Product Description
In this collection of touching short stories by Iowa Writers’ Workshop grad Seth Harwood, we are introduced to Adam Berkman, a young man growing up in a world that’s very different from the depictions of American families he sees on TV. Like Boston to Orlando, Adam finds that his life is indeed A Long Way from Disney.
Tender, haunting, and astutely observed, this novel-in-stories follows Adam Berkman as he comes of age in racially charged 1980s Boston only to face the same challenges that undid his parents.
When Adam’s mother leaves his father to pursue a self-awakening spurred by EST, Adam finds himself shuffling between the city and suburbia, unsure of his place in either. Struggling to navigate a world in which parents are vulnerable equals, friends’ loyalties shift with their racial awareness, and the rules of romantic relationships change unexpectedly with each change in location, Adam grows into an earnest, searching young man. A series of moves and experiments in identity give way to a seemingly settled life with his own wife, mortgage, and child. But instability lurks just beneath the surface of family life, and when his wife separates from him, Adam must confront once again deeper questions of what he wants and how to do what he thinks is right.
A LONG WAY FROM DISNEY examines the choices we make in a world that is far from Disney-perfect and confirms Seth Harwood as a major new talent.
Tender, haunting, and astutely observed, this novel-in-stories follows Adam Berkman as he comes of age in racially charged 1980s Boston only to face the same challenges that undid his parents.
When Adam’s mother leaves his father to pursue a self-awakening spurred by EST, Adam finds himself shuffling between the city and suburbia, unsure of his place in either. Struggling to navigate a world in which parents are vulnerable equals, friends’ loyalties shift with their racial awareness, and the rules of romantic relationships change unexpectedly with each change in location, Adam grows into an earnest, searching young man. A series of moves and experiments in identity give way to a seemingly settled life with his own wife, mortgage, and child. But instability lurks just beneath the surface of family life, and when his wife separates from him, Adam must confront once again deeper questions of what he wants and how to do what he thinks is right.
A LONG WAY FROM DISNEY examines the choices we make in a world that is far from Disney-perfect and confirms Seth Harwood as a major new talent.
