Brotherly Love [Paperback]

Pete Dexter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

Left an orphan when the car his father, a powerful Philly union boss, is driving careens out of control, Peter Flood tries to distance himself from the family business while his cousin, Michael, enters the world of crime. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This gripping narrative of fratricidal betrayal by the National Book Award-winning author of Paris Trout was cited in PW 's annual "red-and-black" feature as having failed significantly in hardcover to live up to its publisher's sales expectations.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The title of this chilling novel suggests multiple ironies since the book portrays ethnic and mob violence in the city of brotherly love, bloody disputes within the labor and crime brotherhoods, and betrayal between two cousins who have been raised as brothers. Both Peter and Michael are sons of union officials, and the violent deaths of both fathers leave harsh legacies. Peter turns to the discipline of boxing and retains a sense of decency, but Michael's inner weakness makes him arrogant and cruel. As these diverging values lead to mutual destruction, the plot comes full circle. Dexter, National Book Award winner for Paris Trout , is adept at portraying those on the fringes of the mob who are sucked into its fury. His characters are unsavory but convincing, his action vicious but all too plausible. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/91.
- Albert E. Wilhelm, Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140167730
• ISBN-13: 978-0140167733
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,534,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bleak Noir, March 15, 2005

By 

C M Magee (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brotherly Love (Paperback)

I bought Brotherly Love, a discounted, yet signed, copy from the remaindered section of the bookstore where I used to work. At the time I was enamored by Pete Dexter, whose books Train and Paris Trout I had recently read. Both of those books are spare and menacing, at times brutally violent, but done in a masterful way. Brotherly Love is like those books, but to call the book spare is an understatement. Dexter takes his time - most of the book, really - fleshing out the main characters, cousins Peter and Michael Flood from a Philadelphia gangster family. As the plot slowly develops - or comes to a boil, one might say - it becomes clear that Peter wants out. But of course, Michael and his band of hoods keep dragging him back in. In Brotherly Love, Dexter doesn't quite plumb the emotional depths of his characters as he does so effectively in Paris Trout and Train, and the reader is left with a book that feels empty and characters that feel doomed from page one.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a terrible beauty is born(e), February 18, 2004

By 

finn - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brotherly Love (Paperback)

since i've got no more lehane in the cupboard, i've embarked upon his stated predecessors and influences: william kennedy, richard price and dexter, who poses on the back of this hardback with boxing gloves hanging in the background -- and he looks like a boxer. aptly-named book, for the story begins with the death of the protagonist's toddler sister while peter's on watch. the child's death destroys peter's family: his mother drops into neurathesia, and his dad's so consumed by revenge that he writes off his future, and his son's, by going against the italian don's wishes and wreaking obvious revenge. peter's father is betrayed, perhaps by his own brother, and his house is invaded by this uncle he can never trust, his wife and his son michael, who's cowardly, self-centered and infatuated with violence, the type who'd torture an old made man and then truss him up to the water heater, to be found by his wife. so much darkness here -- struggles between the irish and italian mobsters, filial struggles and betrayals of brothers, struggles between men and women -- and some strange beauty, for peter jumps. he jumps out of windows, off rooftops; he jumps after his sister's death, and he jumps when the italians come to finish the job he started when he offed michael. and it's that final jump that finally offers him forgiveness for the sin of distraction and a betrayal-that-wasn't, for he's been consumed by his sister's death, and its repercussions. tough and compelling, with moments of lyricism. my only complaint was that these lyrical strains sometimes jarred against dexter's hemingway-esque tendencies. plus, the women weren't drawn particularly well. but in general, this is a good good book.

3.0 out of 5 stars Compelling ,if downbeat tale., April 11, 2003

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brotherly Love (Paperback)

Brotherly Love is told in the present tense ,something which gives a sense of almost documentary style urgency and edge to the grim events it relates.
It spans a quarter century of life in blue colllar Philadelphia,although it unfolds in a series of shortish segments,jumping over long time periods in between.It starts in 1961 at a time when the city is riven by racial tensions between the Irish who control the labour unions and the Italian lead mob ,which is seeking to infiltrate and extend its influence over them.Pete Flood the eight year old son of a roofer's union leader sees his younger sisiter accidentally killed by their next door neighbour,a cop in thrall to the mob.His father disregards pressure from both sides and exacts bitter retribution on the cop,leading to his own death.
Pete is the centre of the events which follow-he resists the legacy of violence and tries to act as a restraining factor on the increassingly deranged and violent actions of his cousin Michael whose dispute with the mob escalates over the years.His solace comes in the boxing ring and in particular the gym owned by ex fighter Nick and his son -compassionate ,and hard working men who want no paart of the violence all around them.As Michael increasingly loses control and restaraint tragedy beckons ,its victims include family friend Jimmy Measles and increasingly threatens Pete himself.

Its structure gives it a rather disjointed feel and the tale suggests a series of vignettes rather than a smooth flowing narrative but the compassion and eye for social realism make it a worthwhile rather than compelling read