Drowned Boy: Stories (Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction) [Paperback]

Jerry Gabriel (Author), Andrea Barrett (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction | Publication Date: January 1, 2010

"These [stories] are rust-belt blues, then, a vision of and lament for a past time and a swiftly changing place. They're not showy--the language is plain, the tragedy muted, the comedy low-key and wry--but they stick in the mind. Ray Carver would recognize these characters and situations, as would poet Philip Levine. I like to think that they would share my appreciation for this fine first book, built slowly and carefully over some years, and worth the wait."--Andrea Barrett, from the foreword
Jerry Gabriel delivers an unsentimental portrait of rural America in Drowned Boy, a collection of linked stories that reveals a world of brutality, beauty, and danger in the forgotten landscape of small-town basketball tournaments and family reunions. In "Boys Industrial School," two brothers track an escaped juvenile convict, while in the titular novella, a young man and woman embark on a haphazard journey to find meaning in the death of a high-school classmate. These stories probe the fraught cusp of adulthood, the frustrations of escape and difference, and the emotional territory of disappointment--set in the hardscrabble borderlands where Appalachia meets the Midwest.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this low-key, lusterless debut collection, Gabriel follows two brothers growing up while testing the boundaries of authority in rural Ohio. Switching among different viewpoints in quasi-chronological order, Gabriel begins with Donnie and Nate Holland, ages 12 and eight, respectively, tracking down a runaway from the nearby delinquent boys' institution after their father is hospitalized. Instead of turning in the runaway for the reward, however, Donnie ends up disappearing with him for two days. In subsequent stories, the boys reach adolescence and young adulthood, Donnie continuing to run against the grain, joining the army and eloping; Nate, meanwhile, remains in town and works at the A&P, but still takes cues from his beloved big brother. Gabriel's writing is frustratingly bland, his character development minimal and his stories all too brief; in the longest tale, Drowned Boy, Nate and a girl meet at a wake, but take off on separate, meandering car trips, suspending the resolution in midair. Gabriel's listless plotting leaves readers wanting more of these sympathetic characters. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

The eight linked stories that make up Gabriel’s Mary McCarthy Prize–winning debut explore isolation, death, and moral and social significance in small-town rural America. Centered in Moraine, Ohio, the book loosely follows 16 years in the life of Nate Holland, who is a link to other disaffected characters seeking their life’s purpose. Among them are two brothers in search of a runaway juvenile convict; adult sports fanatics who find meaning in the success of the local middle-school basketball team; an embittered father obsessed with a recent influx of hippies; and a young man running from his ex-girlfriend’s vengeful father, only to confront his fears in the face of a tornado. At the heart of this melancholy collection is the novella-length title story, in which Nate follows a female acquaintance of the drowned boy, compelled by her peculiar actions as they attempt to comprehend mortality and coincidence. In prose as spare and enchanting as the town’s landscape, Gabriel paints a beautiful and sobering portrait of Middle Americans trapped in a world of snow, ice, and inevitability. --Jonathan Fullmer

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Product Details

• Paperback: 155 pages
• Publisher: Sarabande Books; 1 edition (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932511784
• ISBN-13: 978-1932511789
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A native Ohioan, Jerry Gabriel has also lived in Arizona, Iowa, New Zealand and New York. Currently he resides in St. Inigoes, Maryland, with his wife, poet Karen Leona Anderson, their daughter Eva, and their hound Moxy. His first book of fiction, Drowned Boy, was the winner of the 2008 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction and will be published in January 2010 by Sarabande Books. It has been chosen as a Barnes and Noble "Discover Great New Writers" Selection and is a 2010 Barnes and Noble Discover Award finalist.

Mr. Gabriel holds degrees from The Ohio State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Currently, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Prior to that he was a lecturer in Cornell University's Engineering Communications Program, where he also taught creative writing through Cornell at Auburn, a university program for prisoners at New York's Auburn Correctional Facility. He has also written about science for a number of publications.

His short stories have appeared in One Story, Epoch, and Fiction, among other magazines. His work has been short-listed for a Pushcart Prize, and he was awarded an artist grant in 2004 by the New York Foundation for the Arts. He is currently at work on a novel, Resurrecting the Single Wing, about an Ohio high school football coach.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed it, February 28, 2010

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Jonathan A. Todd - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Drowned Boy: Stories (Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction) (Paperback)

We have an appreciation of who we are because of where we came from even if where we came from is despised by who we are.
Jerry Gabriel's "drowned boy" is a collection of related short stories that takes a peak at coming of age in the Midwest, small town Ohio.
The characters we all know and can relate to, but they are very open to interpretation,- likewise the plot at times goes nowhere- trailing off and leaving you wondering what next.
Yet if you've been there (brought up in rural Ohio or anywhere in America) you know that what happens next is not relevant. You reach a point in your life that if you stay one more day - you will die here. "receptionist by day movie renter by night". Later in life you can look back at your upbringing with almost nostalgia which is shattered by the realization that you were right; that those who stayed have become lifeless portraits jaded by failures and circumstance. Those who cannot relate to these stories probably won't understand it, and will probably be frustrated by the open plot line ending. Read it again. You missed the climax. They drove AWAY.