The Brother Years
A Novel
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- 6,49 €
Description de l’éditeur
From the acclaimed author of Black Flies and Into the Savage Country and co-creator of top-ten Netflix hit Outer Banks, a powerful new novel of class striving and the precarious dynamics of brotherhood in the Chicago suburbs of the late 1970s.
"In our family, there was none of this crap about everyone being a winner," says Willie, the narrator, who looks back on his teen years--and his nearly mortal combat with his domineering older brother, Coyle. In the Brennan house four kids sleep in a single room, and are indoctrinated into "The Methods," a system of achievement and relentless striving, laced with a potent, sometimes violent version of sibling rivalry. The family is overseen by a raging bull of a father, a South Side tough guy who knocks them sideways when they don't perform well or follow his dictates. Rivals, enemies, and allies, the siblings contend with one another and their wealthy self-satisfied peers at New Trier, the famous upscale high school where the family has struggled to send them. Evoking their crucible of class struggle and peer pressures, Burke balances comedy, tragedy, and a fascinating cast of characters, delivering a book that reads like an instant classic--an unforgettable story of the intertwining of love and family violence, and of triumphant teen survival that echoes down through the years.
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Burke's lackluster latest (after Into the Savage Country) follows Willie Brennan through his teen years as he deals with his overbearing brother, Coyle, and their father, who clawed his way up from poverty on the South Side of Chicago to the North Side, where he expects gratitude and obedience. In 1979, the Brennans live in a wealthy neighborhood's smallest house, where they are outcasts with their home-cut hair and paperboy father, who works five other jobs. The father imposes his "methods" on the four children, a series of self-improvements that have the kids up at three a.m. on school days to deliver papers, followed by an hour of calisthenics before the first bell. Willie, the second-oldest and about to begin high school, struggles with the family dynamics. When they were younger, Coyle had followed his father's instructions to a T, but after Coyle turned 13 he became rebellious, refusing to cut his hair and hanging out with the "burnouts." After Willie tells on Coyle for fighting at school, the two brothers' relationship ruptures and Willie grapples with the question of whether words are more effective than violence. Burke does an admirable job of creating three-dimensional characters and exploring complicated family dynamics, but they're not enough to buoy Willie's stale, nostalgic narration. Hopefully, Burke will return to form next time.
