Rating: 
Summary: Wish I could make it ten stars!!!!
Review: It's tempting to cast Homer Hickam as a rags-to-riches, self-made man. The son of a coal mine supervisor, he was raised in a rural West Virginia town with limited access to public education's most up-to-date resources. When, as a child, he experimented with designing and launching rockets (well before man had walked on the moon), he went up against the traditions of a community that had little use for original behavior. Inauspicious beginnings perhaps, but as an adult, Homer Hickam became an engineer for NASA and a best-selling writer. So it would have been easy for him to paint himself as an undiscovered diamond in an unforgiving coal town. But that's not the tenor of Sky of Stone, in which Hickam re-creates the events of a long-ago summer spent in his hometown of Coalwood following his freshman year in college. Sky of Stone is a follow-up to Hickam's two previous memoirs, Rocket Boys (which was made into the movie October Sky) and The Coalwood Way. In all three books, the author commemorates his hometown and its citizens with loving admiration. Homer's parents, though imperfect, are remembered for their humor, dedication and ingenuity. The author gives them full credit for insisting that he go to college and pursue his dreams. More surprisingly, Hickam portrays Coalwood not as a soul- and lung-destroying wasteland, but as the embodiment of the American dream. Coalwood's fine schools, decent houses and well-nourished families are sustained by the production of coal. That's what the town's mining families believed, and Hickam honors their strong sense of self-determination. The dark side to the coal industry -- black lung, union quarrels, unequal opportunity for women -- rears its head in Hickam's reminiscences, as they did in Coalwood in 1961. But they are not the subject of Sky of Stone. Hickam focuses on three young people -- Bobby Likens, Rita Walicki and himself -- for whom Coalwood's resistance to change acted as a bracing stimulant, calling forth all of the trio's shrewdness and creativity. They were made by Coalwood, not in spite of it. The book's various plot strands -- the estrangement of Hickam's parents; the charges brought against his father involving the death of a mining foreman -- occasionally seem unconnected. But the author brings them all together in a final courtroom drama. Hickam's skill with plot, his wit and his capacity for summing up a character in a couple of good quotes all make Sky of Stone an admirable entry in the chronicles of his life.
Rating:
Summary: I'm sure Mr Hickam was a great scientist, but....
Review: just think how many more wonderful literary masterpieces we would have today if he'd focused on writing instead! I picked this book up at the library after I happened upon some good reviews here. I must say, I am very much impressed with Homer Hickam. The writing is fluid and very well developed. The story is wholesome and reminiscent of simpler times, and the plot is superb. I am definitely going to be reading more of Mr. Hickam's works, which, if you notice, all receive 4-5 stars here. America, I think the writing of Homer Hickam will continue to do us proud!
Rating:
Summary: I'm sure Mr Hickam was a great scientist, but....
Review: just think how many more wonderful literary masterpieces we would have today if he'd focused on writing instead! I picked this book up at the library after I happened upon some good reviews here. I must say, I am very much impressed with Homer Hickam. The writing is fluid and very well developed. The story is wholesome and reminiscent of simpler times, and the plot is superb. I am definitely going to be reading more of Mr. Hickam's works, which, if you notice, all receive 4-5 stars here. America, I think the writing of Homer Hickam will continue to do us proud!
Rating:
Summary: further poignant memories from Homer Hickam
Review: Like his previous books, "Rocket Books" and "The Coalwood Way," Homer Hickam's new memoir will touch your heart. The book is a kind of coming-of-age story when 18 year old Homer, now a college student at VPI (which has become Virginia Tech today), returns to a Coalwood summer spent working underground. The town has secrets which are harder to mine than the coal. "Coalwood business" remains outside the knowledge of Homer, in earlier years because of his age, now because of his outsider status, as a college student and one bound for a life away from the hills of West Virginia. Slowly Homer chips away at the secrets, and at the truth of what happened one night when a fierce storm took out the electricity, stopped the ventilation in the mines, and caused a deadly buildup of methane gas. Throughout the book, Hickam writes with a tender yet tough, clear-eyed clarity, of himself on the brink of manhood, and of many other residents of Coalwood, and most especially, of his parents. His father is dedicated to the mine and to the community, and his mother, despite her love for his father, yearns for a life far away from Coalwood. Homer, caught in the middle, is of an age to strike out for himself. But "Coalwood business" keeps his home for a summer of change and discovery. The old truths endure, and fidelity, compassion, friendship, honesty, and faith will prevail. "Sky of Stone" is written with warmth and humor. The town of Coalwood as it was in l961 will come alive, and engage and entertain the reader. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: further poignant memories from Homer Hickam
