Aloft

Lee's first 2 novels, "Native Speaker" and "A Gesture Life" are two of the best novels I've read in recent years, his precise characterisation and subtle plot threads making them hard to put down

Aloft, although enjoyable, doesn't reach the heights of these 2 works. Whilst the book's protaganist, Jerry Battle, is sharply drawn, the motivations and behaviours of the other main characters are hazy. Perhaps this is deliberate - a device for showing that Battle has never sufficiently emotionally connected with his friends and family to see them other than in broad brush strokes; but for me it makes the book ultimately unsatisfying

The main theme of the book is avoidance; Battle avoids confronting the emotional needs of his family and girlfriends, and especially the mental deterioration and demise of his now dead wife. Learning from him, his daughter avoids thinking about and acting on her recently diagnosed cancer; his son avoids thinking about the impending implosion of the family business, his son in law avoids the crisis in his writing

Battle is gradually learning to deal with the everyday crisis of family life, and the moral tone of the book is that his family would all be stronger and mentally healthier with greater engagement from him. Perhaps this is true - but the characters are so shallowly drawn that its difficult to care. I found little empathy with or understanding of Battle's daughter Theresa and son Jack, and particularly his longtime girlfriend Rita. Why Rita should have been attracted to Jerry, have chosen to stay with him for more than 20 years, and be tempted back to him, is a complete mystery.

Lee writes well, and as always his dialogue is completely convincing. But although Aloft is a pleasant enough pastime, I was left with a feeling that it was ultimately trivial for a writer of Lee's undoubted talent ( )

Ok, admittedly the narrator is a little wordy--make that a VERY--which in fact is why I love this book. The sheer incandescence of thought which drives the narrator, the second son of an aggressive overbearing father, drives the book. Here is sublime musing on existence through his own existence and the loss of his wife's existence. Here is a man so traumatized by the death of his wife that thirty years later, that he still exists in a state of existing nonexistence. He is aloft--circling above the real world--ready to come down only when the physical realities of life demand it--and only as far as function.
I enjoyed the author's voice as spoken through the narrator with surpring candor. I am sure it is a little too self-meditative for many, but that is why I enjoyed it.

Reminds me of Richard Ford--the way Lee inhabits this late middle-aged landscaper at loose ends, confused by his grown children and their virtual stepmother (he's a long-time widower) who's left him for a richer, classier rival.

There's something of Updike's Rabbit too--a less raunchy, less spiritually (transcendentally?) inclined, less current events-aware Rabbit, but I'm going with Richard Ford. Also Lee has created a character that's much older than he is, while Updike and Ford--like so many other male novelists of their generation and slightly older ones--have already been here, done that.

This is not what I expected of Lee at this stage in his career. He's a good, observant writer, but I guess I'm just not that interested in spending so much time in the head of a comfortable, affluent middle-aged guy who doesn't know enough to appreciate his good luck. ( )

Really good and readable book. I identify with the characters - a little detached, a little apathetic, a little damaged, a little sorry. I cried at the end. I would recommend this book. ( )

One of my favorite books, Superbly written, great story. ( )