Aloft (Unabridged)

Aloft offers a reexamination of the American dream from the inside out. Jerry Battle's favorite diversion is to fly his small plane solo, slipping away for quick flights over his Long Island home or to the coastal towns of New England. Then a family crisis occurs, and Jerry finds he must face his disengagement in his relationships: with his deceased wife, whose death he has never fully accepted; with his former girlfriend, whom he still longs for; with his daughter, who refuses to address the disease that threatens her life; with his son, who is in danger of losing the family business; and with his father, whom he has placed in a nursing home.

A haunting, lyrical, indelible portrait of an ordinary man and his family, Aloft illuminates in an utterly fresh way what it means to be a father, husband, son, and lover. Chang-rae Lee's most mature, fully developed work to date, it is nothing less than a piercing and profound study of the American character.