Customer Reviews

Aloft

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Jerome Battle, a self-described "average American guido," has managed to live most of his sixty years "above it all," never quite engaging with those around him or becoming emotionally intimate. On weekends he is aloft in his small plane, his "private box seat in the world and completely outside of it, too," flying alone around Long Island, observing the apparent orderliness of the landscape without the "pedestrian sea-level flotsam" of everyday life. Unfortunately, Jerry also lives his personal life the way he flies his plane, as if he's seeing it from a great distance. Numerous personal catastrophes, enough to unhinge a man more sensitive to his surroundings, are now occurring around and to Jerry and his family, but Jerry's long experience in avoidance allows him to remain disengaged from these events. Slowly, inexorably, the author develops the family's crises until they finally force themselves onto Jerry's personal radar screen, and he realizes that "I cannot stay at altitude much longer, even though I have fuel to burn."

By focusing on character, especially that of Jerry, rather than plot, and telling the story from Jerry's point of view, author Lee has created enormous challenges for himself. He must engage the reader's interest in a man who is not really interested in much of anything--a man who does not see family emergencies as the dramatic and heart-wrenching events that they would be to other people and who has no real interest in changing. So successful is the depiction of Jerry's phlegmatic point of view that the reader, too, may not see these events as very compelling or dramatic until Jerry himself starts to respond to them. Yet Lee's novel succeeds in its characterization. His depictions of Jerry and his family strike chords of recognition as he explores the universal questions of how we become the people we are and how we affect the generations which follow.

Beautifully written, and full of penetrating observations and felicitous turns of phrase, the novel is a sensitive and often painful exploration of the human condition, filled with characters who are utterly isolated at key turning points in their lives. Subtle in its development, and rich in imagery and obvious symbolism (Sir Harold Clarkson-Ickes's attempt to fly a balloon around the world, the Discovery Channel's story of the defeat of a lion king), this quietly complex novel by a prodigiously gifted author offers evidence that even a man as determined as Jerry Battle to remain above the fray must ultimately connect with the earth. Mary Whipple

Chang-Rae Lee's third novel brilliantly evokes the angst of a man stunted by his own passivity. Jerry Battle, by his own account, is not a fighter. He flies his airplane in only the fairest weather, and usually does so solo since from that height, with no one making demands on him, "everything looks perfect." On the ground, though, his life is less than perfect. He would rather let the woman he loves live with another man than express his true feelings for her. He turns from the implications of his son's extravagance in running the family landscape business, and he prefers to keep his distance from his gruff father. If Jerry sees the signs of imminent destruction, he keeps them to himself, for to bring them to the fore would be to require action on his part. In fact, the last time in his life when he took charge of his personal life, he pushed his wife and the mother of his children to her early death. All in all, he'd rather not know about the crises embroiling his family. However, when his adult daughter breaks some distressing news, all his carefully constructed aloofness begins to crumble.

With wit and insight, Lee has created not only a memorable character, but an unforgettable novel. The interior nature of the first person narrative might disappoint readers looking for more pizzazz to the plot, but the intimacy created as Jerry leads the reader through his thoughts - on everything from his young wife's death to his father's "years of being a pigheaded domineering irascible bull in the china shop of life" to his tender. confused feelings for his son and daughter - makes up for the lack of action. The emotional depth Lee provides is stunningly full. Although the imagery can be heavy-handed with its references to flight and being grounded, Jerry's wry acknowledgment of these elements rescue them. The decadence of contemporary culture and the melting pot of Long Island provide strong foils to this novel essentially about a fifty-nine year old man coming of age.

Admittedly, this excellent novel is not for everyone. Its detailed examination of mundane but revelatory moments might get tedious for some. However, for those who like the quiet realism and intimacy of a man's struggle against his own nature, this will be one of the best novels of 2004.

Jerry Battle is almost 60 and semi-retired from Battle Brothers Brick and Mortar, a company his father, who is living unhappily in a retirement home, took great pride in. He works part-time at Parade Travel and lives the good life in Huntington Village, a wealthy (and mostly white) area on Long Island that is a far cry from his Italian roots in nearby Whitestone. He has spent his entire life skating around relationships --- his first wife Daisy drowned in their backyard pool, and his long-time girlfriend, Rita, leaves him after taking care of his children and waiting over 10 years for Jerry to pop the question. Kelly, Jerry's co-worker at Parade Travel, dates him briefly and is similarly exasperated with him.

