Well, I hate to sound overly dramatic, but I have just finished one of the best books I have read in a long time.
To be released in May from Ecco, an imprint of Harper, is Crazy For the Storm by Norman Ollestad.
On February 19, 1979, I was in a plane crash with my father;
his girlfriend, Sandra; and the pilot of our chartered Cessna.
Sandra was 30 years old. My dad was 43. I was 11.
Just after sunrise, we slammed into a rugged 8,600-foot mountain
engulfed in a blizzard. By the end of our nine-hour ordeal,
I was the only survivor.
his girlfriend, Sandra; and the pilot of our chartered Cessna.
Sandra was 30 years old. My dad was 43. I was 11.
Just after sunrise, we slammed into a rugged 8,600-foot mountain
engulfed in a blizzard. By the end of our nine-hour ordeal,
I was the only survivor.
In my estimation, it is a true test of a writer's abilities if they can tell you awful things in a beautiful way (see Rick Bragg's All Over But the Shoutin'). In alternate chapters, Ollestad tells the story first of the plane crash and in the next chapter, wonderful tales of a young boy's relationship to the world around him, but especially the one with his own father.
Larger than life, Ollestad's dad had been a child actor and an FBI agent -- albeit one who dared to criticize in print the famed director, J. Edgar Hoover. This tidbit is merely spice in the soup which was the life the father led. Throughout the book it is proven that Ollestad's dad, also named Norman, was one of those people we often envy -- they live life on the edge, fast and rebellious, and far too often flame out early.
All the characters in the book, even the minor ones, are painted with such a realistic brush that I felt real empathy for young Norman throughout all the adventures with his dad. Despite what some people may see as a reckless and "pushy" style of fathering, what comes shining through is the real love between the two.
In later chapters, the son finally comes to grips with the loss of his father. With a decades later trip to the crash site, son talks to father in the solitude. He apologizes to the ghost of his dad's girlfriend. And, in one of those epiphanies we all experience from time to time, he realizes that memory is sometimes faulty but that there is always some mystical influence on our lives.
I cannot say enough how much I loved this book.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
http://www.normanollestad.com/
http://www.harpercollins.com
Larger than life, Ollestad's dad had been a child actor and an FBI agent -- albeit one who dared to criticize in print the famed director, J. Edgar Hoover. This tidbit is merely spice in the soup which was the life the father led. Throughout the book it is proven that Ollestad's dad, also named Norman, was one of those people we often envy -- they live life on the edge, fast and rebellious, and far too often flame out early.
All the characters in the book, even the minor ones, are painted with such a realistic brush that I felt real empathy for young Norman throughout all the adventures with his dad. Despite what some people may see as a reckless and "pushy" style of fathering, what comes shining through is the real love between the two.
In later chapters, the son finally comes to grips with the loss of his father. With a decades later trip to the crash site, son talks to father in the solitude. He apologizes to the ghost of his dad's girlfriend. And, in one of those epiphanies we all experience from time to time, he realizes that memory is sometimes faulty but that there is always some mystical influence on our lives.
I cannot say enough how much I loved this book.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
http://www.normanollestad.com/
http://www.harpercollins.com
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