Rocket Man - Softcover

Hazelgrove, William Elliott

3.3

105 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1938467582 ISBN 13: 9781938467585

Publisher: Koehler Books, 2013

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The Catcher in the Rye for the Great Recession generation, Rocket Man is a hilarious satire of life today, a time when middle class America is holding on by its fingernails to the increasingly elusive American Dream. Dale Hammer is a man who is determined to find meaning in a landscape of suburban homogeneity, looking for the moment he had with his own father when they blasted off a rocket on a wintery evening. He feels his son slipping away as he tries to get around “the silent shame of fathers and sons.” He becomes the Rocket Man for his sons Scout troop. When Rocket Day comes, Dale is determined to give his son more than his father gave him.

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Review:

"The funniest serious novel since Richard Russo's STRAIGHT MAN, rich with the epic levity of John Irving and salted with the perversion of Updike." -Chicago Sun-Times "The rollicking story of a writer whose piece of the American Dream falls apart." -Chicago Tribune "This critically insightful diatribe against conformity is recommended." -Library Journal "William Elliott Hazelgrove's Rocket Man is a brilliant piece of writing, a work that meticulously dissects contemporary life in America with such a keen eye that the author is able to catch at least passing glances at us all." -Grady Harp, Top Amazon Reviewer

From the Back Cover:

"Rocket Man" is a very funny and poignant comment on our times, when an upside down middle class is barely hanging onto the American dream. Taking cues from the calamity of The Great Recession, we meet Dale Hammer, a man who is determined to find meaning in a landscape of suburban homogeneity, looking for the moment he had with his own father when they blasted off a rocket on a wintery evening. He feels his son slipping away as he tries to get around "the silent shame of fathers and sons." He becomes the Rocket Man for his sons scout troop and immediately his life implodes. Accused of cutting down the subdivision sign to his neighborhood, he becomes the lone rebel, going down in a flaming arc. When Rocket Day comes, Dale is determined to give his son more than his father gave him.

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