It's late. Full review to follow ( )

First time I've read a John Crowley novel, the multidimensional aspect of this book is truly delightful. On top of the basic historical story line is a saga of strangers and outcasts finding purpose and community. Added to that a layer of vocabulary and trivia (Homasote, Sabine Free State, Bernarr Macfadden, deliquesced, etc.) that had me resorting to the internet on multiple occasions. Such fun! ( )

I bought this when it was first published, so it’s taken me nearly eight years to get around to reading it. And I’m a big fan of Crowley’s writing. Oops. Having said that, I’ve yet to read Endless Things, which I bought in 2007, chiefly because I want to reread Ægypt (AKA The Solitudes), Love & Sleep and Dæmonomania first… But: Four Freedoms, which is entirely unrelated and not even genre. The title refers to President Franklin D Roosevelt’s “four freedoms”: 1 freedom of speech, 2 freedom of worship, 3 freedom from want, and 4 freedom from fear. It is is set during WWII and chiefly concerns people who work at an aircraft factory in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The bomber these people are building is the B-30 Pax, but it’s clearly an analogue of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, which did not see service during WWII (but from 1949 to 1959, to be precise) and was one of the great Cold War bombers of the US. Only 384 were built, but the novel claims 500 of its “B-30″s were built. Crowley mentions in an afterword that he didn’t intentionally model the B-30 on the B-36 and only later discovered the Pax / Peacemaker synchronicity and that the B-36 had been damaged by a cyclone at Fort Worth echoing events in his novel. I believe him – you don’t put “wow synchronicity!” notes in your afterword unless that’s what they were. The actual story of Four Freedoms is that of female and disabled members of the US workforce during WWII. The novel focuses on the factory which builds the B-30, but tells the story of several characters, introducing them and then telling their back-story through flashback. It’s a beautiful piece of writing – effortlessly readable, effortlessly convincing. I had forgotten how good Crowley is. I really ought to get started on my read of Endless Things… ( )

Sale Price for Kindle. Spoilers. This is a pretty good book. The book pulls together stories of different people who come to work at an airplane factory during WW2. The factory is in the desert, in Nevada or Utah I think, maybe Arizona. They are making a new huge plane that, we later find out, doesn't fly. There is a large & colorful cast of characters. The guy who really is the main character is disabled; he had a birth defect but he could get around & then he had a fancy operation & after the operation he was much less able to get around. But he came to the factory & they gave him a job on the factory newsletter. There are some little people, who can get into parts of the plane nobody else can. There are women of different types & from different areas. Just a bunch of different stories. I'm sure there is a thematic connection between the sections & the Four Freedoms but I didn't want to work that hard.

Oh I guess it is Oklahoma. And I wanted also to say that one big theme is the changes on the home front caused by the war.

Four Freedoms tells the story of people who work at an airplane factory in Oklamoha during WWII. Women, midgets, elderly, disabled, and other people who can't normally get jobs work at the factory and live in the factory town. The book weaves together the threads of their life stories as they meet at the factory.

Like many other Crowley novels, I found this to be utterly enchanting. Crowley's writing is sparse, but very evocative, and his characters are incredibly real. The characters and their stories were very absorbing. However, also like many other Crowley novels, I got the sense that there was some deeper esoteric meaning to the novel that I was missing. I don't mind - I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. ( )