T
his fanciful novel, the second volume in Kraft's Flying trilogy (begun with 2006's Taking Off
) describes Peter Leroy's solo cross-country “flight” at age 14 on a homemade aerocycle that only got airborne once, when it hit a bump in the road. Traveling from New York to New Mexico, Peter and his aerocycle encounter strange events and even stranger people. He spends a night in jail for being an egotist, visits Forgettable, W.Va., receives useless advice from strangers (“Gravy covers a lot of sins”) and is mistaken for a UFO in New Mexico. Kraft has a vivid imagination and a wry sense of humor, spoofing both the 1950s and the present in alternating chapters of a teenaged Peter on his journey, and Peter as an adult taking his wife, Albertine, on an erratic trip of remembrance. This is cheeky, escapist satire, funny and irreverent but—much like its protagonist—without firm direction. (July)