Review: Like his previous books, "Rocket Books" and "The Coalwood Way," Homer Hickam's new memoir will touch your heart. The book is a kind of coming-of-age story when 18 year old Homer, now a college student at VPI (which has become Virginia Tech today), returns to a Coalwood summer spent working underground. The town has secrets which are harder to mine than the coal. "Coalwood business" remains outside the knowledge of Homer, in earlier years because of his age, now because of his outsider status, as a college student and one bound for a life away from the hills of West Virginia. Slowly Homer chips away at the secrets, and at the truth of what happened one night when a fierce storm took out the electricity, stopped the ventilation in the mines, and caused a deadly buildup of methane gas. Throughout the book, Hickam writes with a tender yet tough, clear-eyed clarity, of himself on the brink of manhood, and of many other residents of Coalwood, and most especially, of his parents. His father is dedicated to the mine and to the community, and his mother, despite her love for his father, yearns for a life far away from Coalwood. Homer, caught in the middle, is of an age to strike out for himself. But "Coalwood business" keeps his home for a summer of change and discovery. The old truths endure, and fidelity, compassion, friendship, honesty, and faith will prevail. "Sky of Stone" is written with warmth and humor. The town of Coalwood as it was in l961 will come alive, and engage and entertain the reader. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Review: Magnificent. I can't say more. I'm astonished at how good this story is. Homer Hickam doesn't write memoirs. He writes life. The book stands alone. You don't have to read the two memoirs that came before it. Sky of Stone is many things - humorous, tragic, mysterious. This is really, in many ways, a book that would fit very well as a mystery novel. I wanted so much to turn ahead to find out why Homer, Senior was willing to throw away his whole life and accept the blame for the tragic accident that killed his top foreman. And Homer's courtroom scenes are topnotch, absolutely riveting. I loved Rita,too, Coalwood's first woman engineer. I woke up the dogs laughing when she tricks Sonny (as Homer, the author was known then) to take her in the mine. This books deserves to be the top book of the fall season.
Rating:
Summary: Homer just gets better and better
Review: My boy friend said I'd enjoy Homer's works so I started with The Coalwood Way, then backtracked to Rocket Boys (so much different and better than the still-wonderful movie October Sky) and now Sky of Stone. I am stressed to hear that Sky of Stone is the last in the trilogy. Please, Homer, say it isn't so. For the last few weeks, I have been curled up at night reading these books and it's like I've become a part of Coalwood. There is so much wisdom in them, so much joy, and I laughed out loud so often at the things that would happen to Sonny and the other Coalwoodians. I dearly loved reading about Rita in this book. What a heroine she was! This was a kind of mystery story, too, better than anything John Grisham ever wrote. I am a dedicated fan but I want more Coalwood, please.
Rating:
Summary: A great legal mystery story on top of everything else
Review: Simply stated, this is one of the best books I have ever read. Filled with wisdom on every page, it is still a real page-turner. If you are searching for a book that will make you not want to put it down until you're done, this is the book for you. Homer does not write about things. He writes about people, people you will really care about. After reading this one, I so much want to visit Coalwood, just to go there and breathe the air and talk to its people. This is a love story, an adventure story, and a great detective and mystery story. Homer Hickam is the John Steinbeck (IMHO) of this age.
Rating:
Summary: Simply stated, a great book, a great read
Review: Simply stated, this is one of the best books I have ever read. Filled with wisdom on every page, it is still a real page-turner. If you are searching for a book that will make you not want to put it down until you're done, this is the book for you. Homer does not write about things. He writes about people, people you will really care about. After reading this one, I so much want to visit Coalwood, just to go there and breathe the air and talk to its people. This is a love story, an adventure story, and a great detective and mystery story. Homer Hickam is the John Steinbeck (IMHO) of this age.
Rating:
Summary: The best book in a very long time, I swan
Review: Sky of Stone is one of those books that grabs you and won't let you go. I heard Homer speak on C-Span and was glad I'd already ordered a copy. It was next up on my list. Getting away from the present day world was just what I needed so i sat down with a cup of hot tea on a cool, rainy day and... I didn't mean to but I read through the night. I was grabbed from the first chapter and just had to find out what was going to happen to Homer, Sr. (Sonny's dad), Elsie's fox, the Secret Man, Rita, Jake, and all those wonderful characters. Homer, Jr. (the author, of course - Sonny in the books) has written a pretty incredible text - combination mystery, romance, family, adventure, work ethic memoir novel. The courtroom scenes were dramatic, as good or better than the ones in To Kill A Mockingbird. I was very impressed, you might definitely say, by this book. I envy readers who still get to read it for the first time. Me? I'm going to read it again.
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