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Book News, Guests | December 14, 2009

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Oh, hi. I'm Amy Gray. I like smoking, carbs, and words. I live in the (currently) sleek humidity of Melbourne, Australia. When not lying... Continue »
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The Year of Ice

The Year of Ice Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

It's 1978 and a typical January day in Minnesota's Twin Cities - except for Kevin Doyle, whose mother died two years ago when her car plunged into the icy waters of the Upper Mississippi. A high school senior, Kevin is a marginal student obsessed with keggers, rock and roll, maintaining his place in the pecking order of high school males, and - unbeknownst to anyone else - a boy in his school with thick eyelashes and a bad attitude.

In the past two years, Kevin's relationship with his father, Patrick, has grown increasingly distant, and as lonely women vie for his father's attention, Kevin discovers Patrick's own closely guarded secret: At the time of his wife's death, he had planned to abandon his family for another woman. More disturbing, his mother's death may well have been a suicide, not an accident.

Fanning the flames of familial discontent is Kevin's aunt Nora, a belligerent and fiercely religious Irish immigrant who has never liked her brother-in-law and blames him for the death of her sister. In the coming year, a series of painful truths and closely guarded secrets threatens to shatter the tentative bonds between father and son and wreak havoc on the lives of those nearest to them both.

Review:

"With intelligence, empathy, and just the right dose of humor, Brian Malloy completely immerses us in the world of an ordinary boy going through the very extraordinary process of living his eighteenth year. In Kevin Doyle, Malloy gives us a gritty, witty, and utterly engrossing portrait of a young man." Anne Ursu, author of Spilling Clarence

Review:

"Malloy's poignant, quietly effective debut, set in Minneapolis in the late '70s...displays a razor-sharp comic touch in the verbal sparring between father and son....Malloy shows plenty of talent in his gay spin on the genre, and this debut bodes well for his literary future." Publishers Weekly

Synopsis:

It is 1978 in the Twin Cities, and Kevin Doyle, a high school senior, is a marginal student in love with keggers, rock and roll, and-unbeknownst to anyone else-a boy in his class with thick eyelashes and a bad attitude. His mother Eileen died two years earlier when her car plunged into the icy waters of the Mississippi River, and since then Kevin's relationship with his father Patrick has become increasingly distant. As lonely women vie for his father's attention, Kevin discovers Patrick's own closely guarded secret: he had planned to abandon his family for another woman. More disturbingly, his mother's death may well have been a suicide, not an accident.

Complicating the family dynamic is the constant meddling of Kevin's outspoken Aunt Nora-who will never forgive Patrick for Eileen's death-along with Patrick's inability to stay single for very long. His loyalties divided between his father and his aunt, between his internal reality and his public persona, Kevin is forced to reevaluate his notions of family and love as painful truths emerge about both.

About the Author

Brian Malloy is the development director for The Loft, the largest independent literary arts center in the U.S., as well as grants director for Open Book, a community center for the literary and book arts. He lives in Minneapolis. The Year of Ice is his first novel.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780312289485
Subtitle:
A Novel
Author:
Malloy, Brian
Publisher:
St. Martin's Press
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Death
Subject:
Gay
Subject:
Fathers and sons
Subject:
Teenage boys
Subject:
Gay teenagers
Subject:
Domestic fiction
Subject:
Minneapolis
Edition Number:
1st ed.
Series Volume:
161
Publication Date:
20020717
Binding:
HC
Language:
English
Pages:
208
Dimensions:
8.52x5.82x.98 in. .78 lbs.

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