Flight of the Rondone by Patrick Girondi
What's It About?
A true rags-to-riches story of one high school dropout and small-time thief who becomes a successful businessman that fights to save his sick son’s life.If this book had been a novel, it would probably seem too unbelievable to work. But Flight of the Rondone (Skyhorse) is the real thing. A true “rags-to-riches” story — and much, much more.
Author Patrick Girondi tells the fascinating story of his life — starting with being a high school dropout committing crimes on the streets of Chicago, then inexplicably soaring to the top of the financial world and even appearing on Oprah as a success story. And then, most dramatically of all, taking on big pharmaceutical companies in a life-and-death struggle to save his sick son. Oh, and along the way, he has been a successful singer/songwriter too.
Fighting for His Son’s Life
The first part of the book — Girondi’s struggles with the law and a dysfunctional father and stepfather — is probably the toughest part to read. It gives us at times a disturbing picture of the young Girondi, who is scrappy and deceptive, stealing car parts and outwitting police officers.
Somehow, though, he wound up working as a Chicago commodities trader where he made lots and lots of money. And, as he recounts in the book, the financial world all came very easy for him without a lot of effort on his part. “I had never worked a day in my life…work is for donkeys,” he writes at one point.
But it is the last part of the book that is the most gripping. Girondi discovers his son Santino is afflicted with a fatal blood disease called Thalassemia, which is similar to Sickle Cell. He uses his money-raising skills for medical research in an effort to find a cure. But he soon finds himself at war with big pharmaceutical companies and other powerful groups.
He vows to use all the experience of his earlier life in an effort to save his son’s life.
“I’d been strangled, shot at, skated more than 20 arrests, made it through 3 FBI witch hunts and went from the docks to trading and big money. I would see my son cured. How hard could it be?”
Launched Into Life’s Winds
The title of the book, Flight of the Rondone, is explained in the opening pages when Girondi talks about an incident with his son and a bird called the rondone. A rondone has such long wings that it can’t take off from the ground. It must take off from a high elevation so it can throw itself into the air and take flight again.
When his son finds a rondone helpless on the ground, Girondi picks the bird up and flings it high in the air with as much force as he can muster.
“The higher I could propel him, the better chance the creature would have of spreading his wings again, of saving himself, of soaring, of living … I barely saw and almost missed what became of the mythical creature. But, as I turned my head, from the corner of my eye, I saw him swoosh upward … the rondone took flight.”
“I was there to save the bird because, in much the same way, others had intervened to save me. The fact that I was there, at that moment, was a living tribute to the many people who had launched me back into life’s winds and returned me to the world.”
There are an awful lot of details about the financial and medical battles to find a cure for his son Santino — but I’ll leave that for you to read in the book. Girondi tells the story much better than I or anyone else ever could.
Bottom line is this is a very unusual book. Funny at times, sad, moving, inspirational — a fascinating memoir from a fascinating guy.
About Patrick Girondi:
Patrick Girondi, originally from the South Side of Chicago, is an Italian and American singer-songwriter, author, and founder of San Rocco Therapeutics, a gene therapy company focused on bringing a safe and accessible cure to Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia patients. Girondi has released seven music albums and Skyhorse published his Wall Street Journal #1 bestseller Flight of the Rondone and New City.
