Description:
Elsie Lavender and Homer Hickam Sr.--the future parents of Homer Hickam Jr.--were high school sweethearts during the Great Depression. When Homer asked for her hand, Elsie instead headed to Orlando, where she sparked with a dancing actor named Buddy Ebsen (yes, that Buddy Ebsen). But when Buddy headed for New York, Elsie's dreams of a life with him were crushed and eventually she found herself back in the coalfields of West Virginia, married to Homer.
Elsie was reminded of those carefree Florida days by Buddy's unusual wedding gift: an alligator named Albert who lived in the only bathroom in their little house. Eventually Homer gave Elsie an ultimatum: "Me or the alligator!" After giving it some thought, Elsie concluded there was only one thing to do--carry Albert home.
Brief description:
Homer Hickam (also known as Homer H. Hickam, Jr.) is the bestselling and award-winning author of many books, including the #1 New York Times memoir Rocket Boys, which was adapted into the popular film October Sky. A writer since grade school, he is also a Vietnam veteran, a former coal miner, a scuba instructor, an avid amateur paleontologist, and a retired engineer. He lives in Alabama and the Virgin Islands.
Review Quotes:
"An intentionally improbable, bizarre trip through Southern Americana that is ...an amalgam of fact and an almost Walter Mitty-esque degree of fancy, evoking (because of the deadly yet indispensable animal) Life of Pi and (because of the trope of life as journey) Huckleberry Finn." - BookPage
"An entertaining memoir-like fantasy adventure/family tribute/love story." - Florida Times-Union
"Must-read... A funny yet tragic tale of a husband and wife's car journey across the US with Albert the alligator in tow. Yes, really." - Marie Claire (UK)
"A lifetime of adventures - meeting John Steinbeck, witnessing industrial rebellions, joining the coast guard and experiencing a hurricane - are condensed into one epic journey. It's utterly charming, exploring the ups and downs of love and marriage, and celebrating eccentricity." - The Scotsman
Praise for Rocket Boys: "Thoroughly charming....An eloquent evocation of a lost time and place." - New York Times
"Great memoirs must balance the universal and the particular...In his debut, Hickam...walks the line beautifully...No matter how jaded readers have become by the onslaught of memoirs, none will want to miss the fantastic voyage of BCMA, Auk and Coalwood." - Publishers Weekly on Rocket Boys
"Unforgettable." - USA Today
"Hickam's recollections of small-town America in the last years of small-town America are so cinematic that even those of us who didn't grow up there might imagine we did." - Philadelphia Inquirer
"Recalling a lost era, the transition between small-town life and the dawning of the new technological age, he brings his American hometown to life with vivid images, appealing characters and considerable literary magic." - Publishers Weekly on The Coalwood Way
"In all of its romance, humor, swashbuckling action, heartwarming affection, and tear-jerking sadness, CARRYING ALBERT HOME, in a word, is fantastic." - Florida Book Review