highly recommended.
– Arizona Daily Star


A very funny tell-all book.
– The National Enquirer


Hoot-out-loud, roll-on-your-bed funny. But Hester is more than just a jokester: He's a born storyteller, and he writes beautifully. Parts of this book, with its drama, pace and irony, could be lifted from a novel. Itís all true, however.
– Chicago Daily Herald


[Hester's] collection of escapades will have you falling about in the aisle seats.
– Woman's Own (London)


Flying just got a whole lot more fun!. [Hester] tells of sexual rapture, drunkenness, fear, fist fights, flatulence and Big Bertha, the flight attendant from hell. And he tells it all with the observational skills of a quirky anthropologist and the timing of a stand-up comic.
– South Florida Sun-Sentinel


[PLANE INSANITY] is a delightful read. A down-and-dirty tell-all book.
– Diana Nyad, host, NPR's Savvy Traveler


Hilarious!
– Ft. Worth Star-Telegram


There are many reasons to find PLANE INSANITY delightful. First of all, it is funny. Hester is an excellent writer and has the storytellerís gift. His stories are sure to make you smile, chuckle, and occasionally guffaw. And he does not spare certain crewmember types, like the pilot who hoards hotel soaps, shampoos, and even toilet paper.
– Airways magazine


[A] searing exposé.
– The Daily Record (Scotland)


Hilarious in places, alarming in others, and fun reading throughout. Hester has a conversational style of writing that only dips into the realm of gossip when he needs it to–and when it works. Mainly, PLANE INSANITY is just funny, a testament to Hester's sharp eye for humor.
– The Post and Courier (Charleston)


This is one of those non-fiction books that is so enjoyable you read it like fiction.
– The Facts (Clute, Texas)


By turns funny, outrageous, and revealing, PLANE INSANITY is to airlines what BALL FOUR is to baseball.
– Keith Bellows, National Geographic Traveler

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