ROCKET CITY winds its way through the deserts of New Mexico
following the separate paths of Marilee and Figman as each
searches for happiness and meaning.
Marilee packs up and heads to New Mexico after her high
school sweetheart Larry, wanting nothing more than to save
their relationship. Along the way, she picks up Enoch, a
hitchhiking dwarf with a very unique view of the world.
Marilee can't deny her attraction to Enoch, but at the same
time she can't give into her desire because of Larry and no
matter how open-minded she is, the fact that Enoch is a
dwarf complicates the situation.
Figman, an insurance adjuster from California, abandons his
life and identity to hide out in the deserts of New Mexico
as he waits to die. For months, blinding headaches have
incapacitated him and instead of struggling through the day
to day life, he gives it all up to become a world-famous
painter in the short time he has left.
The connections between the two characters Marilee and
Figman grow throughout the book and there's a constant
feeling that the world is truly a small place, but even
with these connections I found it hard to find a
commonality between them. For me, the stories didn't have
as much of an over-arching theme to hold them together, but
each story in and of itself is unique. Marilee's conflict
over her feelings for Enoch is a wonderful love story. I
really did like Enoch's character and loved his view of the
world. Despite harsh circumstances in his life, Enoch
maintains a hopeful and ironic view of the world. He's
funny and thoughtful and intelligent. Quite simply, he's my
favorite character. Figman's love story was actually a bit
of a surprise until the end, but I'm not going to spoil it.
His search for meaning and happiness wasn't as clearly tied
up for me as Marilee's story was.
Figman and Marilee are average people, living average
lives, searching for the greatness they feel is lacking.
Figman does this by trying to paint. Marilee does this by
going on a road trip with Enoch. Both character want more
from life. More happiness, more time, more love, more
meaning and this is what connects the reader to them.
First publish in 1995, ROCKET CITY by Cathryn Alpert was
the author's only novel before her unexpected death in
2010. She published many award-winning short stories, was a
stage director, teacher of theatre, wife and mother of five.
"Marilee journeys from Los Angeles to New Mexico to surprise
her fiance;, Larry, who has taken a job on the Alamogordo
Air Force Base to gain, in one of his antithetical Zen
experiments, an understanding of peace. Sympathy for Enoch,
a hitchhiking dwarf, disrupts her orderly plans. In a
separate voyage, Figman, an insurance claims adjuster on the
run, relocates to New Mexico after surviving a lethal car
crash that results in an unfair lawsuit against him. Now
prone to migraines and the conviction that he is dying,
Figman embarks on new adventures. Late in the novel, these
two distinct love stories converge on a highway in near
collision"--
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