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A review by book_concierge
Carrying Albert Home: The Somewhat True Story of A Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator by Homer Hickam
3.0
Subtitle: The Somewhat True Story of a Man, His Wife, and Her Alligator
Hickam grew up in Coalwood, West Virginia, where his father, Homer Sr, was foreman at the coal mine. Over the years his mother, Elsie, and father occasionally made reference to a trip they had taken during the Depression, when they were a young married couple but didn’t yet have children; it was to “carry Albert home,” Albert being his mother’s pet alligator. This book recounts some of those stories of the trip and their adventures on the road.
I loved listening to the stories my father, mother, aunts and uncles would tell of “the old days” and adventures they had had. Even just a few years before my father died, I was still surprised to learn things about his youth as he related a story of sheep-shearing in Montana. (My father was raised on a ranch on the Rio Grande in Texas.) So, I was predisposed to like this tale of the author’s parents and a great adventure they embarked upon without any plan other than to “carry Albert home.”
And they DID have adventures. If even half of the episodes are true, they met with famous authors, helped blow up a textile mill, foiled a bank robbery, got kidnapped by bootleggers, learned to run a boarding house, got conscripted into the Coast Guard (and then thrown overboard by smugglers), helped film a Hollywood movie, and survived a hurricane. Most importantly, they found one another on this road trip, and learned what was truly important in their lives.
I found it fun and enjoyable, but gosh, Elsie got on my nerves. I don’t know why Homer didn’t just leave her and Albert somewhere along the way and go find a woman who truly appreciated him.
Hickam grew up in Coalwood, West Virginia, where his father, Homer Sr, was foreman at the coal mine. Over the years his mother, Elsie, and father occasionally made reference to a trip they had taken during the Depression, when they were a young married couple but didn’t yet have children; it was to “carry Albert home,” Albert being his mother’s pet alligator. This book recounts some of those stories of the trip and their adventures on the road.
I loved listening to the stories my father, mother, aunts and uncles would tell of “the old days” and adventures they had had. Even just a few years before my father died, I was still surprised to learn things about his youth as he related a story of sheep-shearing in Montana. (My father was raised on a ranch on the Rio Grande in Texas.) So, I was predisposed to like this tale of the author’s parents and a great adventure they embarked upon without any plan other than to “carry Albert home.”
And they DID have adventures. If even half of the episodes are true, they met with famous authors, helped blow up a textile mill, foiled a bank robbery, got kidnapped by bootleggers, learned to run a boarding house, got conscripted into the Coast Guard (and then thrown overboard by smugglers), helped film a Hollywood movie, and survived a hurricane. Most importantly, they found one another on this road trip, and learned what was truly important in their lives.
I found it fun and enjoyable, but gosh, Elsie got on my nerves. I don’t know why Homer didn’t just leave her and Albert somewhere along the way and go find a woman who truly appreciated him.