Customer Reviews

Eddie's Bastard: A Novel

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3 star:		(4)
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It is difficult to believe this is a first novel. That William Kowalski is a gifted novelist is simply a given. He is a fine story teller, able to weave threads of pulsing narrative toward a nourishing conclusion. He creates characters who are not only credible but about whom we care. Too many descriptive phrases might get in the way to the individual response to this rich novel.... Suffice it to say that the title EDDIE'S BASTARD is more than a label. A Bastard is one without parents and therefore without knowledge of history - genetic, philosophical, time sequence. This beautifully crafted book reveals the detective work involved in the main character's quest for self discovery. His journey is at once interesting, touching, warm, and curative. As he reads excerpts from his great grandfather's diary - sophisticated, elegant prose set off in italics which if separated from the novel would still provide a cogent guide to knowing ourselves through understanding our history - Eddie gains insight into his place in the world, his questions about his responses to that world, and eventually an understanding about where he fits in in a world that has seemed alien.

Read this novel - for entertainment, for fresh words, for disarmingly beautiful story, and for restoration in the faith that we are a meaningful part of what was and, therefore, what will be.

This novel tells the tale of Billy Mann, the youngest in a long line of small town heroes. He lives with his grandfather in an idyllic state of benign neglect, learning about life through observation, imagination, and the wise words left behind by his diary-keeping, soldiering male ancestors. Not surprisingly, in the midst of all this maleness, Billy's thoughts turn to contemplation of his mysterious mother and his young neighbor, Annie. This is a coming-of-age story layered with humor, history, and heartbreak. The writing is impeccable. Kowalski's craftsmanship is an absolute joy to read.

This is a wonderful story of a family that is far from what most would call normal, or even desirable, yet skillfully avoids the sense of depressing gloom that its subject matter could easily invoke. Billy Mann is raised by an alcoholic grandfather who is often too besotted to provide Billy with his basic physical needs yet who somehow manages to instill in him a rich appreciation of who he is and where he comes from. Kowalski often uses the name 'Mann' as a pun to point out that there is a little of Billy Mann in all of us. Hopefully, his first work is evidence of other great books to come.

Pleasant story about a boy who grows up and gradually comes to know about his origins. There is something very refreshing in the way this book is written; the prose is very straightforward as we see it through the eyes of Eddie, the novel's hero. My only complaint is that the novel seems too upbeat and unrealistic at times: Eddie seems to be unaffected by his grandfather's alcoholism, which gets worse as the story progresses. Also, his grandfather seems to recover with no particular difficulties. Eddie also seems much too balanced and perfect for the kind of life he lives, with no friends or parents. And it's not enough just being a Mann...

Still, if you happen to come across this book, give it a go. I'm looking foward to reading the sequel.

This book just sweeps you away. Picked it up on a whim, I think somewhere it was compared to John Irving's work and he hadn't had a new one for a while. Billy Mann and his family were strange and wonderful and every page was completely compelling. It's a first novel and I will read everything Kowalski writes for the rest of his career. I'm an avid reader, a couple of books a week if I can, and this was the best book I read in all of 2000. We're halfway through 2001 and I don't think anything else is close yet. No matter what your interests in novels, this book will be one you fall in love with. I can't wait to find out more about Billy Mann and the rest of the family. I've given copies to most of my friends and family as birthdays come up.

Because of lack of time on my part, this review won't do this novel justice. In short, if you love an intellectual hartwarming novel, buy this book! You won't regret it!

"Eddie's Bastard" is honest and full of love. I think someone likened it to John Irving, which is fine, but I was more reminded of Robertson Davies, particularly of "Fifth Business" and Dunstan Ramsay. Kowalski's sense of Billy, and of course the rest of the characters, is pinpoint. I hope this turns into a trilogy at the least.

Billy's romantic sensibilities, heroism, and ideals, are so much like mine I could cry, not least of all because his accomplishments are boyhood dreams of mine, and his coming of age is right on track. Enzo Fujimora rules!

I really didn't want this book to end. The storytelling is so amazing and addictive! The characters are rich, beautiful, and tragic. Stories like this one remind us how strange and wonderful life can be all at once. Read this!

"Eddie's Bastard" was the first audio book my husband or I ever listened to. It made a very long drive VERY enjoyable. It is rare that we like the same stories, but "Eddie's Bastard" is very much like real life and hard not to like. It was sometimes funny, sometimes ironic, sometimes sad. As a life long resident of Western Pennsylvania, I found his depiction of life in the rural parts of this state extremely accurate and believable. The story puts me in mind of "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption" for reasons I can't articulate, it's in the overall feel of the story. The ending was not what I predicted at all, it was not the contrived "and they all lived happily ever after." It was a mature ending even though the character is still quite young. We would definately read or listen to more Kowalski stories in the future!

Left as a baby on his alcoholic grandfather's doorstep with a note reading only "Eddie's Bastard", young Billy Mann has an unusual life right from the get-go. As his mother has abandoned him and his father died in Vietnam, the majority of his youth is spent in virtual seclusion with his grandfather at the old family manor, visits from old doctor connor and spying on the neighbors his only outside diversions. When his grandfather has an accident, Billy is sent briefly to live in foster care and has his first brief taste of the outside world and his life begins to change in various ways. Great writing with many imaginative characters and events (the grandfather was financially ruined in the late 40s when he invested the family fortune in ostriches), this book is definitely worth reading. I greatly enjoyed the first 95% of this novel and raced my way to the end only to be mildly disappointed in the rather bland ending.