Customer Reviews

Rocket City

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fine story, a road novel that manages not to stall when the skittish main character, Marilee, temporarily stops moving. Should she get married? Go on a diet? Sleep with a dwarf? Her ambivalence and squeamishness speak for a generation, as she barrels around New Mexico in her Dodge Dart.

Woven into her story is a deadpan social satire in the figure of Figman, a Californian searching for "the true West." As Marilee wrestles with the personal questions of love, cruelty, and vocation, Figman wrestles with a convenience store clerk and the question of his own artistic importance in a barren town. Figman's escapades are diverting, but the real story is Marilee's. She learns about the capacity for human cruelty and human forgiveness through her association with the mysterious Enoch, who keeps turning up in her life. Enoch is not thrown into this story as some symbol; he is a developed, troubling character, presented in all his twisted beauty.

If you want to read this book for fun, I guarantee you'll have it; but if you want to read it for the deeper lesson, the examination of Darwinian theory and what it means in terms of PEOPLE, you can do that too.

From the first sentence, I was hooked. I responded to the charcaters and the story. Who doesn't at one time or another, just want to get into their car and drive away from everything to a place where no one knows you. To start over again. I responed to every character, even the ones who were, in my opinion, real jerks ( I'd use the word that described them in the book, but I don't think you would post it). However, there always has to be a 'counter attack' to other characters. After reading the book, I had nothing but admiration for Marilee and Figman. They learned not to always expect love in the obvious places and in some cases, that love cannot be realized. I don't want to give the plot away, so I don't want to describe too much. I just feel that if you like a good novel about some wacky and surreal characters, this is it. I highly recommend it. I would like to be able to e-mail Cathryn Alpert, the author, and let her know how much I enjoyed it.

You would think this is a tenth novel not a first, so polished and brilliantly constructed is Rocket City. I can't for the life of me figure out why this book didn't zoom to the top of the bestseller charts. Maybe because the NYTBR never mentioned it. More's the pity. I read it, read it again, and read it a third time before I felt I had picked up all the subtle nuance. Absolutely brilliant debut!

This book was a hoot. I started it midway on a flight from NYC to Miami.

One, It was very embarrassing to be laughing so loud on a crowded plane.

Two, I went to the baggage check out and sat there reading this book for an hour and a half before I realised I was supposed to pick up the luggage.

Warning, do NOT start this book at night in bed. You may not get any sleep that night. And if you have a partner, your laughter may keep them from sleeping too.

I spent last week-end with the characters of Rocket City, and seven days later, I miss them. Alpert weaves tale of parallel but intertwined lives that makes putting the book down virtually impossible. I found myself truly caring for these characters despite their very human foibles. I'd ask for a sequel, but that would destroy the one playing out in my mind. I will lend this book out, but I won't give it away. This may be a rare reread.

I grabbed Rocket City off my roommate's shelf as I rushed out the door to the airport, so I had absolutely no clue what it was going to be like when I opened it up on the plane. I ended up almost embarrassing myself with the uncontrollable laughing fits that this book caused- definitely great travel reading! I did find myself occasionally wishing that the Louis scenes would end so the story could get back to Marilee and Enoch, but I thought that the near-wreck was a creative way to bring the two "casts" together. Overall, it's one of the funniest and most original books I've read in years. Two thumbs up!!!

Catherine Alpert's "Rocket City" mixes quirkiness and compassion in a classic road novel, sweet enough for your mother-in-law, spicy enough for your girlfriends. I've worked in a (very) big bookstore in the Pacific Northwest for more than ten years, and "Rocket City" is one of my most reliable recommendations; the book is for everyone who can look beyond appearance to the essential sameness of the soul.

What struck me as I read this novel, almost from the very beginning as a matter of fact, was the feeling that I was actually on a vacation....I was so immersed in the whole story of Rocket City that it was easy to feel as if I'd been away every time I put the book down (unwillingly of course) when realilty beckoned me to come back. And then I'd enter my "real world" again, feeling rested AND exhausted. Cathryn Alpert's ability to allow the reader to become intimately involved with the characters, as if one knew them as friends or family members, speaks well of Rocket City and of its author's talents. Looking forward to your next novel, Cathryn.

This book is wonderfully funny. It was an enjoyable, but deep read. I usually zoom through books, but not this one. The story forces its readers to confront their own stereotypical biases of people in the world and addressed some poignant issues with dignity. It has a wonderful message of compassion and acceptance without encouraging people to be either fake or pious. It is, in short, heartfelt AND humorous, a great beach read for this summer. You WON'T be disappointed.

Rocket City is one of the few books that made me laugh out loud, stretch my intellect, cheer for the undersized underdog and wish it was my time to hit the road to New Mexico. Cathryn Alpert has written a wonderful first novel that leaves you a better person. You should pause throughout to savor her language, try your best to unravel a plot that's always surprising and buy several copies for your friends. I did.