His children also don't seem to know what to do with him. His son, Jack, is a solid guy who is married to an All-American blonde named Eunice, has two children and lives in a ridiculously over-decorated house they can't quite afford. Jack is running the family business into the ground but neglects to discuss this with Jerry directly. Theresa, who is by far a more colorful and interesting character, is Jerry's daughter. She is an overeducated professor, also cursed with thinking too much, and is engaged to Paul, an Asian-American poet who has a serious case of writer's block. Theresa calls her father by his first name and adamantly refuses treatment when she finds out she is simultaneously pregnant and has cancer.

All of this is compounded by the fact that Jerry unintentionally befriends strangers --- such as the couple who sell him his airplane --- but is removed from those he loves the most. Truth be told, everyone thinks Jerry is lazy and aloof. He ruminates about all the neighbors he was cordial with, all the girls he ran around with in his youth and anyone else who might have passed his way in 60-odd years of living. Yet Jerry feels he doesn't have real friends and tries desperately to get back together with Rita.

The novel starts off slowly. There are a lot of unnecessary details about minor characters and it's initially hard to feel sympathy for the protagonist. Once the conflicts of the story are presented and Jerry decides to take some action for once, the pace quickly picks up and doesn't dissipate. Though the story is plot-heavy and meanders right up until the last page (pg. 343), it is immensely readable. Whether it's a lunch celebrating Paul and Theresa's engagement or Jerry remembering his childhood, the details are so vivid and plentiful that the reader will relate to the Battles immensely, even if they've never met anyone like them.

This could have easily been a novel about illness, but Lee is nothing if not ambitious. The author of two previous, critically acclaimed novels about Asian-Americans, Lee tackles race from the perspective of privilege. Daisy was Asian, Jerry's children are half-Asian, Paul is Asian and Jerry has a co-worker whom he calls "the resident Hispanic." But by and large, everyone is white and, true to his character, Jerry thinks about race a lot and shares those thoughts with the reader. Not that Jerry focuses only on people of color. He is equally baffled by women, including Kelly, who hails from the South. Through reminiscences and dialogue, Jerry analyzes the way men treat women without delving into a decisive diatribe.

Chang-rae Lee could have easily (and understandably, depending on your perspective) written a story about how badly white men treat the rest of the world. In interviews, Lee has been quoted as saying that he identifies with his protagonist despite the racial and age differences (Lee is in his 30s). It shows. Lee has written a wonderful story about an imperfect family who love each other at the end of the day.

--- Reviewed by Jane Van Ingen

As a retired guy who likes to fly small airplanes I was prepared to enjoy this novel about a retired guy who likes to fly a small airplane. The multi-generational family story is nicely crafted and the author, despite being a young person, writes convincingly about a 59-year-old man's concerns. It would have been nice if the author had taken the time to have a licensed pilot review the manuscript. The portions of the book that deal with actual flying bear no relationship to reality. The main character, supposedly a fair-weather pilot, proceeds into clouds off the Connecticut coast instead of simply landing at one of the numerous airports that dot the shore or turning around and spending the night in the Boston area. The author notes that these clouds are not thunderstorms and yet the little plane is nearly ripped apart by turbulence. The pilot of the stricken airplane calls the control tower of his intended destination for an instrument clearance, rather than the nearby Providence Approach, which owns the airspace in which he was flying. The tower controller in the book gives the main character a clearance that requires him to follow the Long Island Expressway, which would be a neat trick if you were stuck in the clouds (in the real world pilots on an instrument flight plan fly from one radio beacon to the next). The grand finale is an instrument approach to a runway covered in fog, a heroic emergency maneuver that you would never attempt if you had a working airplane and enough fuel to fly another few minutes to an airport where the runway was not covered in fog.

If you're not an airplane nerd, however, you'll probably enjoy the book.

Jerry Battle, the protagonist narrator of "Aloft" says at one point in the book, "...there are few things in this life as heartbreaking as unexpected solidarity." Perhaps that's why Jerry keeps himself (or is kept) so emotionally distant from the friends and family in his life. Whether it's of his own doing or not, he's a man who stays above the fray - literally retreating to his small airplane in times of particular stress. He avoids confrontation, not realizing that when you do that you also avoid getting close to other people.

