Rating: 
Summary: It should be a classic
Review: Imagine two young Huck Finns in the mid twentieth century, with an airplane instead of just a raft to carry them away on an adventure. That's about as close as I can come to describing the spirit of this book. Written some forty years after the great adventure, it still manages to capture the innocent spirit of the adventure; it reads as if the great trip took place only last year. A great read for both young dreamers and for those of us who wish we were still young adventurers.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful memoir of family, flying and fatherly love.
Review: Rinker Buck's Flight of Passage is a wonderful collection of passages devoted to the author's long standing quest to reconcile his relationship with a domineering, eccentric father through the vehicle of a cross country flight with his peculiar and trusting older brother Kernanhan. It is an oddessey - a wonderful tale of wanderlust, brotherly devotion, friendship and understanding told through the recollections and remembrances of a fifteen year old boy, oftentimes at odds with his demanding and powerful father. The story is set in the mid-sixties, at a time when our country was still rattled by the Kennedy family tragedy, yet not so jaded as to lose interest in the story of two young men in an antique airplane reliving their father's barnstorming days (and repeated, worn out stories of Stearman men and waterbags) and living their own memories to tell stories to their sons someday in probably the same fashion! Personally, I had much in comman with the author's brother, having attended the same schools, and entered the same profession. I also happen to own and fly a restored Piper Cub. But the magic of this book is it's ability to appeal to both flyers and non flyers alike. It reminds us that we live in a great and beautiful country. It has it's faults, as we all do, and like most families, we have our problems and miscommunications, unmet expectations and misunderstandings, but with experience and "letting go" we appreciate the love that has been bestowed upon us - maybe years later - but a gift nonetheless. A beautiful story.
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