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Title details for A Kid from Marlboro Road by Edward Burns - Available

A Kid from Marlboro Road

by Edward Burns
Edward Burns
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Our twelve-year-old narrator, an aspiring writer, is at a wake. He takes in the death of his beloved grandfather, Pop, a larger-than-life figure. The overflowing crowd—a sign of a life well lived—comprises sandhogs in their muddy work boots, Irish grandmothers in black dresses, cops in uniform, members of the family deep in mourning. He watches it all, not yet realizing how this Irish American world defines who he is and who he will become. His older brother Tommy has no patience for rules and domesticities, his father is emotionally elsewhere. This boy knows he's the best thing his mother's got, though her sadness envelops them both.
In A Kid from Marlboro Road, past and present intermingle as family stories are told and retold. The narrative careens between the prior generation's colorful sojourns in the Bronx and Hell's Kitchen and the softer world of Gibson, the town on Long Island where they live now. There are scenes in the Rockaways, at Belmont racetrack, and in Montauk. Edward Burns's buoyant first novel is a bildungsroman, yet out of one boy's story a collective warmth emerges, a certain kind of American tale, raucous and joyous.
With eight pages of photographs of the family members and historical locations that inspired characters and scenes in the novel.
"Burns ... [weaves] together a series of bittersweet, personal, and wryly humorous episodes into a portrait of the titular kid who grew up on Marlboro Road and must have been the most perceptive person there. ... Endearing and insightful."—Kirkus Reviews
This audiobook includes a supplemental PDF.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 10, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798892742016
      • File size: 136926 KB
      • Duration: 04:45:15

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 22, 2024
      Filmmaker Burns dips into the Irish American heritage he’s portrayed in such movies as The Brothers McMullen for his bittersweet debut novel (after the memoir Independent Ed). The story revolves around 12-year-old Kneeney’s coming-of-age in 1970s Long Island, where, after his grandfather’s funeral, he slips into his typical summer routine. There are fishing expeditions off Montauk with his stern policeman father and “dick” older brother; beach days at the Rockaways with his family; and endless stories shared by assorted relatives and family friends. Kneeney feels increasingly uneasy about the family’s stability, though, sensing a widening rift between his parents. Before the end of the fateful summer, he’ll face two more funerals, forcing him to accept that the world will break his heart. He finds a way to cope through writing, and after winning the Catholic Daughters of America poetry contest, his father gives him a typewriter and urges him to read Hemingway. Though Burns based this sketchily plotted novel on his family history, the characters are straight out of central casting. Still, there are plenty of touching moments of understated affection between father and son. At its best, Burns’s coming-of-age story suggests a Long Island version of Nick Adams.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Actor, filmmaker, and author Edward Burns's narration features gentle humor and an unmistakable Long Island accent. His novel takes listeners on a bright-eyed and bittersweet tour of a sensitive child's recollections of growing up in the outer reaches of New York City in the 1970s. The novel seamlessly weaves tales of his 1940s immigrant grandparents; his stern father, a cop; baseball games; day trips to Rockaway Beach; a rebellious 17-year-old brother; and a mother who always dreamed of bigger things. Burns delights in mimicking the tough Irish American grandfather's brogue and the neighborhood kids' Bowery-boy patter. He sounds best sounding like a typical kid who desperately wants to come of age but will never forget the bighearted world he grew up in. B.P. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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