Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and screaming,
"WOO HOO, what a ride!"

Monday, December 22, 2008

Rocket Man by William Elliott Hazelgrove

Dale Hammer wants to live the American Dream but is a dismal failure. He wants to be a good father and husband but can't really accomplish either. This book is a week of his life. A week when it is all falling apart.

Dale, or pen name D.T. Hammer, is a failed author who earns his living as a mortgage broker. He has moved his family to the suburbs because he was convinced that all of his problems will be solved if they move out of the city.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Once they are relocated he decides that they should move back to the city and everything will be fine, this time. Such is life for Dale. The desire is there but the motivation and the responsibility is not. There is no sympathy for this man because he brings it on himself and has damaged his relationships with his wife, his children and his neighbors. To add to his misery his father, who was not a good father figure himself, has moved in with them. But the weekend brings Rocket Day for his son's scout troop. He is determined to give his son a great experience and himself some redemption.

Dale's struggle are especially timely with our recent economic hardships. When many people define themselves by their careers and their roles in society, who do they become when they lose those parts of their lives? Are we setting our goals based on the expectations of others or are our goals what we really hope to achieve in our life? This story was well written with interesting characters and plenty of conflict with everyone struggling to maintain their own form of normal.

My thanks to Library Thing for a copy of this book.

4 comments:

  1. I enjoyed this book, but found myself wondering if families really treat each other they way they did in this book.

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  2. Two things. I'd like to link my blog to your site A View From Hemingways Attic http://www.wiliamhazelgrove.blogspot.com and also, thank you for the review. I think it was right on...If you have a chance to post it to Amazon, that would be great.

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  3. It sounds so sad....

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  4. I'll be very happy to post this on Amazon and the other sites I belong to. In fact I meant to get to that sooner but with the holidays I'm behind on everything. Great job!

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