Jerry Battle, the central character in Chang-rae Lee's new novel "Aloft," loves to fly alone. It's the way Jerry gets away from his problems, and he's got a lot of those. He's nearing 60, and neither his dad, nor his grown children are doing well. His long-term girlfriend left him. He's worried a co-worker may be suicidal. Somehow he manages to maintain his emotional distance, but as the story progresses that gets harder and harder. Lee's first two novels "Native Speaker" and "A Gesture Life" were about immigrants. Jerry Battle is an Italian-American living on Long Island. Chang-rae Lee told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr he began writing the book because he was intrigued by Jerry's character.