Taking Off

by Eric Kraft

It was fifty years ago that young Peter Leroy unintentionally pulled a fast one on the people of Babbington, New York. With a design ripped from the pages of Impractical Craftsman magazine, he built a flying aerocycle in his parents' garage. Then, before a breathless audience, he took off into the skies on the contraption, flew to New Mexico and back, and returned a hero. Now, Babbington has fallen on hard times, and his hometown is being transformed into a theme park commemorating Peter's flight. The time has come for Peter to return, to set the record straight, and to tell the people of Babbington that his feat of aviation spanned only about six feet.

The first book in a trilogy, Taking Off plays at the intersection of Proust and Rushmore, it is a hilarious story of hoaxes, digressions, DIY mechanical engineering, and the wilds of memory.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Eric Kraft grew up in Babylon, New York, on the South Shore of Long Island, where he was for a time co-owner and co-captain of a clam boat, which sank. He met or invented the character Peter Leroy while dozing over a German lesson during his first year at Harvard. The following year, he married his muse, Madeline Canning; they have two sons. After earning a Master’s Degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Kraft taught school in the Boston area for a while, moonlighting as a rock music critic for the Boston Phoenix. Since then, he has undertaken a variety of hackwork to support the Kraft ménage and the writing of the voluminous work of fiction that he calls The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy. He has been the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts; was, briefly, chairman of PEN New England; and has been awarded the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature.

Reviews

[Kayleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book flips back and forth between 15 year old Peter and adult Peter. It is sadly light on flying, given the title and premise, but I enjoy the relationship of older Peter and his lovely Albertine.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough that i want to read the sequals, but not enough that I'm running out to find them.

[Lisa P · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really 2.5 stars. I enjoyed it enough, but it wasn't extraordinary. I like the theme of flight and the author's tone, but it started to drag about 2/3 through.

[Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

The umpteenth volume of Eric Kraft's lovely Peter Leroy series.