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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
Really enjoyed this book! I am fortunate enough to have an autograph copy as my Mother heard him speak!
Great pictures and if you are interested in gaining a bit of knowledge of West Virginians, and people who reside in Appalachia I highly recommend this book.
Great pictures and if you are interested in gaining a bit of knowledge of West Virginians, and people who reside in Appalachia I highly recommend this book.
I loved seeing the way that Homer was transformed from an average boy, just content to loaf along, to a rocket scientist. He was transformed by his passion. He wanted to be a part of the space race so badly that he went from being a mediocre student to one who, with a partner, taught himself calculus. He had a very supportive teacher and a mother who believed in him, but other than that, he was battling against people's low expectations.
In addition to working hard, everything seemed to work in his favor — the football team was banned from playing, which really helped to catapult the rocket boys from outcasts to town stars, and even his father came to admire his efforts.
A real tribute to pursuing your dreams (and autodidacts!).
In addition to working hard, everything seemed to work in his favor — the football team was banned from playing, which really helped to catapult the rocket boys from outcasts to town stars, and even his father came to admire his efforts.
A real tribute to pursuing your dreams (and autodidacts!).
medium-paced
Rocket Boys by Homer H Hickam Jr. Yes the same Homer Hickam that was portrayed in the movie "October Sky". This book was the source material for the movie, but went a bit deeper into actually what happened. A great read. Inspiring.
If you're into space and rockets and such this is a great, easy read. Lots of fun and a must read if you liked the movie "October Sky"
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
A superbly written book. After a rocky start, it picks up and engages you to the very last page. Seemed just a little too saccharine and hokey for me more than a few times. You can really feel the emotion jump off the page.
I read this book because Hudson will be reading it in his English honors communication course this fall, which is a requirement for him because he is taking AP physics. It’s an easy read, charming, with a great sense of place and firmly fixed in a context, both social and economic, as well as political. I enjoyed the way his personal narrative intersected these various spheres. However, just in terms of craft, there was an artificiality about the structure and the dialogue. It almost read like a screenplay. Some moments were just too perfect. Some ripostes were just too on the nose. There was an almost Campbell-esque hero’s journey here with all the highs and lows at exactly the right moments. It was as if that structure was imposed on the author’s life, as he told it here. That’s what I mean when I talk about artificiality and artifice. There’s a sense that you’re being manipulated as a reader. It is unpleasant at times, and pulled me out of the story. I suspect I notice these things because I am also an author. But it was a feeling I could not shake until the very end of the book, when I read the epilogue. The epilogue was exquisitely written, and I suspected that was because it came from the heart and was not designed to fit a narrative mold or read cinematically. The very last line of the epilogue almost brought me to tears. And he earned that ending because of the wonderful way he evoked Coalwood and its people. I also felt that his honest discussion about the fact that he never really had a relationship with his father added much to the end of the book. It was one part of the book that felt very authentic, probably because it did not have a happy ending. But still, to me, this is a four-star read despite my quibbles.
I admit picking up this book because of the film based on it, "October Sky", but I was surprised to find just how many of the events in the film, though jumbled in time, are true. I remember the days when my brother wanted to be an astronaut, and wondered how his life might be different if he had been a student at the height of the Space Race. I envied Hickam for the support of his small mining town, and enjoyed reading the stories of his boyhood, written more like fiction than a memoir. It's a good story either way, but knowing that it's true makes it even more fantastic.