manuscript review by Publishers Weekly, an independent organization
Along New York's Long Island shoreline, 44-year-old Billy Plunkett is trying to scrape by on a quiet living selling clams. He's got his boat, a smart-talking conscious he calls "Harvey" providing him with honest feedback, his loyal Labrador, Sweeney, and a passion for sculpting. Facing a dearth in clamming, Billy who has a BA in English but never wanted a 9-5 job, is concerned about how he's going to survive the future with sea pollution and his aching back. To pay his rent, he's had to borrow money from his sister Eileen whose husband thinks he should just get a real job. But for Billy "the water was in his blood" and making a living from things that are set in quantity and price, like the clam business, is what he prefers. Things begin to go well for Billy outside of the clam business when he meets two society ladies in town of Huntington who consider Billy attractive but beneath them. Erin, 36, a writer and media personality who calls him "Sweetie," wines and dines Billy for sex and makes him a financial offer to allow her to take nude photographs of him for a coffee table book she's working on. And when Billy gets media attention and his cherished sculpture entitled The Jynx gets a $15,000 or higher offer, he has to navigate within the nebulous waters of money-making manipulators he's not used to. Though the story line feels passé, like Hemingway mixing with McInerney, this debut novel's prose is clean and very earnest.
Amazon Top Reviewer
A story about a clammer named Billy who finds a brass ring - with the words "Un tour libre" (one free ride) carved onto it - while out one day, "Jynx" starts out fairly slow with the description of his day clamming. After finding the ring, he has a record-breaking day. Are things going his way now? He decides the ring is his talisman and buys a gold chain on which to wear it. Knowing that there is no such thing as a free ride, this reviewer presumes that things will eventually go horribly awry. The idea is good and the plot does pull one in - the prose and style are a bit stilted, however and could do with the pace being tightened up a little. Overall, however, this reviewer feels this is a good, solid story and would be interested in reading more.
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