Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read
Review: Although I'm an avid book reader, it was my interest in amateur rocketry that brought this book to my attention. (I was made aware of it, from the rocketryonline.com web site). I bought it off of Amazon.com, but after reading it, I immediately bought another copy for a friend of mine -- who has no interest in rocketry whatsoever. The book IS about rocketry, but it certainly is about a whole bunch of other things. It's one of the best written books I've ever read. Anyone who has ever told a story, knows that certain corners are cut, certain ad libs are made, that distorts the truth, in favour of a more compelling story. No book, no story has ever been told, that would be considered to be the verbatim truth, as viewed from all involved parties. But this book has a wonderfully solid and harsh tale of unglorified reality. It feel so very real, and it is perhaps this that makes it the most 'unputdownable' books I've ever encountered. I felt downright sad, once I finished it; I wish I hadn't, so I could read it all over again, with fresh eyes. An absolutely brilliant book.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding!
Review: A great coming of age story of the astounding accomplishments of those who dream and whose dreams propel them forward. This book made me remember when I was in school and the dreams that helped to shape my life.
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Summary: I'll never forget that prodigious orange suit.
Review: Like another reviewer, I picked-up this book after seeing the coming attractions for the new film OCTOBER SKY. I hope the movie does justice to this coming-of-age story set in the Sputnik era. Aside from the suit for Indianapolis, no reader is likely to forget the one for the high school football championship game...the free taxi ride to the Trailways bus station...rocket candy & zincoshine...the exploded fence...the smoke bomb in the house that brought the fire department...the Jewish couple who helped Sonny when they couldn't help their own child...the growing crowds of spectators at the missle range who eventually flinch at the shock waves from the increasingly sophistocated rockets...the squirrel in the Chrismas tree...John Kennedy's suntan & formulating thoughts on space exploration...Hubert Humphrey's loquaciousness...the false accusations about the forest fire & the teacher who set things straight...the fight in the creek...Sonny's haven from frostbite...the high school dances & fogged-up car windows...the shot through the window...the impressed officer who asked even a polio-stricken boy to consider a career in the Air Force...the journey from a nozzel crimped with pliers to one calculated with differential equations. When I finished the book I found myself wanting to go to the next High School National Science fair. Anyone know when and where it is?
Rating:
Summary: Utterly Satisfying.
Review: I'm the worlds harshest book critic, and am so dang picky. With that said, this is such a great book. It is so full of hope, dreams, reality, and conflict. Hickam explains his family, friends and enemies in full color. By the end of the book the reader cares so much about what happens and is routing so hard for Sonny that the end is a very emotional experience (at least for me it was) What a great life story and what a great job telling it. There isn't a boring moment in the book. What more can I say? It's worth every penny. Buy it and read it, and enjoy the satisfaction this memoir brings.
Rating:
Summary: "Couldn't put it down."
Review: Like most other Amazon customers who reviewed this book, I found myself sacrificing sleep to finish it. The story was engrossing, perhaps not so much because we could really identify with young Hickam, but because we wish we could. Hickam, after all, had a dream when he was a young man, and, with some family and community support, pursued it until it carried him far from his little town. Some readers have criticised him for taking too many liberties with the story. As a "nouveau Appalachian" I can tell you that the ability to spin a hilarious tale from real events is one of the things I treasure about West Virginians. People here are able to find the humor in seemingly ordinary events, and craft it into a side-splitting story without leaving the very gray area we call "truth." Homer Hickam is a master of the art. Other readers have attacked the book as pretentious. It is far less pretentious that "How Green Was My Valley", another coalfield coming-of-age memoir hailed by some as a classic. To those critics, I say, "Lighten up." Grab the book, let yourself get sucked in, and enjoy.
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Summary: A great book that made me think about my role as a parent.
Review: I won't bother echoing all the great comments others have made about this wonderful book. I only want to add that, in addition to being a great story, it really made me think about my role as a parent. In a coal-mining town where death was an accepted possibility every day at work, these teenagers were allowed to take some big risks, including but not limited to concocting rocket fuel in the basement. The benefits, in terms of developing self-confidence and initiative, were great--but so were the potential costs. My son will grow up in a much more sheltered and protected world. I'm thinking hard about whether he'll be able to find such opportunities to develop both his mind and his initiative as he grows up, and whether there's anything I can do to encourage him--without letting him blow himself up!
Rating:
Summary: A very realistic look of life in the coal fields
Review: I grew up in Caretta, West Virginia. My dad was a union man working at Olga Coal Company. I don't remember hearing about Sonny or the rocket boys. I was only five when they were shooting rockets. The way Sonny described life in McDowell County was so realistic I relived my childhood. Congrats Sonny on a great read and for telling about the way we grew up.
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Summary: Coming of age for early baby boomer. Thanks, Homer!
Review: I loved this book. For me, Sputnik was as vague as the Founding Fathers, but much more important. We had to beat the Russians and we had to understand science and math to do it. Space was our battleground. Here comes Homer Hickham,for whom embracing outer space and the future conincides with rejecting the caves of coal mining and his father's past. Yes! Go for it Homer! This book got me through Thanksgiving, made me happy, and thoroughly amused my husband as well. Read Rocket Boys. It's coming of age at its best: obstacles, courage, and those wonderful friends and sweethearts that get you through it all.
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Summary: This book is a must read. By far the best book I have read.
Review: I grew up two towns away in nearby Bartley, WV. I can relate to Mr. Hickman's personal trials and tribulations. There was a lot of pressure back in Mr. Hickman's era. In the 50's coal mining was the only prominent source of employment, or life for that fact in Coalwood, W.V. Both my Mother and Father are also from the same area. It is astounding to visualize what Mr. Hickman, went through in this quant little mining town. All odds were against him, as he tried to better himself. Remember these small towns are very closed minded. All of the characters were right on que as well. I felt I was back home conversing with some of my old buddies. We must thank Sputnik, for ravelling Mr. Hickman's keen sense of rocketry. I'am extremely proud Mr. Hickman; and I'am also extremely proud to say I'am from southern West Virginia. Reading this Book brought tears to my eyes, as once I had similar aspirations and dreams of leaving Bartley and becoming someone. I hope I can only be as successful as an attorney, as Mr. Hickman was with Rocketry. Back to the book, I reccomend it to anyone who grew up around this specific area of West Virginia. It was definently an honor to have read such a great masterpiece of truth. We as parents should take a step back and look what Mr. Hickman accomplished in this small town, and try to distill some of the same values in our children today.
Rating:
Summary: A Memoir with Meaning
Review: Rocket Boys is an inspirational book that recalls the life a young man who had dreams that reached the sky. I reccomend this book for anyone who wants to read a heart-felt novel that makes us reach for the stars and accomplish our goals.
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