Flying

By Eric Kraft

In the town of Babbington, New York, at the tail end of an alternative version of the 1950s, a young dreamer named Peter Leroy has set out to build a flying motorcycle, using a design ripped from the pages of Impractical Craftsman magazine. This two-wheeled wonder will carry him not only to such faraway places as New Mexico and the Summer Institute in Mathematics, Physics, and Weaponry, but deep into the heart of a commercialized American culture, and return him to Babbington a hero. More than forty years later, as Babbington is about to rebuild itself as a theme park commemorating his historic flight, Peter must return home to set the record straight, and confess that his flight did not match the legend that it inspired. Flying is an artful, slyly intelligent, wildly inventive, and buoyant comedy of remarkable wingspan, a hilarious story of hoaxes, digressions, do-it-yourself engineering, and the wilds of memory-and a great satire of magical thinking in America. "A reminder of how entertaining a novel can be when it slips the surly bonds of realism. . . . The effect is like a happy-go-lucky Nabokov, with all the road-tripping wordplay and none of the incest. . . . Kraft's affectionately satirical, buoyant language makes Flying soar." Radhika Jones, TIME "Beneath its aw-shucks surface, Flying is an ingenious, at times dizzyingly self-inverting assault not only on the truth, but on the concoction of palatable fictions, as well. Its only inviolate god is the human imagination; it's a paean to flight by a boy who never left the ground, except, perhaps, where it counts most: in his mind." Laura Miller, The New York Times "Eric Kraft is an oddball, an eccentric, a bit of a genius - the writerly equivalent of a dreamer who puts together weird and wonderful contraptions in his garage. . . . Kraft has made his career out of high-wire performance, seizing on the merest hint or detail and spinning it into magic. . . . Flying . . . feels like Kraft's grandest achievement since Herb 'n' Lorna." Richard Rayner, Los Angeles Times "If you were to pick up a hitchhiking Jorge Luis Borges and Robert Pirsig, or to listen as Thomas Pynchon recited Ulysses from memory over longnecks on J. D. Salinger's tab, you might catch the flavor of Eric Kraft's work." Matthew Battles, Barnes & Noble Review "That rare book that can change the way you look at the world." William McKeen, St. Petersburg Times

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1716939240
• ISBN13: 9781716939242
• Release Date: May 2020
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Length: 492 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Flying--A Soaring Flight Of Fancy

The past and the present coexist side-by-side in Flying, an ambitious fable about a boy's journey to New Mexico as a teenager, and his subsequent attempt, nearly fifty years later, to set the record straight and let his town know he isn't the hero they assume him to be. Flying is actually three novels in one; Picador has combined two of Eric Kraft's previously published works, Taking Off and On The Wing, with the third installment of what was originally conceived as a trilogy, Flying Home. The result is a cohesive and complete tale that reads as one long novel, the narrative uninterrupted, each section flowing logically into the next. Peter Leroy is a young dreamer who craves adventure, education, and a place in history. Intrigued by an article about an aerocycle--essentially, a motorcycle with wings--Peter sets out to build one of his own, with his friends and neighbors pitching in to help. His destination is the Summer Institute in Math, Physics, and Weaponry in New Mexico. There's one small hitch in his plans, however: the aerocycle doesn't fly, a fact that is lost on the citizens of his hometown of Babbington, New York. Kraft's story is bold and original, both literary and humorous, a wry look at the human condition. Heavy on symbolism and metaphor, Flying is more than just a roundtrip journey--half the fun is getting there. Kraft's book is full of colorful characters and situations that may strain credibility, but never fail to produce a laugh. Like the aerocycle at its heart, Flying is slow to get off the ground, but once airborne, it soars majestically. Reviewed by Mark Petruska

Sui Generis

Eric Kraft is unique in American letters. He combines the sophisticated comic sensibility of Samuel Beckett with the warm nostalgic memories of Mark Twain, the observational humor of George Carlin and the slightly warped comedy of Ambrose Bierce (without the cynicism). There is also something of Stephen Hawkings as a stand-up comedian. Flying completes the trilogy of Peter Leroy as the Birdboy of Babbington, who "flies" from Long Island to summer school in New Mexico on a aerocycle he built by himself. Flying combines all three novels in a single volume. The first covers his construction of the aerocycle, the second his trip to New Mexico and the final novel covers his adventures at school. Chapters alternate between his adventures as a fifteen year old and years later on a road trip with his super tolerant wife, Albertine. If you aren't familiar with Eric Kraft, you're in for a treat.

dazzling and deeply satisfying

For anyone familiar with Eric Kraft, Flying will be a welcome addition to his Peter Leroy series. If you're not familiar with Erik Kraft, you're in for a treat -- and Flying is a fine introduction to Peter's loopy, hilarious, thought-provoking world. The latest installment is a dazzling and deeply satisfying work. Once again Eric Kraft has deftly completed yet another man on a highwire act -- and given us all the obssesssions, foibles and endearing qualities we've come to expect from Peter's world.