Sins of the Fathers [Hardcover]

Chris Lynch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2006

It's your team or your family or your neighborhood or your church, or maybe just yourself and two other guys. But you have to be able to count on each other, or you can't count on anything at all.

My guys are Skitz Fitzsimmons, who's daffy as a box of frogs, and Hector Fossas, who could pass for Jesus' stronger, tougher, holier brother. I'd stack my guys against anybody's.

The tribe that runs everything in my parish is the Franchise: Fathers Blarney, Mullarkey, and Shenanigan. One's an old blowhard, one's a nasty piece of work, and one's the coolest priest on wheels. Except as soon as you think you know all that, you find out you don't know anything.

They're in charge of right and wrong, but it seems like they make it up as they go along.

They want to break us apart, because of what we see and what we say. So I guess the question is, can the rest of the tribe wait when one guy's falling behind?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–Three teens–friends since their first day of Catholic school–tease, pummel, and support one another in this story set in a working-class Boston diocese. The narrator, Drew, like his dad, is a skeptical observer of the ways that power plays out in the classroom and church; fatherless Skitz is one of those kids who is not going to stay in the system much longer; and Hector–well, something is really eating at Hector, the devout Altar Boy of the Year. The three have vowed to stand by one another, come what may. What comes is a growing awareness of the personal problems of the men who are supposed to be shepherding them through adolescence. Fathers Blarney, Mullarkey, and Shenanigan, as the boys call them, have an inordinate hold over their lives, both in school and beyond. The charming and disarming Father Mullarkey is a bit of a renegade and the two older priests engage in petty cruelties and power games. The evocation of parish life and parochial-school experience is pitch perfect, as are the boys ribald camaraderie and sports obsession. As Drews awareness of the priests fallibility grows, so does the eerie sense that one of them is harming Hector in secret–and that the abuse may be sexual. This vivid, fast-paced, hard-hitting novel is no diatribe; instead it conveys with texture and conviction the damage that young people can be subjected to when adult influence goes unchecked. Overriding even this sad truth is the memorable depiction of the boys friendship and the redemptive power of their deep commitment to one another.–Carolyn Lehman, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 9-12. "We have no violence here," is the often-repeated reprimand at the Boston Catholic school that 13-year-old Drew attends with his best friends, Skitz and Hector. But as Hector falls into a disturbing, furious silence, Drew feels helpless and frightened and wonders if his friend is suffering the unthinkable violence of sexual abuse, perpetrated by a school priest. Using rough language as he writes in Drew's authentic voice ("Everyone joked about priests being 'fender benders'"), Lynch keeps the story of abuse true to Drew's perspective: horrors that Drew doesn't want to confront aren't spelled out. The vivid parts in this potent novel don't quite meld into a cohesive whole. A story line about a hip, young priest creates dramatic, compelling scenes, but the teasing questions about the man's character threaten to overwhelm the story. The boys' friendship, expressed in pitch-perfect trash-talk, and the frank dialogue about organized religion, loyalty, and personal responsibility will captivate readers the most. Jennifer Jacobson's Stained (2005)offers another powerful view of a teen confronting a friend's sexual abuses in the church. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st Ed. edition (September 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006074037X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060740375
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,374,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book from Chris Lynch, February 16, 2007

By 

Elisa W. (East coast USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sins of the Fathers (Hardcover)

After my disappointment at several of Chris Lynch's other books, I don't know what possesed me to pick up Sins of the Fathers. However, I am so glad that I did. This book is simply brilliant. There's really not much more to say.

5.0 out of 5 stars Richie's Picks: SINS OF THE FATHERS, September 22, 2006

By 

Richie Partington "Richie's Picks" (Sebastopol, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sins of the Fathers (Hardcover)

"At six-fifteen on a borderline blizzard morning, outside my bedroom window, Skitz Fitzsimmons reared his ugly head. I was preoccupied and groggy at the same time, so I didn't even notice him there until he was staring back at me like a lunatic mirror reflection. He had one eye squinted and the other eye wide and his mouth was pinched up in a pucker and shifted way over to the side. Like he always looked."

So begins the story told by Drew St. Cyr, one-third of a close-knit tribe of young men who attend Blessed Sacrament, a Catholic school in Boston that is attached to the big old church of the same name. Drew's two "partners in crime" are star altar boy Hector Fossas and the wild and crazy Skitz Fitzsimmons.