"Aloft" is about Jerry's journey back to the ground, and whether he lands safely or crashes and burns. Jerry is a delightful protagonist, wittier and smarter than he gives himself credit for. He's not exactly a "nice" guy, but he's decent. He knows how to fight hard and strong for things that he ultimately finds irrelevant, but can't find the right words when it's something that matters. His gradual realization, as he approaches his 60th birthday, is that what he really wants out of life is to start over, but he soon learns that such opportunities always come with a cost.

Chang-Rae Lee deftly captures the language of family members who don't really communicate with each other. And the characters ring true, from Jack's dull son Jack, hyper-intellectual daughter Theresa, and elderly sexist blowhard of a father, all of the characters feel natural and at home in Jerry's going-through-the-motions life.

But ultimately it's Jerry's point-of-view that makes the book work. He's fascinated with race - not racist, mind you, just finds it noteworthy. He's prone to self-reflexion, but not actually acting on his observations. He's not entirely passive - he surprises his ex-girlfriend at her new boyfriend's extravagant mansion in an effort to win her back - but none of his life-changing strategies involve actually changing some element of himself.

He's an easy narrator to get along with, though, and you really have to root for the guy. He's had some hardships in his life, and he's about to have some more. In a way, it's a comfort to know that, for those who need him, he's really pretty unshakable. That may not make him the picture of an ideal, fully realized human being, but there are worse ways to live.

"Aloft" is good stuff.

This is easily the worst of Lee's three books so far, a real disappointment after his first two beautifully written novels. This book has none of the grace or elegance of A Gesture Life, and none of the pathos of Native Speaker. It feels like the work of an author who at one time was original and independent, but who now has lowered himself to mainstream mediocrity. There's nothing in this book to challenge the reader to think. Everything about it is glossy and dumbed-down. And that would be fine if it were coming from a different author, but it's not fine when it's coming from an author from whom we expect so much more. There is very little genuine in this book. The main character feels fake, artificial, not quite real. His voice doesn't ring true. It's as if Lee couldn't quite decide what kind of person this character should be. Is he intellectual and introspective, or blue-collar and simple? I don't know, and I get the impression that Lee didn't quite know either. There's something to be said for a character with multiple layers, but that's not what we have here. We have a character who is drawn rather inconsistently, and that is just plain frustrating for a reader. The dialog, also, falls flat in this novel. Rarely does it sound genuine, like a real conversation that real people could actually have. Perhaps that's because the novel is narrated in first-person, a choice that doesn't allow for the semi-omniscient commentary that is often so practical with the distance of a third-person narrator. All in all, this is a real pedestrian effort by Lee. I certainly won't be waiting as eagerly for his next book as I did for this one.

Jerry Battle, a man just about to turn 60, considers his life at this age and looks at how his family relationships have changed up to this point. He has always remained emotionally (and, in his plane Donnie, physically) detached from those he should have been loving and nurturing the most.

This book is completely different from other books I've read by Lee. In his other books, I've been amazed by how well the author could focus in on what it is like to be a Korean estranged by others in American society. In this book, he makes his protagonist so amazingly Causasian that it is almost a relief to find some Korean characters in the story, being that the author himself is a Korean who was brought to the U.S. as a child.

This book is hard to get into and not quick reading, but magnificent if you persevere. I tried twice and failed. With my third try (and I was determined to get into it as I had previously loved Lee's other two novels), I found a surprisingly complex and fascinating character study, one which drew me deeper and deeper into the life of Jerry Battle. The book was almost like a 400-plus page run-on sentence with excellent grammar. At times, I found myself wishing that Jerry would just stop talking for a while! Nevertheless, I found the story and characters engrossing and real. The writing was detailed, thoughtful, and replete with witticisms, sage advice, and simple truths.

Although I don't share the author's gender, I certainly do share some of his views about life as seen through the perspective of Jerry Battle. His discussion of ostentatious living, the difficulty of handling an elderly parent , and the uncertainties of middle age were discussed with clarity and humor. This is the kind of writing I think would appeal to guys, although I did identify with the middle age thing, being within one year of the lead character's age. :-)

In this nuanced saga of a Long Island family, the Battles, Chang-Rae Lee gives us not only the development of a man in late mid-life, but a snapshot of suburban culture in the early 21st century.

