Chicago Sun Times Compares Rocket Man to Irving, Updike and Russo Novel Written in the Attic of Ernest Hemingway
Chicago, IL, December 24, 2008 — A novel written in the attic of Ernest Hemingway has set the literary world on fire. Rocket Man is already getting comparisons to such literary heavy weights as John Irving, John Updike and Richard Russo. The Chicago Sun Times says, “Hazelgrove masterfully gives voice to the numbness and the fright, as well as the humor of a man trying to save his house and family. This latest work seduces and charms with voice and is the perfect book for today’s modern problems. That being said, it is the funniest serious novel I have read since Richard Russo’s Straight Man, rich with the epic levity of John Irving salted with the underlying sickness and perversion of John Updike.”
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/131653…
The errie timeliness of Rocket Man surprised author William Elliott Hazelgrove. “I had moved to the suburbs and found myself stranded like everyone else, struggling to pay the bills, so I began this novel about a guy trying to hold onto his home while the world implodes around him.” Humor is a big part of this novel. As Publishers Weekly points out, “though Dale’s humiliation is painted with broad comic strokes, he never comes off as overly pathetic, but honestly at odds with the world around him.” Hazelgrove’s struggle to get Rocket Man published mirrors the main characters frustration. Time Out Chicago cites the ten years it took the author to find a home for the novel.”After the 1998 publication of Mica Highways, Hazelgrove found himself the victim of midlist author syndrome. Publishers pegged him as a Southern novelist with moderate sales.” http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/books/6970…
But then Hazelgrove hit paydirt with Chicago based publisher Pantonne Press. The online reviews started coming in and the timliness of the novel became apparent. Grady Harp, Top reviewer for Amazon led off with a rave review. “William Elliott Hazelgrove’s ROCKET MAN is a brilliant piece of writing, a work that meticulously dissects contemporary life in America with such a keen eye that the author is able to catch at least passing glances at us all.”
http://www.amazon.com/review/R39EDRED9UGH6Y/ref=cm…
Bestselling novelist David Liss then weighed in with another review, lauding the novels relevancy to what is happening now.
” I think that at the heart of this novel is the assertion that the real American dream – that of being self-made and maintaining individuality under the pressure of conformity – is what gets crushed by the pursuit of the empty and material products we are programmed to desire.” http://www.amazon.com/review/R8NJQ80GXYO3O/ref=cm_…
With over one hundred reviews online from Amazon and sites like Library Thing, Rocket Man has certainly been launched into the literary stratosphere. Like the main character, Dale Hammer, we now just have to see where we all will land.
Information on William Elliott Hazelgrove and his work can be found at http://www.billhazelgrove.com
Contact:
Jim Turner
William Elliott Hazelgrove
27 N. Wacker Drive #802
Chicago, IL 60606
630-587-1520
[email protected]
http://www.billhazelgrove.com
