During the Depression, a 10-year-old boy befriends a carnival stuntman and his lion cub and learns about the meaning of family, loyalty, love, and survival.
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From Library Journal
Following the disappointing hodgepodge of Scumbler ( LJ 5/1/84), the author of magical Birdy ( LJ 12/15/78) and well-received Dad (5/15/81) is back on track with Pride. Eleven-year-old Dickie Kettleson's family is surviving the Great Depression, with his father returning to work amid labor unrest at corporation ``M.E.'' The times, late 1930s, and the places, urban row houses and parochial school, are remembered in fine detail. Interspersed with the story of the family's growing concern over threats because of Dad's union work is the tale of Sture Modig, strange Swedish farmchild from Wisconsin, now in charge of a lion act. The two stories will meet on the beaches of New Jersey in a hurried but generally satisfying conclusion. Recommended for most fiction collections. Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Pride possesses a sweetness and felt emotion that leaves a warm, pleasant afterglow in our minds. -- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
Superbly plotted...a truly memorable novel. -- Pittsburgh Press
Superbly plotted...a truly memorable novel. -- Pittsburgh Press
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pride: the sin or the lions?,
By
This review is from: Pride (Paperback)
In the first chapter of Pride, William Wharton misleads the reader into thinking that the book is "about" the sin of Pride. The main character Dickie is a fifth grader in Catholic school in 1938, and whatever disciplinary excesses Catholic schools had in the 1960s they had and more in the 1930s. A lapse of attention and an unfortunate sequence of events lands Dickie in the priest's office, where he is told that his sin is Pride. The boy, his neighborhood in Depression-era Philadelphia, and his school, would be enough to make a book around. But from the boy's discovery of an orphaned kitten the story takes a different direction. Anti-union thugs at Dickie's father's workplace threaten the safety of Dickie and his sister, so the family (with kitten) takes an out of season trip to the Jersey shore.The book then alternates point of view between Dickie and Cap Modison, a savant farm boy who was damaged in the first world war. Where Dickie has his kitten Cannibal, Cap adopted a lion cub, who he named Tuffy. Tuffy has become a mature male lion and acts like Cap's kitten. Cap and his wife and Tuffy are working an improbable boardwalk attraction involving a gravity-defying motorcycle. Just as Dickie's parents find a renewal in their relationship in focusing on the instinctive need to protect their children, Cap and Tuffy have formed a little lion pride into which strangers can be reluctantly admitted. Pride is about families and the courage that is needed to keep them together. I would recommend Pride to male and female readers who enjoy a memoir-based story with a dash of literary pretension.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 stars,
By A Customer
This review is from: Pride (Paperback)
I prefer to remain a reader rather than a reviewer. Nevertheless.. let me recommend this book, that I really liked when I read the Italian translation a few years ago.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Have read this several times.,
This review is from: Pride (Paperback)
I grew up in the neighborhood Wharton writes about. It is a gift to my memories. Also setting the story down the shore warms my heart as well.
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