"Skitz was just along for the ride mostly, but Hector came from one of those very serious families who believed the Church was everything and everything they said was true no matter how sci-fi it sounded. He didn't believe it was everything, exactly, but he believed it was right up there. He somehow managed to be all right anyway.
" 'I don't believe you will tell me shuddup again,' Hector said calmly.
" 'I do believe I am telling you shuddup right now,' Skitz said.
"They really are good friends. It's just that a lot of the time it's a good thing that they have me in between them. I have fine interpersonal skills."

In the alternately dark and funny SINS OF THE FATHERS, Drew narrates the story of the trio's close friendship amidst the life-altering events that entangle all three at the same time that a new priest is assigned to the Blessed Sacrament parish.

"This was our new priest? This was like nobody's priest.
"In addition to his eye-catching entrance, he was a whole eyeful himself. He was a revelation. He was a whole book of revelations. We had never seen a father like Father Mullarkey, and I'd bet nobody else had either. First, he dressed like a free-walking citizen rather than a priest. A big fan of denim, of ripped denim and patches and T-shirts that looked like he was spray painted with a hose. "What else he was very much like, was a Hells Angels motorcycle club guy, which meant he looked like a big meat-eating hippy with long hair, an acre of ginger beard, and strappy, bumpy muscles. He looked like a hippy that ate hippies. He sounded like a talking bear."

As he gets to know the bear-like priest (and Father Mullarkey's love for greasy food, alcoholic beverages, and late-Sixties rock), Drew is fascinated at how the new priest so frequently strays "from the assigned text," the official Church teachings. Meanwhile, the official Church--personified by Monsignor Blarney and Father Shenanigan--is in the process of trying to sort the three young men into categories. This sorting process will hack at their bonds of their friendship. But it is the new priest who seeks to galvanize Drew, urging him to hold on tight.

" 'You've got a good little tribe there, Andrew. And all of life winds up being driven by tribes. Your family, your school, your profession, your denomination. Your friends. Your tribe is quality. I wish I could join your tribe.'
" 'You can. You have.'
" 'Thanks. But I can only ever be an honorary member, which, I will remain honored to be for the rest of my life. Closer to home, though, stick tight with the tribe you have. Look out for one another. If you ever can't count on your tribe, on the people who are supposed to be there for you, if they, in fact, turn out to be your problem, then you are well and truly wasted, my young friend.' "

There are glimpses of a nun or two, along with a mother calling from inside a house. But otherwise there are no females in sight. This is a harsh and unforgiving story of male relationships that has me reminiscing about the tribes of my own adolescence, those guys who played such pivotal roles in making me the guy I am today.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A novel that fearlessly explores loyalty in the face of adversity, January 4, 2007

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sins of the Fathers (Hardcover)

Since they were snot-nosed six-year-olds, Skitz, Drew and Hector have been inseparable. Skitz is the unpredictable one, with no filter between his brain and his mouth; Hector is the strong, silent one; and Drew is the one who keeps their group together. Now they're faced with another trinity --- their Catholic school faculty, which consists of Monsignor Blarney, Father Shenanigan, and the outspoken renegade, Father Mullarkey --- that threatens to break them apart and send them in three different, dangerous directions.

Drew worries about Hector the most. Normally nonviolent, Hector flies into a rage when Skitz suggests that Father Shenanigan might be sexually abusing him. Hector spends more time than ever away from Skitz and Drew, becomes withdrawn and secretive about his home life, and seems to become more ill every day, dosing himself with Saint Joseph baby aspirin and RC Cola. Drew knows that no matter what the Fathers say or do to him, he must keep his promise to Hector: to wait for Hector if he "falls behind."

Skitz, never the most stable of people, becomes even more impulsive and erratic when he learns that he is one incident away from being kicked out of school, following the breaking of a window. Drew feels there is almost nothing he can do to make Skitz act "normal" until he discovers the real reason behind Skitz's inability to sit down and shut up at crucial moments. Now, he not only has to save Skitz from Hector, but he must save Skitz from himself.

In a time of controversy over teacher-student relationships, especially where the Catholic Church is concerned, SINS OF THE FATHERS fearlessly explores what it means to be loyal in the face of a seemingly impenetrable adversary. It's true that Chris Lynch's disjointed writing can be a difficult read, but stick with the book. Drew is admirable even in his most obnoxious moments, and the ending is hopeful if horrifying.

--- Reviewed by Carlie Webber