Drowned Boy: Stories (Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction) - Softcover

Gabriel, Jerry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1932511784 ISBN 13: 9781932511789

Publisher: Sarabande Books, 2010

Synopsis

"These [stories] are rust-belt blues, then, a vision of and lament for a past time and a swiftly changing place. They're not showy--the language is plain, the tragedy muted, the comedy low-key and wry--but they stick in the mind. Ray Carver would recognize these characters and situations, as would poet Philip Levine. I like to think that they would share my appreciation for this fine first book, built slowly and carefully over some years, and worth the wait."--Andrea Barrett, from the foreword
Jerry Gabriel delivers an unsentimental portrait of rural America in Drowned Boy, a collection of linked stories that reveals a world of brutality, beauty, and danger in the forgotten landscape of small-town basketball tournaments and family reunions. In "Boys Industrial School," two brothers track an escaped juvenile convict, while in the titular novella, a young man and woman embark on a haphazard journey to find meaning in the death of a high-school classmate. These stories probe the fraught cusp of adulthood, the frustrations of escape and difference, and the emotional territory of disappointment--set in the hardscrabble borderlands where Appalachia meets the Midwest.

About this title

About the Author:

Jerry Gabriel studied at Ohio State, Northern Arizona University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He has worked as a science writer and taught writing at a number of universities, including, from 2001-2008, as a lecturer in Cornell University's Engineering Communications Program. Starting in the fall 2008, he will be a visiting assistant professor at St. Mary's College of Maryland.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this low-key, lusterless debut collection, Gabriel follows two brothers growing up while testing the boundaries of authority in rural Ohio. Switching among different viewpoints in quasi-chronological order, Gabriel begins with Donnie and Nate Holland, ages 12 and eight, respectively, tracking down a runaway from the nearby delinquent boys' institution after their father is hospitalized. Instead of turning in the runaway for the reward, however, Donnie ends up disappearing with him for two days. In subsequent stories, the boys reach adolescence and young adulthood, Donnie continuing to run against the grain, joining the army and eloping; Nate, meanwhile, remains in town and works at the A&P, but still takes cues from his beloved big brother. Gabriel's writing is frustratingly bland, his character development minimal and his stories all too brief; in the longest tale, Drowned Boy, Nate and a girl meet at a wake, but take off on separate, meandering car trips, suspending the resolution in midair. Gabriel's listless plotting leaves readers wanting more of these sympathetic characters. (Jan.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Sarabande Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1932511784
• ISBN 13: 9781932511789
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 155