Fourteen-year-old Rory Maguire dreams of becoming a sportswriter and helping his family escape the shabby, vermin-infested walkup they share in Brooklyn in 1963. He also longs to get inside the mind of his father, disabled from a fall at work and unable to collect his due because his lying foreman said he was drunk; a war hero who was not acknowledged because he was in the Merchant Marine rather than the "real" Armed Forces--and lusts after a local attorney's classy daughter.
I really enjoyed this book although at points it was really sad to see the Maguires working harder and harder and losing ground at every turn. All the players in the story seemed particularly realistic, including the hard-working but sarcastic and callous Italian butcher Rory works for, a man determined that his son will have a professional job rather than also working as a butcher, only to find his dreams crumbling when the local supermarket steals his business, and the reactions in the community after President Kennedy is assassinated.
Don't expect a warm and fuzzy holiday story: this one has sex, gang violence, and some stark realities of life. But the tough Maguires are worth reading about.
No comments:
Post a Comment