Flying

Flying, by Eric Kraft, is a an interesting story that’s humorous, philosophical, and (sometimes) romantic. That’s okay with me, though, because the humor overpowers it. This book is really, really, really funny. If you’re looking for a funny book, you’ve got to read this.

The style of this book is a little strange, seeing that it (and the others in this series) is a memoir of someone fictional, but the wonderful storytelling makes up for it. It’s about Peter Leroy, who rode an aerocycle (which is an airplane/motorcycle) to New Mexico. Everyone expected it to fly. Only one problem…it didn’t.

The really complicated part about this story? It’s a fake memoir about a fake memoir. Mindboggling, yes? It alternates between Peter telling the story of his aerocycle ride and he and his wife retracing the steps of the aerocycle ride. It’s peppered by the strange neighborhoods and people that they meet on their way, and these people are sometimes the grown versions of the people Peter met in his ride. (He was only 17 at the time)

Peter is our lovable egotist. (or is it egoist?) He wants to tell as many people his story as he can, even if it means interrupting their story. He also hunts for fame, and is what we call a muddleheaded dreamer. But he’s incredibly likable. He’s such a nice stereotype of the average person that we want to say “Hey, he’s like me!” He’s a great character.

Despite the somewhat strange format, Flying has great storytelling, wonderful humor, and incredibly likable characters. It’s a very good story, and if you’re a humor lover (or, actually, anybody) you should read this book.

(If you’re tired of all this “I love this book! So much!” stuff, there’ll be a review of a book I hate sometime soon. Check back.)