The Slide: A Novel [Paperback]

Kyle Beachy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2009

At once an offbeat love story, a moving portrait of a family in crisis, and a darkly funny American comedy, Kyle Beachy’s arresting debut novel—written in prose that is swift, stunning, and sweet—heralds the arrival of a remarkable new voice in fiction.

Potter Mays retreats immediately after college graduation to the safe house of his childhood home. Like clockwork each morning, his mother makes him eggs, lovingly fried into hollowed-out pieces of toast. His father, in the midst of a campaign to revitalize downtown St. Louis, promises to “poke around” for gainful employment for his son. Potter’s best friend, Stuart—an “Independent Thought Contractor” working out of his parents’ lavish pool house—is willing to serve as a kind of life coach, provided, of course, that Potter pays for his services all summer.

However...

Altogether elsewhere, Potter’s (former? future?) girlfriend, Audrey, is backpacking around Europe with her beautiful bisexual traveling companion, Carmel. Potter was not invited, and getting a good night’s sleep has recently become an issue for him.

As enigmatic packages arrive from Audrey, the refuge of life at home soon proves illusory. Potter’s parents are oddly never in the same room together, the neighbor girl is looking quite adult, and Stuart’s much-needed counseling service is subcontracted to a third-party denizen of the pool house with an agenda all his own. And just what are those noises coming from the attic?

Kyle Beachy has woven a uniquely affecting story of the long and hard, then quick and hard, struggle to grow up.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beachys coming-of-age debut about a clueless, jobless, self-pitying college grad is at once hilarious, strange and uncomfortable. After graduating, Potter Mays returns to his parents home, where, unable to decide whether he really loves his girlfriend, Audrey—who is spending three weeks backpacking through Europe with her bisexual best friend—he retains the services of his childhood friend, Stuart, who makes his living as an independent thought contractor. Potter pieces together memories of his troubled romance, such as his and Audreys past indiscretions, her familys disregard for him and his lust for Audreys best friend. As the summer progresses and Potter remains oblivious to even his parents obviously damaged marriage, he makes an unfortunate and extremely ridiculous series of mistakes in his quest to prove his love. Beachys characters, infinitely fallible, are real and fleshy, and their loneliness is palpable. Potters total lack of discipline and common sense are as funny as they are frustrating, and he is lovable even when hes annoying. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

The summer after college graduation should be a time of celebration, but Potter Mays is miserable. His girlfriend has jetted off to Europe, and he has returned home to his parents’ house outside St. Louis. This could be the most tiresome of scenarios, but debut novelist Beachy has a wry wit, a wily sense of the ridiculous, and an athletic gift for description. Consequently, frissons of weirdness steer this tale of late-onset maturity in unexpected directions as Potter takes a crummy job delivering bottled water, concerns himself inappropriately with a lonely boy in a catastrophically messy house and the 16-year-old girl next door, talks to the ghost of his long-dead brother, and is badly manipulated by the worst friend a hapless guy could have. Even his passion for baseball fails to halt his slide into the morass. Beachy perfectly captures the brain-fogging mugginess of summer in the Midwest and the quarry-deep reticence of midwesterners in a funny and endearing novel about a bumbling guy who makes bad situations worse with the best of intentions. --Donna Seaman

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: The Dial Press (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385341857
• ISBN-13: 978-0385341851
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #509,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars St Louis, summer, 2001: distilled, December 11, 2009

By 

Frascombe Bank - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Slide: A Novel (Paperback)

Amazon owes this book more credit than to convice curious readers that it should be bought in tandem with Eat, Play, F***. In addition to the rendering of a very familiar post-college brand of disappointment, I don't think you could find a better distillation of St Louis in a Fodor's guide.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, funny and strange, January 28, 2009

By 

M. Chapman (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Slide: A Novel (Paperback)

Kyle Beachy creates a world that is maybe a half a dimension over from ordinary reality - in his St. Louis the people are smarter, the girls are prettier, and the drugs have better names - but Potter Mays is just as confused as anyone I knew when they left college with a degree in liberal arts degree. Not only is Potter confused about ambition and love, but he has to deal with both the ghost of his younger brother and a (alive) boy, Ian, whose scenes with Potter are a joy to read. Potter has a family missing a son, and Ian is a son missing a family, and the two strike up a strange and lovely friendship. This relationship - between a young man and a young boy - might be awkward in other hands, but in The Slide's heightened reality Ian is the perfect conscience Potter wishes he had.

The book is funny, it's biting and satirical and pointed, yet it never loses its heart. Kyle Beachy manages to be earnest and honest and deeply sad when writing about home and family and finally, really growing up.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, April 4, 2009

By 

mrzebu - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Slide: A Novel (Paperback)

I'm 22 years old and about to graduate college. This book initially caught my eye because of the similarities in age of the main character and myself. However, although Potter is much different than I am, I found that his character was extremely well developed, and that the both of us are thoroughly amused by sarcasm. I was seriously laughing out loud at certain parts of this book, and if you also have a dark sense of humor, you will too. You can bet yourself I'll be pre-ordering anything else that has been touched by the pen of Kyle Beachy.