Eli Gottlieb's remarkable debut novel flawlessly depicts the emotional chaos that characterizes the transition into adolescence. In the literary tradition of Catcher in the Rye, "The Boy Who Went Away" introduces Denny Graubart, a serf-proclaimed "highly skilled intelligence operative", who spends one summer spying on and chronicling the slow deterioration of his family as his mother tries desperately to keep his autistic brother out of an institution. With amazing insight, Denny navigates the rocky path through puberty guided only by his own questioning spirit and the depraved advice of Derwent, the teenager next door. Denny ultimately confronts his family's problems in a way that is at once humorous, poignant, and ultimately touching. Through Denny's eyes, Gottlieb draws us closer to the universal truths of self-discovery and personal courage.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Set in the suburbs of New Jersey in the summer of 1967, The Boy Who Went Away is a skilled debut novel that tells the story of one boy's maturation and the change a single summer visits on his troubled family. Denny is a sneak who begins the story playing domestic spy: listening in on phone conversations, steaming open the mail, and interloping on his mother, father, and his autistic brother, Fad. His Eddy Haskell of a friend Derwent helps usher Denny into an adolescent world of sex and irresponsible actions, and his spying uncovers a set of circumstances that teach him even more about adult life, namely his mother's infidelity and the looming institutionalization of his brother, who is prone to rocking in place and uttering comments like, "I want to be a wooden world that stays in one place so I can touch it whenever I want to." Together, the combination of his mother's love, his father's wits, and the simple love of a bothersome brother creates a moving story about the basic components of family life. The youthful prankishness and frank language keep the story moving and honest, and the book perfectly captures the way a single summer changes and seasons a young man's life.
From Publishers Weekly
Adolescent Denny Graubert's firm belief that his is "one of the craziest, bizarre, most twisted families that ever lived" lies at the heart of this engrossing first novel. With the inquisitiveness of a child, the insight of an adult and the wit of a survivor, Denny tells the story of the four pivotal months during the summer of 1967 in which his family struggles to keep the state of New Jersey from condemning his autistic older brother to a mental institution. As Americans lose a war in Vietnam and the Yankees lose a war in the Bronx, Denny's brother, Fad, does something "spectacular, embarrassing, humiliating" every time he goes out in public; his mother, embroiled in an affair with one of Fad's many doctors, moves "around the house looking like an oil painting of herself;" and his father remains drunk for 164 days straight behind "the rattling panes of the New York Times." Trying to make sense of it all, Denny yearns for attention and normalcy and spies relentlessly on his family and neighbors. Gottlieb records the utterly confounding and inevitable plunge into adulthood with bold clarity. He depicts the spoken and unspoken language of cruelty and love in a family with confidence and poetry. But he is at his very best in the freshness of his imagery, creating a world so vivid and memorable the reader finds all five senses delightfully engaged in experiencing it.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent novel,
By
This review is from: The Boy Who Went Away (Paperback)
This is a touching and beautifully written book about a troubled young man and his family. The author succeeds brilliantly at two very difficult things: 1) he manages to write believably from the point of view of a disturbed teenager, making him both sympathic and--at times--difficult to take; 2) he creates an honest portrait of motherly love, with all its hopes and despairs. It's one of the best characterizations of a mother in modern American fiction, in fact. I highly recommend this book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gottlieb's insights are presented in a manner that is rare.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Boy Who Went Away (Hardcover)
Gottlieb writes intimately lletting the reader in all the way. The book goes far deeper than a presentation of various components/people -- it provides a mirror for all who have grown up with a mother who unknowingly abuses the entire family in order to be comfortable with herself -- all under the guise of love. It's a healing experience if you refrain from focusing on the superficial--gottlieb puts the choice in the hands of the reader. The pain is sweet.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An insightful and witty portrait of a family,
By
This review is from: The Boy Who Went Away (Paperback)
The author pulls off two very difficult things with this intriguing and beautifully written novel: 1) he writes from the point of view a disturbed kid, managing somehow to make us both sympathetic toward the young man and appalled by some of the things he does; 2) he gives us one of the most brilliant and detailed portraits of motherly love--blind, crazy, desperate--in modern American fiction. In addition to all this, the book is also quite witty. Highly recommended.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
