Customer Reviews

The Year of Ice: A Novel

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the interests of full disclosure, I should say at the outset that I can't be totally objective about this book. Brian Malloy is one of my oldest friends (we met in a group for people newly out of the closet). I've watched him write several books before this "first" novel came out. So I sat down with this book well disposed and I wasn't disappointed.

Malloy has written a fresh book that really sneaks up on you. The main character is someone unusual in gay fiction. His is not a classically smart, bookish outsider. Rather, he is a high school insider, cool, good looking, a jock. And yet, his story rings more true because of that. You feel Kevin Doyle's deep sense of alienation from himself and consequently, from everyone around him. His tone rings true...by turns smart aleck, moody, angry, sensitive, and finally vulnerable.

The best thing about the novel is that the gay angle is only one part, and not the most important part of the story. Mostly, this book is about the unraveling of secrets. Kevin has his own secret, but so does his bumbling father, his dead mother, his strong Irish Catholic aunt, even his friends. And as the secrets unravel the novel takes a surprising turn into grey territory. And the book ends paradoxically unresolved and yet satisfying. It mirrors life well...though by the end of the book you hope that Malloy is planning a sequel. You want to know more about these fascinating characters.

All in all, this is a wonderful debut, even if I'm biased. Readers of gay themed fiction should appreciate this book, but I also believe that it should find a wider general audience. The truths about adolesence and family found in this book are universal.

Thanks Brian, it was a great ride!

Brian Malloy's sensitive debut novel provides enough jumping-off topics to keep any book club talking well into the night...a high school senior named Kevin out in Minnesota, it provides generous food for thought on all of the following: dealing with the death of a loved one amid comflicted feelings about the person; the difficulty of parents and children to ever really see one another for who they are; the loneliness experienced by the most individual of individuals trying to fit into the society at large. Not just a serious novel, however, there's more at work here: like wry humor, a strong protagonist whose survival-against-the-odds beyond the end of the novel is a comfort to imagine; and the fact that that protagonist is allowed to be achingly human to the point where he's borderline annoying, not in a truly annoying-annoying way, but in a nostalgic-annoying way that will make older readers fondly remember, "God, I remember when I was young and the whole world moved all around me."...

So many books are typed as "coming of age" or "coming out" but neither of those terms does full justice to the voice and character that is 18 year old Kevin Doyle. You can almost hear him speaking the story to you as you read, and his wit, empathy and hope come through on every page. A book that is filled with the ache of what it means to be young in a world you do not understand, where you do not often know how you should take part -- Brian Malloy has created a story anyone who was once 18 knows all too well.

An excellent use of setting, an array of well-drawn secondary characters, realistic dialogue -- these are the marks of a writer who will be with us for many years to come.

This is a beautifully written work that welcomes and stands up to a second reading. Like Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, it's about about being gay but it's in a genuinely human context... in fact the hero's anguish over his mother's death and the evolution of his feelings toward his father are, actually, as affecting and intense. Like many young men I've known, this is a kid who can irritate the hell out of you and yet you can't help liking him.

The prose is ice sharp and crystal clear but the author's feelings for his hero are as soft as the flakes of snow that set the opening of the book. By the end, I shared that feeling and I suspect you will too.

How much more than THAT can you ask for in a book? I read quite a bit of gay literature. And I am critical about my selections, and generally avoid "trash".(Not always possible, though. No matter now greatly a book is reviewed, I've still had my share of stinkers once I actually get around to reading the book myself). Happily, THE YEAR OF ICE is anything but a stinker. This book soars to levels I haven't been privy to for quite some time. How marvelous to read something written by a highly talented writer. It's been a while. From the opening chapter, one gets swept up into the urgency of Kevin's plight. Malloy captures the quiet desperation of the closeted gay high school experience spectacularly. He also avoids cliche, by making Kevin a popular kid, an "alpha male", as he puts it. The tangled web of family secrets and coming-of-age drama to follow is at times heartwrenching and at times purely, laugh out loud hysterical. Bravo to Mr. Malloy! I can't wait for his next book.

