by Chang - Rae Lee (Author)
From up here, a half mile above the Earth, everything looks perfect to me Being a solo flyer made sense to Jerry Battle right from the start. For his 56th birthday, his longtime (and recently ex-) girlfriend Rita Reyes had given him a gift certificate for flying lessons. Once Jerry was up there he thought, 'here was the little space I was looking for, my private box seat in the world and completely outside of it too.' As he soared far above the Earth, everything in Jerry's life seemed perfect. But everything isn't perfect and for such a nice guy, Jerry could wreak an amazing amount of havoc Life is about to deal Jerry Battle his toughest hand yet. With an ailing father yearning to flee his 'Ivy Acres Life Care Centre' and a son teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Jerry's daughter is about to bestow on him a father's worst nightmare. But maybe Jerry needs finally to work out what it is that separates him from his loved ones, allowing himself to be tugged back to earth to engage with one of the most compelling and unforgettable of family dramas. With Aloft, Chang-rae Lee proves himself to be a master storyteller, simultaneously observing his characters' weaknesses and celebrating their humanity. Filled with vitality and urgency, Aloft is an unforgettable portrait of a man who has secured life's dreams, but who now must struggle to figure out its meaning.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Edition: Airport and Export ed
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 01 Mar 2004
ISBN 10: 0747566933
ISBN 13: 9780747566939
Book Overview: A fictional tour de force - a novel about family, the American dream, and the American character. Chang-rae Lee is the winner of numerous accolades and awards including the Hemingway/PEN Award - Aloft confirms his status as a true literary heavyweight. Praise for Native Speaker: Amazing, wonderful, original, fresh The Times The Book is a Wonder New Statesman