When I finished Aloft, I gave the book a hug, so dear had its narrator, Jerry Battle, and his family become to me, character flaws included. Lee has all the observational powers and literary acumen of a Jonathan Franzen or a young John Updike, but he's kinder, even when he's judging the parenting and philandering of his aged father or the post-modernist chatter of his daughter and her husband or the materialism of his daughter-in-law. He's not even crazy about his grandchildren, yet they don't come across as monsters.

The piloting of his small plane across Long Island (but only in good weather, no risks for him) and the distance it brings is an excellent metaphor for the way he has lived his life until this story begins. But as the woman who cared for his children when his wife died dumps him, and his daughter comes home pregnant and ill, and his son's over-reaching development of the family business becomes apparent, Jerry Battle has to stop delegating and live his life.

I was astonished that a young writer like Lee brought such empathy to a character close to my own age. This is a great book to give your grown children-or your parents.

What's most amazing about this story is the simple fact that Korean-born Lee has nailed it. So what's "it," you ask? Well here it is-- the ebb and flow of American "innerdom," that booming bass drum that reverberates at the base of our consciousness and alters it's intensity as we plod through the motions, and emotions, of daily existence.

The metaphor of the title is not lost. Inside the head of Jerry Battle,(like all of us), looms a quiet storm beyond the sunshine. The trick is to remain outside of the black clouds as long as humanly, (and humanely), possible. Much like Frank Bascombe in Richard Ford's seminal novels, Battle is the American everyman. Jerry wants nothing more than to stay away from the storms of strive, bad news and overbearing commitments, all the while knowing that attaining anything remotely close to that would mean he's lived a failed life. Life is best when it takes cares of itself. What Jerry wants is to enjoy his dreary existence as enjoyably as he can. But stuff happens. Always. And personal drama demands our attention, physically and emotionally. Best to stay aloft.

But, while one can stay aloft past the point of decency, the soaring ride can last only so long. Still, the stolen moments feel good while you're living them. While I don't know how universally human this trait is, I can sure vouch that it's certainly alarge part of the American self.

Ultimately, it may be argued that Lee has "simply" performed a great imitation of the best on the shelf, but even if so, Aloft is an undeniably credible piece of work to say the least.

In "Aloft" Change-rae Lee has written a novel of family relationships and lack of communication. He has won numerous awards for his writing. The "New Yorker" selected Chang-rae Lee as one of the twenty best writers under forty.

Gerry Battle, father to Theresa and Jack, son of Pop and lover of Rita has avoided conflict, emotion, and any interaction that did not specifically relate to him his entire life.
This has gone unnoticed by him- he has just not observed any of the issues that are relevant to his family and in the end to himself. He tells the story of his life, giving the basic information of how he helped to build his family's construction business, the story of his marriage to Daisy, and his relationship with Rita. Gerry feels the best, the most free when he is flying his plane, not for his love of flying, but to get him out of the house. After his retirement, he sat around the house and made a mess- annoying Rita who went off to work every day. Finally out of desperation, she gave him a gift certificate for flying lessons. This awakened in Gerry a new love, an independence, he did not have to report to anyone or talk to anyone. Interestingly enough, Gerry, shows more emotion and love to the couple who own the plane that he buys, than he does with his family. A one time meeting, but he understands they are giving him an important part of their life. Something stirs inside of him.

After twenty years, Rita has finally had enough. There is something missing - Gerry does not give of himself - the emotion she needs is not there. She leaves Gerry. Into this morass enters Theresa and her boyfriend, Paul- they have announced their engagement. Gerry does not know that Theresa is pregnant and very ill. Jack has pushed the family business into bankruptcy, and Pop is not at all happy in the retirement settlement. Rita is gone, and Gerry is now faced with all the family problems. Will Gerry rise to the occasion; can he filter his emotions to meet the needs of his family?

This story is an example of today's generation. The lack of emotional connection, and the need to accomplish, leaving the children to grow up as best they can with all of the gadgets and toys at their disposal. The story of Gerry and his family leads us to examine our own relationships and our own family. Hopefully, we are able to disclose our feelings and needs with our loved ones, so we do not need to face our battles alone. Recommend heartily. prisrob