I'm not sure any of the presentation of this book shows how funny it is; Malloy's wit certainly makes this book stand out from your ordinary coming-of-age tale. And there is nothing icy at all about Malloy's narration; he has nothing but empathy for his young narrator as he navigates through life. It is quite an accomplishment to write with intelligence and wit and never lose sight of your characters' humanity--these are skills undervalued in American fiction. An impressive debut

It's 1978, and Kevin and his father are still adrift after the death of Kevin's mother two years ago. Kevin's due to graduate from high school, and in the pecking order, Kevin's near the top, despite his grades, but he has a secret crush on one of his friends. As the year progresses a series of shattering secrets surface, and the bond between father and son becomes thinner, which isn't helped by Kevin's aunt who blames her sister's death on Kevin's father. "The Year of Ice" is a beautiful story of anguish and grief, of finding oneself amidst a chaos of family trauma, of growing up gay and having to hide. Malloy deftly writes with a sarcastic wit that brings Kevin and the other characters of the story to life, and pushes this novel closer to the reader's heart. Definitely one of the best books of 2002.

Malloy makes an impressive debut with this high school senior's coming of age in 1978 Minneapolis. While the plot may be familiar (it would make a good movie), it's Malloy's style of writing and attention to the tiniest details that make it different than other books on this subject.

Kevin Doyle has a pretty [messed] up life. His mother died two years ago when her car crashed into the frozen Mississippi River and no one knows what really happened. Was it an accident or maybe even a suicide? Kevin's dad is now being constantly bombarded by the town's widows, and hates his job at the local auto plant. Kevin is very confused, he's lonely, and angry at his father all the time. One thing he has going for him is his good looks, and he could have any girl he wants in the school. That's not what Kevin wants, as he has sets his sights on one of the hottest guys in school, named Jon, and secretly is in lust of him. However, Jon is a beer drinking type of guy, who talks only about girls. Will he get the guy of his dreams? Malloy does a great job in playing with words, giving the reader both what Kevin wants to say and what he actually ends up saying in a lot of situations. Kevin is sort of a wise guy, which leads to some very funny scenes, like when he calls his dad's girlfriend a cow and "moos" at her every time he sees her.

Kevin's sarcasm masks his real character, a sensitive, and confused young man, who is longing for love, and at the same time afraid of being gay and expressing his real feelings. "The Year of Ice" is a great debut novel by Brian Malloy, and one with characters, especially Kevin, that are very entertaining and a joy to read about. Highly Recommended!

Joe Hanssen

The year is 1978, and Kevin Doyle is in most ways like every other teenage boy on the verge of adulthood. He's handsome and popular, but also angst ridden, bored, and sexually frustrated. But Kevin's life is different from that of his friends; not only is he struggling with the realization that his mother's death may have been self-inflicted (due to her knowledge of his father's affair),but Kevin is gay and that is complicating matters even more. He lusts after a class-mate only to discover that the feeling is not mutual. To compensate for his growing sense of paranoia of being discovered, Kevin falls into a relationship with a girl, with less than stellar results. Kevin's growing frustration with how to express his sexuality makes for some angry outbursts and hilarious dialogue. This well written novel is poignant, funny and filled with memorable characters. The author has the feel of the era just right; my own high school years came easily back to memory. This novel confirms that gay or straight, popular or not, the adolescence experience is in so many ways universal for all. Highly recommended.

Set in 1978 in cold Minnesota, THE YEAR OF ICE is a "sweet," in the best sense of the word, first novel. The narrator, Kevin Doyle, is dealing with the recent death of his mother who may have committed suicide because of the affair his father was having and at the same time is trying to hide his sexual feelings toward other boys-- all that in addition to the common problems of being seventeen. Altogether believable and lovable, he thinks and talks just like an adolescent does and is certainly an empathetic character. There is an innocence about Kevin and his friends that we will not see again. It is a time before AIDS and hard drugs and metal detectors in schools where the drug of choice for these students is beer.

There is a beautiful passage early in this novel when Kevin's English teacher, referring to Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening," asks him why he would stop in a woods to watch the woods fills up with snow. Kevin responds: "Without thinking I say, 'To remember my mom. She loved how the snow covered up all the garbage and dirt. She's sit for hours on the porch watching the snow fall. She grew up in Ireland and the snow doesn't last long there. She always said the snow was like a million fairy lights when the streetlamps caught the flakes just right.'" This is a perfect, sensible answer to the pedantic question.

One could do worse than have a son or brother so perceptive.