CRAZY FOR THE STORM: A Memoir of Survival
Norman Ollestad
Ecco
Memoir
ISBN: 9780061766725
From the age of three, Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. While his friends were riding bikes, playing ball, and going to birthday parties, young Norman was whisked away in pursuit of wild and demanding adventures. Yet it were these exhilarating tests of skill that prepared “Boy Wonder,” as his father called him, to become a fearless champion --- and ultimately saved his life.
Flying to a ski championship ceremony in February 1979, the chartered Cessna carrying Norman, his father, his father’s girlfriend, and the pilot crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains and was suspended at 8,200 feet, engulfed in a blizzard. “Dad and I were a team, and he was Superman,” Ollestad writes. But now Norman’s father was dead, and the devastated eleven-year-old had to descend the treacherous, icy mountain alone.
Set amid the spontaneous, uninhibited surf culture of Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s, this riveting memoir, written in crisp Hemingwayesque prose, recalls Ollestad’s childhood and the magnetic man whose determination and love infuriated and inspired him --- and also taught him to overcome the indomitable. As it illuminates the complicated bond between an extraordinary father and his son, Ollestad’s powerful and unforgettable true story offers remarkable insight for us all.
CRAZY FOR THE STORM: A Memoir of Survival © Copyright 2009 by Norman Ollestad. Reprinted with permission by Ecco. All rights reserved.
Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.
Critical Praise
"This is a heart-stopping story beautifully told, an 11-year-old boy’s story that deals with profound and challenging moral and philosophical issues. When does the quest for ecstasy become a danger-junkie’s kick? How does a good boy become a good man? How do you raise a child in a busted-up family? Norman Ollestad has written a book that may well be read for generations. It’s a book that fathers should give to their sons, but sons should give it to their fathers, too. And mothers, wives, sisters and daughters -- read it and weep for all the boys and men you have ever loved."––– Russell Banks
"CRAZY FOR THE STORM is an absolutely compelling book which I read in one long sitting. The fact that it’s true made me shudder, but then Norman Ollestad is a fine writer and every detail is convincing."––– Jim Harrison
"In a spare, brisk prose, Ollestad tells the tragic story of the pivotal event of his life, an airplane crash into the side of a mountain that cost three lives, including his father’s, in 1979… Although the narrative core of the memoir remains the horrifying plane crackup into the San Gabriel Mountains, its warm, complex soul is conveyed by the loving relationship between the former FBI agent father and his son, affectionately called the ‘Boy Wonder,’ during the golden childhood years spent in wild, freewheeling Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s. Ollestad’s unyielding concentration on the themes of courage, love and endurance seep into every character portrait, every scene, making this book an inspiring, fascinating read."––– Publishers Weekly
"I could not stop reading this thrilling memoir. Why do we sometimes feel most alive when we are risking our lives? Ollestad answers this question with a heart-stopping adventure that ends in tragedy and in triumph, a love story that fearlessly explores the bond between a father and son and what it means to lead a life without limits."––– Susan Cheever
"Extraordinary --- an adventure story with a rich psychological foundation from an enormously talented author. CRAZY FOR THE STORM is a powerful book. It deserves to be a bestseller."––– Pulitzer Prize–winner Lucinda Franks, author of MY FATHER’S SECRET WAR
"As much a thriller as a memoir... gorgeously written, perfectly controlled."––– Carolyn See, author of MAKING A LITERARY LIFE
Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.
