Rocket Man: A Novel

William Elliott Hazelgrove
Pantonne Press Inc. (2008)
ISBN 9780615213071
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (11/08)

 

The author has given us an incredible read about finding the American Dream. We have all wanted it and we have all gone about trying to get it in different ways.

Dale Hammer is one of those who are seeking the American Dream, however, it seems like he has gone about it the wrong way. As a writer in the past, Dale and his wife move to the suburbs to get away from crime in the city. He knows this is the place for his family to be safe and for him to turn novelist again. What he finds is not anything like he expected.  He doesn’t write; instead, he sits around thinking. Bills are piling up and he can’t afford the lifestyle he has chosen. In addition to financial worries, Dale dances to a different drummer in every way- he is sarcastic, doesn’t follow the rules and is a non-conformist, which doesn’t win him many friends. The only job he has is as a mortgage broker and he is about to lose that job.

Trying to keep his family together, Dale has volunteered to be the Rocket Man for his son’s scout troop. Sounds easy- however, Dale has found a way to even mess that up. He can’t follow stuffed-shirt directions and does it his way. His relationship with his son is going down the toilet, not because Dale hasn’t tried; it’s because he is so distracted by everything else he almost hits the school crossing guard and gets into arguments with the gym teacher.

To add insult to injury Dale’s father shows up on his doorstep to move in- his wife (one of many) has kicked him out. Relationships between Dale and his father are strained to say the least. Here is a man telling him how to run his life when he couldn’t even handle his own.

The book is very entertaining- you can’t seem to put it down. It is hilarious and serious. “Rocket Man” by William Elliott Hazelgrove is a true story of a rebel.

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