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Brewster (2014)

by Mark Slouka(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0393348830 (ISBN13: 9780393348835)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: Slouka's writing is spare and he captures quite well the angst of the young teenager trying to find his way. The setting is familiar to me, as I was a teenager in the year this book takes place. The Sixties with the Vietnam War, the music of the time, are honestly portrayed. This was time before all kids had cars, before cell phones and the Internet. Kids walked; not everyone had money or cars. This book didn't grab me; it took over 100 pages before I settled in. For some reason, I felt at a distance, even though the setting was so familiar as I've said. About the time that Jon takes up running I became more interested because both my sons ran track and cross-country. I loved the descriptions of training and of the meets. That rang true to me from what I've observed of my ... moresons' experiences. The feeling of being trapped that Ray felt, that he could not find a way out of his situation was also believable to me. What didn't feel true to me was the family dynamics at Jon's home. I found those hard to believe, and I also found the resolution of Gene's future also hard to believe. For me, it was too tidy an ending.
review 2: An incredibly powerful novel revolving on the lives of several high school teens in the late 1960s. The major focus on Jon and Ray, their family, school and individual relationships. The book is a definite gift to those who take the time to read it. As I went from chapter to chapter I could not help but think of Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn. Two very different writers but I kept feeling an emotional sameness (if such a thing can exist). less

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