Synopses & Reviews
In a funny, poignant, wonderfully original debut novel, the author of the acclaimed short-story collection
Trouble with Girls weaves a beguiling tale of fathers and sons, sons and lovers…and one unforgettable summer in a young mans life-somewhere between a past he doesnt understand and a future hes not ready to live….
ALTERNATIVE ATLANTA
For thirty-year-old Gerald Brinkman, life in Atlanta in the year 1996-the summer of the Olympics-doesnt feel half bad. Writing reviews of basement rock bands for an alternative paper, Gerald has carefully avoided getting a real job, while watching his old friends from grad school start careers, marriages, and affairs-often with each other. But in this one life-changing summer, something is about to happen that will shake Gerald out of his complacency forever.
Geralds father, his brilliant, vagabond, and utterly unhelpful father, wants to come and stay with him “for a while.” Ever since childhood, Gerald has tried to bury his relationship with his father under a life of carefully crafted wrong turns. And now Paul Brinkman has shown up with trash bags full of belongings, a medical crisis, and an unbearable confession to make. But Gerald knows one thing for sure: He doesnt want to hear it. Try as he might to stop it, the future is bearing down on him. A job is being dangled in New York. A secret from his past is waiting to be revealed. An ex-girlfriend is suddenly sending mixed signals. And in one moment in one summer in the city of Atlanta, everything is about to change forever. When it does, Gerald is going to have a whole new vision of who he is, who his father and friends are, and what he must do next.
An exhilarating and touching novel about family and flirtations, growing up and letting go, Alternative Atlanta brilliantly captures a time of life when everything seems possible and impossible at the same time. It is a work of dazzling storytelling from a writer of immense gifts.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Marshall Boswell's short stories have appeared in magazines from
Missouri Review to
Playboy, and in
New Stories from the South, 2001. TROUBLE WITH GIRLS, his first book, was a Book Sense pick. Boswell lives with his wife and their two children in Memphis, where he teaches American literature at Rhodes College.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reading Group Guide
Soon after the publication of
Trouble with Girls, Marshall Boswell's story collection,
The Washington Post hailed him
as "a fine, expressive writer . . . with a light hand and a virtuoso touch." With
Alternative Atlanta, Boswell makes his debut as a novelist, bringing those virtuoso talents to a wholly unforgettable cast of characters facing unique dilemmas that will captivate you at every turn.
Alternative Atlanta is the story of thirty-year-old Gerald Brinkman and the summer that transformed his life. It's 1996, and Gerald is living in Atlanta amid the crush of tourists in town for the Olympics. Writing reviews of basement rock bands for an alternative paper, Gerald has managed to avoid getting a real job while most of his friends are immersed in far more adult situations-especially marriage and family, with inklings of affairs. But just when Gerald thinks he has mastered the finer points of bachelorhood, his vagabond father shows up. Paul Brinkman has startling news for his son, including the fact that he has just sold the family home and now has nowhere permanent to stay. As Gerald copes with a man whose eccentricities are impossible to comprehend, he also learns more about his family history than he was ready for, all the while taking on a new role that is completely out of character for him. In the midst of having to care for his father, one of Gerald's ex-girlfriends is suddenly sending mixed signals, everyone seems to have a secret for him to keep, and a job prospect in New York is forcing him to discern what he wants from a career.
An exhilarating boys-to-men tale, Alternative Atlanta captures the struggles of adulthood through wry and refreshingly original storytelling. The questions, discussion topics, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your reading of Marshall Boswells Alternative Atlanta. We hope they will enrich your experience of this endearing novel.
1. What were your first impressions of Gerald as he endured Nora's wedding? How did your reactions to him shift throughout the novel?
2. As Gerald surveys his life in the first chapter, the author writes, "How did Gerald end up here? How did this happen? Somewhere along the road of adolescent development he must have missed a crucial exit." In your opinion, why did Gerald's life unfold the way it did? Is his adulthood as shameful as he thinks it is?
3. As you read about Gerald's recent dating history in chapter four, did you seen any patterns? Do his interactions with women mirror his experiences of trying to stay in graduate school or develop a career as a writer?
4. Would Gerald have been successful as a full-time magazine staffer in New York? What was he hoping for during the job interview?
5. Does Gerald have very much in common with his sister, Eva? What did his time with her tell you about the way their family interacts?
6. Discuss the music scene that forms a backdrop for the novel. How does Gerald's taste in music help define him?
7. Reread the novel's epigraphs, from Kierkegaard and Lennon. Where does faith appear and disappear in the novel? Does Gerald's father regain any of the faith he renounced when stepping down from the pulpit? What or whom should Gerald and Paul trust? What are they capable of trusting?
8. What do you believe about the car accident that killed Gerald's mother? What conversation really transpired between Gerald's parents in the car? What does Gerald come to believe about it?
9. Compare the marriages presented in the novel: Nora and Brent; Sasha and Aaron; Eva and Walt; Gerald's parents' marriage. How do these couples feel about marriage, and about each other? What could have predicted the success or demise of these relationships?
10. How would it have changed Gerald's life if he had been the son of Dr. Stanley Torrent? How would you have handled the question if you had been Paul?
11. Discuss the title of the novel as it relates to Gerald's life. Is his life alternative, or do you believe it's fairly typical for a guy his age? What alternatives does he have throughout the novel's turning points?
12. Why did Gerald's father feel sure that a bombing was inevitable at the Atlanta Olympics? What were your recollections of that tragedy? In what way is history enhanced when such experiences are captured by fiction writers?
13. What was the effect of the author's choice to use Atlanta as the setting for this novel, and his choice of time period, when technology was just beginning to become accessible to the general public?
14. In the closing scenes at Centennial Park, what memories and insecurities does Gerald have to confront? Had Gerald ever prepared himself for such a crisis?
15. What do father and son eventually give to each other at the end of the novel? What exchanges and trade-offs took place during the time Gerald spent with his father?
16. Kira told Gerald that Nora had once said he was "the one." As the novel closes with a scene of the newly formed family, Gerald's final words are "Its positive." What kept them in the negative for so many months? What did it take for them to finally embrace the positive?
17. What might Gerald Brinkman say to Parker Hayes, the protagonist from Marshall Boswell's acclaimed short-story collection, Trouble with Girls? What truths do both of them demonstrate about finding happiness?