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Summary: Beau Bridges is wonderful and so is this book
Review: I bought this book and listened to it driving across country. I laughed out loud again and again and it put me in such a wonderful mood. This story of six boys who challenged a little coal town to be great is inspiring, witty, and purely marvelous. Recommended highly.
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Summary: Simply a fabulous tale which is superbly told.
Review: There is a certain fraternity to West Virginians which until the writing of this book was widely unknown. Homer Hickam has shed a seldom seen light on a culture and way of life that is all but gone in most regions of the world. It is a simply tale that is told with honesty and candor that is easily understood but rare among authors. This is an autobiographical tale of a young man who overcomes what most would percieve as adversity but is simply a way of life to many West Virginians. Hickam set himself apart from the crowd early in his life by pursuing his dream with dogged determination and adaptability. The story is told with insight as well as humor. It deals with a subject which can be tedious to some perhaps but remain interesting through out due to the characters and their character. Hickams strained relationship with his father and brother is dealt with openly and honestly as are all aspects of the story. This is the true definition of a good old fashioned page turner be you a fellow West Virginian like myself or a new comer to that part of the world. Hickam, as so many people of that region do, welcomes you in with open arms. You may not stay forever as many don't, but like this book you won't soon forget it.
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Summary: Hickam drives home the lessons of Life 101.
Review: In Homer Hickam's coming of age story he paints a heartwarming and loving tale of Coalwood, its townfolk and his family. Hats off to all the members of the BCMA and the Hickam's Coalwoodian neighbors who truly show that it does indeed take a village to drive home the facts of life and to make dreams a reality. Bravo! "Rocket Boys" left me flying high long after the last AUCK was launched.
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Summary: A great read!
Review: This is the story of the small town of Coalwood, West Virginia, and the people who lived and worked there when Mr. Hickam was growing up. This is a very lively book. I kept laughing out loud so much my wife asked me what was going on. Then I cried, too. Parents, get it for your kids. Kids, get it for your parents.
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Summary: One of the most heartwarming books ever!
Review: I am a native McDowell Countian, and for those of you who are wondering, that is the county in WV where Homer Hickam is from, and it is the county where his wonderful book, Rocket Boys, takes place. I am not sure if the book touched me more because I grew up in McDowell County and understand the things Hickam talks about in his book, or if it is the artful way he tells his story that draws me in. I just know that as I finished reading the book this afternoon, I found myself crying, and wishing that the book would never end. Hickam has a masterful way of drawing the reader inside his tale, and a way of making one wish they had been around Coalwood back in the days of the Rocket Boys. I found myself driving home through Coalwood, taking a scenic route to take in the sights, imagining what is what like back in its heyday. I would love to see where the old Cape Coalwood was, and the old Hickam home. For those who have never been to a coal mining town, you should read this book to get some idea of what it is like to grow up in a place where everyone knows everyone, and the heart of the town beats with the rhythm of an industry that has the power to make or break the people, but not their spirit. There are many "ghost towns" like Coalwood here in McDowell County these days, but Rocket Boys is one reminder that the spirit of a people can move mountains, or at least soar above them! This is a must read for everyone, but especially those in West Virginia.
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Summary: A fun read, but with perhaps too much an eye on Hollywood.
Review: Hickam portrays certain events wonderfully, growing up in the 1950s, teenage friendship, the heartbreak of a first "crush," and, most importantly, a teen's ability to excel by using his brain rather than his brawn. I found Hickam's difficulty in dealing with his brother and father to be touching. However, throughout the book, I had this vague sense that Hickam was trying desperately to write a screenplay, more than a truthful account of important and defining events in his teen years. Throughout the book, I tried to determine which was truth and which was fabrication. Had this been presented as fiction, rather than "memoir," I could have enjoyed the book more as just a good yarn, a sort of Hardy Boys for adults. Bookstores are pushing this as the best memoir since "Angela's Ashes," which does disservice to that classic.
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Summary: Wonderful book! All my child hood memories came back!
Review: This is a fantastic book all the way around but especially for anyone raised in the coal camps of West Virginia.....so many things to relate too! Would recommend this book to any one for down to earth reading enjoyment!
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Summary: Telling It Like It Was!
Review: I may not know a rocket nozzle from a water hose nozzle but I do know Appalachian coal mining camps. I grew up in one in Kentucky the same years Mr. Hickman was firing his rockets in Coalwood, WVA. He knows his miners, his town and his mountains. Coal mining camps were pretty much the same, no matter the state. I recognized the people in his book as people I knew in Lynch, (Harlan County) Kentucky --- only the names had changed. We also had company homes, high school football, The Big Store, unforgettable teachers, mine disasters and moonshine --- but we never had the BCMA and we never had a Homer Hickman. Thank goodness Coalwood did have him because his book is a treasure that takes off like the rockets. If you come from the same background as I do, take a few free hours, grab a comfortable chair and plan to read it in one sitting because you really can't put it down!
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Summary: It's a great book, but . . .
Review: 'Rocket Boys' left me cold despite being the engrossing page-turner recommended by reviewers. Hickam Jr. reminds us in his posting here that the book is about something more than a group of high school guys playing with rockets. Hickam Jr. uses, among other things, his strained relationship with his father, the parent's deeply flawed marraige, and a teacher's illness as the dramatic backdrop for his "memoir." While these troubles are significant, I think Hickam Jr. owes it to his father and the people whose lives he exposed to show how they impacted on him later in life. In looking back on his own life, Hickam Jr. doesn't come anywhere close to subjecting his (adult) life to the same level of scrutiny. What we are left with is a hurried, unsatisfactory epilogue that does little more than summarize a career. Was he inspired to be a better father, husband, partner or teacher? Did he ever give back? Now, I realize it may be unfair for the reader of a coming-of-age story to ask what happened next, and I respect Hickam Jr.'s honesty about his shortcomings (selfishness), but something about the book feels exploitative. I question whether the father's memory was well-served. 'Rocket Boys' is more akin to the fictional 'This Side of Paradise' by F. Scott Fitzgerald than a true memoir -- we are not given so much as a sentence in the epilogue which sheds light on how the young egotist chose to live his life. I need that sentence because the author's note and acknowledgments in the beginning of the book left me feeling like I had just read an opportunist's 366 page treatment for "Stand-by-me" meets "The Right Stuff."
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Summary: It's Tom Sawyer builds rockets!
Review: I kept thinking of Tom Sawyer as I read this book. It's an adult book, one about a family and especially a young boy struggling for a bright new future, yet I often laughed out loud while reading it. It was one of those books where I sighed when I finished the last page. Hated for it to end.
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