The Boys
A Novel
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4.0 • 104 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“Hafner’s taut and utterly delightful debut is a novel of multitudes. . . . What a wonder of storytelling.”—Weike Wang, New York Times
New York Times Editor’s Choice * Good Morning America Reading Pick * LitHub Most Anticipated Book * Christian Science Monitor Summer Reading Pick
A delicious summer read filled with humor and surprise for readers of Anne Tyler and Kevin Wilson.
When introverted Ethan Fawcett marries fun-loving Barb, so comfortable in the world, he has every reason to believe he will be delivered from a lifetime of solitude. She fills his world with a sense of adventure, expanding his horizons beyond his comfortable routine. To ease Ethan’s fears of becoming a father, Barb suggests they foster two young brothers, Tommy and Sam, and Ethan immediately falls in love with the boys.
When the pandemic hits, he becomes obsessed with providing a perfect life for them. But instead of bringing Barb and Ethan closer together, the boys become a wedge in their relationship, as Ethan is unable to share with Barb a secret that has been haunting him since childhood. Then Ethan takes Tommy and Sam on a biking trip in Italy, and it becomes clear just how unusual Ethan and his boys are.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A father’s all-consuming love threatens to unravel his life—and sanity. The antisocial and incredibly intelligent Ethan Fawcett is terrified of having children, especially after living through the tragic death of his own parents. But when his beautiful and bubbly wife, Barb, brings home twin orphans Tommy and Sam, he wholeheartedly leans into the role of foster dad—so much so that he begins to alienate everyone around him. Shifting between Ethan’s everyday life in Philadelphia and an ill-advised Italian biking trip with Tommy and Sam, Katie Hafner’s offbeat novel is full of jaw-dropping surprises. The Boys is a remarkable journey through parenthood, trauma, and hope.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Hafner's marvelous fiction debut centers on a socially awkward man's neuroses about fatherhood. While working as the chief technology officer at a startup in Philadelphia, Ethan meets Barb, a University of Pennsylvania grad student, and the two start dating. They soon marry, though Ethan suspects he's scored out of his league. Having lost his parents at an early age, he also fears becoming a father, but Barb changes his mind, only for them to discover after a year of trying to conceive that Ethan is sterile. They decide to foster two young boys, but when the Covid-19 pandemic hits and Ethan develops an overbearing attachment to them, his relationship with Barb disintegrates. She leaves him and he takes the boys on a bike trip to Italy, where a jaw-dropping twist ensues. Starting out as a lighthearted romance before taking an unsettling turn, this upsets expectations in the best way. The heartbreaking late reveal will take a second reading to fully sink in and pushes the troubled marriage genre to dizzying extremes. It's a remarkable outing, and readers will look forward to seeing what Hafner does next.
Customer Reviews
A read for right now
Quietly, achingly poignant.