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Loading... One of the Boys: A Novel (original 2017; edition 2017)by Daniel Magariel (Author)
Work InformationOne of the Boys by Daniel Magariel (2017)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. One of the Boys was a difficult read. The story of a mentally ill drug addicted father kidnapping his two sons floats above verbal and physical abuse by using horrifying poetic language. Narrated by one of the sons you’ll swell up with emotion with this passage: Across most of my back red and purple welts overlay a dark pool of swirling colors, like something wicked had use my body to make a finger painting. This first short novel by Daniel Magariel bodes well for future work. ( ) Well written and horrifying. Two young boys and their father have "won the war". Meaning the father's war with their mother. A terrible look at a family broken apart by drug addiction and abuse. The boys are sympathetic, but you can already see the outlines where they will follow in their parents' footsteps. And at first the mother is also sympathetic, but both parents ultimate fail their children. If you've ever read The Great Santini, this book is much more brutal. Between the severe psychological abuse and manipulation, the physical violence, and the addictions of the adults, this book keeps you interested until the very end. The 12 year old narrating the story is left nameless as well as his brother and father, probably in respect that this kind of horror could happen to anyone. The 12 year old wants to be "one of the boys"with his father and brother and relates his own behaviors in regards to fitting in. But eventually being one of the boys takes a high toll and the narrator makes a choice about being one of the boys that changes everything. no reviews | add a review
Notable Lists
"A riveting and emotionally harrowing debut about two young brothers and their physically and psychologically abusive father--One of the Boys is 160 perfect, stunning pages by a major new talent. The three of them--a twelve-year-old boy, his older brother, their father--have won the war: the father's term for his bitter divorce and custody battle. They leave their Kansas home and drive through the night to Albuquerque, eager to begin again, united by the thrilling possibility of carving out a new life together. The boys go to school, join basketball teams, make friends. Meanwhile their father works from home, smoking cheap cigars to hide another smell. But soon the little missteps--the dead-eyed absentmindedness, the late night noises, the comings and goings of increasingly odd characters--become sinister, and the boys find themselves watching their father change, grow erratic, then violent. Set in the sublimely stark landscape of suburban New Mexico and a cramped apartment shut tight to the world, One of the Boys conveys with stunning prose and chilling clarity a young boy's struggle to hold onto the dangerous pieces of his shattered family. Harrowing and beautiful, Daniel Magariel's masterful debut is a story of survival: two foxhole-weary brothers banding together to protect each other from the father they once trusted, but no longer recognize. With the emotional core of A Little Life and the compact power of We the Animals, One of the Boys is among the most moving and remarkable debut novels you'll ever read"--
"A riveting and emotionally harrowing debut about two young brothers and their physically and psychologically abusive father--One of the Boys is 160 perfect, stunning pages by a major new talent"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature American literature in English American fiction in English 2000-LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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