Aloft

“From up here, a half mile above the Earth, everything looks perfect to me ” Being a solo flyer made sense to Jerry Battle right from the start. For his 56th birthday, his longtime (and recently ex-) girlfriend Rita Reyes had given him a gift certificate for flying lessons. Once Jerry was up there he thought, ‘here was the little space I was looking for, my private box seat in the world and completely outside of it too.’ As he soared far above the Earth, everything in Jerry’s life seemed perfect. But everything isn’t perfect and for such a nice guy, Jerry could wreak an amazing amount of havoc Life is about to deal Jerry Battle his toughest hand yet. With an ailing father yearning to flee his ‘Ivy Acres Life Care Centre’ and a son teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Jerry’s daughter is about to bestow on him a father’s worst nightmare. But maybe Jerry needs finally to work out what it is that separates him from his loved ones, allowing himself to be tugged back to earth to engage with one of the most compelling and unforgettable of family dramas.With Aloft, Chang-rae Lee proves himself to be a master storyteller, simultaneously observing his characters’ weaknesses and celebrating their humanity. Filled with vitality and urgency, Aloft is an unforgettable portrait of a man who has secured life’s dreams, but who now must struggle to figure out its meaning.