One of the Boys
A Novel
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4.0 • 23 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A “gripping and heartfelt” (The New York Times Book Review) story about two young brothers contending with the love they have for their abusive father, One of the Boys is “one of the most striking debut novels of the year” (Rolling Stone).
The three of them—a twelve-year-old boy, his older brother, their father—have won the war: the father’s term for his bitter divorce and custody battle. They leave their Kansas home and drive through the night to Albuquerque, eager to begin again, united by the thrilling possibility of carving out a new life together. The boys go to school, join basketball teams, make friends. Meanwhile their father works from home, smoking cheap cigars to hide another smell. But soon the little missteps—the dead-eyed absentmindedness, the late night noises, the comings and goings of increasingly odd characters—become worrisome, and the boys find themselves watching their father change, grow erratic, then dangerous.
Set in the sublimely stark landscape of suburban New Mexico and a cramped apartment shut tight to the world, One of the Boys conveys with propulsive prose and extraordinary compassion a young boy’s struggle to hold onto the pieces of his shattered family. Tender, moving and beautiful, Daniel Magariel’s debut is a masterful story of resilience and survival. With the emotional core of A Little Life and the speed of We the Animals, it is “A knockout...A shimmering, heartbreaking portrait of children fiercely devoted to a damaged parent and of the intense sibling bond that helps them through” (People).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This slim, stormy novel pulls us into the lives of two brothers who move to Albuquerque with their erratic and sometimes terrifying father. Between the powder-keg suspense and gorgeous writing, Daniel Magariel’s first novel is impossible to put down. Though the specifics are especially explosive, One of the Boys beautifully captures the universal struggle to separate from parental figures and stand on your own two feet.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The unnamed boys of the title of Daniel Magariel's spare and piercing debut novel are the 12-year-old narrator, his older brother, and their father. The trio are headed from Kansas to New Mexico to begin a new life after a brutal divorce and custody battle referred to by the father as "the war." The narrator, complicit in lying about his mother's negligence so his father could gain custody, at first treats his new life like the adventure he was promised that it would be. But when his father's violent tendencies and severe drug addiction become increasingly apparent, the narrator finally begins to make sense of the divorce and the true source of the family's demise. The urgent present action of the novel in which the brothers adapt to their new life while tiptoeing around their erratic and largely absent father is combined with flashbacks portraying life before the family's collapse, ultimately creating a stunning and tragic portrait of both the joys and limitations of love.
Customer Reviews
Compelling reading
I could not put this book down. You could feel the love, anger and hopelessness of these boys evolving
Couldn't put it down
I stumbled across this book and started with the sample. Before I knew it I was engrossed with the characters and suspense of what would happen in such a short book. I ended up reading it all in one morning.
This is a great book for a book club and it includes discussion questions at the end. Buy this book!
Amazing Read!
The writer takes you on a journey through the characters and you feel as if you know them. Wonderful story of a dysfunctional family and how to make it out unscathed! Beautiful writing style