Fear of Landing

David Waltner-Toews
Poisoned Pen Press (2007)
ISBN 1590583493
Reviewed by Stephanie Rollins for Reader Views (3/07)

In “Fear of Landing” Abner Dueck is a Russian-Canadian Mennonite who is also a veterinarian.  He has a nasty sunflower seed problem.  He travels to Indonesia to monitor a program the Canadian government began.  The program involved giving unwanted North American cows to Indonesia.  Suddenly, the North American cows began to die.  Were there normal physiological reasons for this?  Was it slaughter?  Was it poison? 

“Fear of Landing” was disappointing.  I expected an intellectual mystery that would grab my attention from the beginning.  I had to force myself through the book.  What little excitement there was did not begin until the middle of the book. 

Some of the descriptions are disgusting, but well describes the day in the life of a veterinarian.  “The left flank of the cow is puckered wide open where I have just pulled the calf out, her body heat steaming around my arms.  I take my time up to my elbows inside her, sewing up the uterus, and hold my hands inside so they thaw sufficiently for me to sew up the flank muscles, quickly, flaking the ice off my surgical instruments.”

The character of Abner was not developed enough.  I wanted to learn more about his past, his religious upbringing.  I wanted to know why he acted like such an awkward bachelor around women.  This was all touched upon, but I wanted to know the character.  He has a former love that his childhood friend/colleague married.  That love, Sarah, was bright and full of career plans, but she married and had babies.  This put her career on hold, much to the disdain of Abner. 

The answer to the death of the North American cows ends up being cultural and political.  I had lost interest in “Fear of Landing” by the time the answers began to appear.  The font is large.  There are 221 pages.  David Waltner-Toews is an epidemiologist and veterinarian.  He is a professor at the University of Guelph and founded Veterinarians without Borders—Canada.  He has worked in many countries, including Indonesia.  I have no doubt that David Waltner-Towes is an intelligent clinician and academic.  With a little fine tuning, “Fear of Landing” can be a hit.  The main character just has to be more developed.

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