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With his mother in jail for killing his abusive father, nineteen-year-old Harley Altmyer cares for his three sisters in a small Pennsylvania coal town, but despite his responsibilities, he is still a teenage boy and lusts after the mother of two who lives down the road.
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Review:
Not since SE Hinton (The Outsiders) has a female novelist penned such a tough and titillating portrait of lower-class, crime-ridden manhood than Tawni O'Dell in Back Roads. Set in "beautiful, ruined" western Pennsylvania, amid Eat n' Parks and Lick n' Putts, the novel follows Harley Altmyer as he walks a raging, self-conscious line between crime and innocence. Why is he being held by the authorities, and what's he so mad about? In the recent past, it's his mother, who murdered his father and went to jail for life. In the far past, it's Dad himself: an abusive, hopeless man. In the present, it's the responsibility for h is three younger sisters, which makes him fantasize about smashing their faces in until they "spit up bloody macaroni and cheese".
Review:
This first novel opens well. O'Dell does an impeccable job of making Harley both brutal and forgivable but Back Roads risks becoming an overabundant affair, pitched high, with a roller-coaster trajectory. Harley' s anger metamorphoses into an almost bloodthirsty lust for his sexy, middle-aged neighbour, which stirs up myriad forbidden family secrets. Misty, it turns out, has been hiding something. Amber revolts. And even Jody's scribbles turn malevolent. While the writing is good throughout, the tension and plotting assume an unpleasant adolescent posture--bodice-ripping passion and mordant gloom combined. Nonetheless, O'Dell's assured and touching portrait of her protagonist emerges unscathed. You will likely remember luckless, fated Harley Altmyer long after his tsunamic tale has receded. --Jean Lenihan, Amazon.com
A remarkably accomplished debut novel already being compared to The Catcher in the Rye...authentic and captivating. -- Daily Mail
An intense story of family, fraility and dysfunction captivatingly told. -- Chicago Tribune
Heart-breakingly honest...Beautifully written...A journey into the world of dysfunctional despair. -- San Diego Union
Tense, conflicted and involving, o'Dell deftly captures the voice of a teenage boy who's in trouble and facing profound challenges. -- New York Times
An intense story of family, fraility and dysfunction captivatingly told. -- Chicago Tribune
Heart-breakingly honest...Beautifully written...A journey into the world of dysfunctional despair. -- San Diego Union
Tense, conflicted and involving, o'Dell deftly captures the voice of a teenage boy who's in trouble and facing profound challenges. -- New York Times
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- PublisherViking
- Publication date2000
- ISBN 10 0670887609
- ISBN 13 9780670887606
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages352
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. New York: Viking (2000). First edition. First printing. Hardbound. New/New. A tight unread copy (without marks or bruises or smells or any other defect). Seller Inventory # SALE-Fiction-56
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. Viking (NY), 2000. First edition. First printing. Hardbound. New/New. A perfect unread copy of her debut novel. This is the first state dust jacket, i.e., without the Oprah Pick imprint on the front dust jacket cover. REVIEW COPY. SIGNEDS BY AUTHOR on title page (name only). Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 4280
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