The Magical Stranger: A Son's Journey Into His Father's Life Hardcover - 2013 - 1st Edition
by Stephen Rodrick
A moving and powerful story of love and sacrifice, fathers and sons, heroism and duty, soldiers and the families they leave behind, in which a writer--the son of an accomplished Navy pilot killed on duty--uses his own experience to illuminate the triumphs and tragedies of a life in military service.
From the rear cover
On November 28, 1979, squadron commander and Navy pilot Peter Rodrick died when his plane crashed in the Indian Ocean. He was just thirty-six and had been the commanding officer of his squadron for 127 days. Eight thousand miles away on Whidbey Island, near Seattle, he left behind a grief-stricken wife, two daughters, and a thirteenyear-old son who would grow up to be a writer--one who was drawn, perhaps inevitably, to write about his father, his family, and the devastating consequences of military service.
In The Magical Stranger, Stephen Rodrick explores the life and death of the man who indelibly shaped his life, even as he remained a mystery: brilliant but unknowable, sacred but absent--an apparition gone 200 days of the year for much of his young son's life--a born leader who gave his son little direction. Through adolescence and into adulthood, Rodrick struggled to grasp fully the reality of his father's death and its permanence. Peter's picture and memory haunted the family home, but his name was rarely mentioned.
To better understand his father and his own experience growing up without him, Rodrick turned to today's members of his father's former squadron, spending nearly two years with VAQ-135, the "World-Famous Black Ravens." His travels take him around the world, from Okinawa and Hawaii to Bahrain and the Persian Gulf--but always back to Whidbey Island, the setting of his family's own story. As he learns more about his father, he also uncovers the layers of these sailors' lives: their brides and girlfriends, friendships, dreams, disappointments--and the consequences of their choices on those they leave behind.
A penetrating, thoughtful blend of memoir and reportage, The Magical Stranger is a moving reflection on the meaning of service and the power of a father's legacy.
Details
- Title The Magical Stranger: A Son's Journey Into His Father's Life
- Author Stephen Rodrick
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition number 1st
- Edition 1
- Pages 400
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Harper, NY
- Date 2013-05
- ISBN 9780062004765 / 006200476X
- Weight 1.2 lbs (0.54 kg)
- Dimensions 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 in (22.86 x 15.49 x 3.56 cm)
-
Themes
- Aspects (Academic): Life Writings
- Topical: Family
- Library of Congress subjects Fathers and sons - United States, United States - Officers
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2012043637
- Dewey Decimal Code B
Media reviews
Citations
- Entertainment Weekly, 05/17/2013, Page 9
- Kirkus Reviews, 04/15/2013, Page 0
- Men's Journal, 06/01/2013, Page 100
- Publishers Weekly, 03/11/2013, Page 0
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