Thom reviewed The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Review of 'The Right Stuff' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Poetic, historical, with a wry humor. A few too many exclamation points!
I really enjoyed this overview of the early days of the space race - all of the Mercury program, plus some of what led up to it and also what came after. Chuck Yeager plays a major part. The writing style is breezy and conversational, while somehow touching on most of the facts. I also enjoyed the pilot's humor.
Sometimes the prose went past poetic and into repetitious. While I don't always understand why the NASA administrators fought astronauts (Deke Slayton), I really didn't get why Wolfe seems to have gone after Gus Grissom. I look forward to reading a recent bio of him ([b:Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom|29901342|Calculated Risk The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom|George Leopold|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467332616s/29901342.jpg|50274862]) this year for a better story.
Overall rating, a solid Mach 4. I plan …
Poetic, historical, with a wry humor. A few too many exclamation points!
I really enjoyed this overview of the early days of the space race - all of the Mercury program, plus some of what led up to it and also what came after. Chuck Yeager plays a major part. The writing style is breezy and conversational, while somehow touching on most of the facts. I also enjoyed the pilot's humor.
Sometimes the prose went past poetic and into repetitious. While I don't always understand why the NASA administrators fought astronauts (Deke Slayton), I really didn't get why Wolfe seems to have gone after Gus Grissom. I look forward to reading a recent bio of him ([b:Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom|29901342|Calculated Risk The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom|George Leopold|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1467332616s/29901342.jpg|50274862]) this year for a better story.
Overall rating, a solid Mach 4. I plan to rewatch the film also - it's been decades.
Addendum June 2017 - read the referenced biography and another book on the early space program ([b:Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965|737303|Into That Silent Sea Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965|Francis French|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328821151s/737303.jpg|723482]). Wolfe may have taken a few liberties, and the film took several more. In Grissom's case, for example, the book mentioned panic (and then pride) as a possibility, where the film made it a certainty. While I wouldn't advise a reader take The Right Stuff as gospel history, it is a very poetic portrayal of the people involved. 3½ stars.