One of the Boys - Hardcover

Magariel, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 178378346X ISBN 13: 9781783783465

Publisher: Granta Books, 2017

Synopsis

A father and his two sons have won the war: which is the father's way of describing his bitter divorce and custody battle. They leave Kansas City and drive through the night to Albuquerque, united by their father's promise to take on the world together. The boys join their school basketball teams, while their father works from home, smoking cheap cigars to hide another smell. Soon their father's missteps-the oddly packed lunches, his dead-eyed absentmindedness-become sinister and strange, and the boys find themselves watching him become someone, slightly, else. Set in the bright blank of suburban Albuquerque and the charged humidity of their cramped apartment, One of the Boys conveys with chilling clarity a boy's struggle to hold onto the pieces of his family, stripped of the nurturing influences of his mother. It also delivers a superbly nuanced portrait of a violent and menacing man, whose manipulations stem from the need to order the world around him, that it might service his idea of himself. Brutal and urgent, this masterful debut is a story of survival: two brothers driven to protect each other from the father they once trusted but no longer know.

About this title

Review

'Remarkably lucid and unsparing. Some passages feel so true, you keep wanting to put the book down to applaud... In one of his many crises, the father challenges his sons, 'Tell me one true thing about life... Either of you. Tell me one true thing.'... Magariel has triumphantly, unforgettably, told us' -- Guardian

'Told in prose that's spare and concise, this is a heartbreaking but compelling portrait of a childhood twisted by a controlling parent, as well as the unbreakable bond between brothers' -- Daily Mail

'Set in stifling Albuquerque, this debut novel [is] a companion to Breaking Bad [...] in its unflinching portrayal of abusers [...] in vivid yet spare prose' -- Financial Times

'Spine-chilling... Magariel packs an impressive amount of emotion into his short book. Readers will root for the brothers, whose love for each other comes across on the page as simultaneously heroic and credible' -- Irish Times

'Brilliant, urgent, darkly funny, heartbreaking - a tour de force with startling new things to say about class, masculinity, addiction, and family. Daniel Magariel is an exciting new presence in American writing' -- George Saunders

'An absolutely standout novel... It left me feeling impressed [and] mournful. A book that you find yourself thinking about weeks later... A stunning writer' -- Radio 4, Open Book

'Whip-smart and razor-sharp... Brutal and uncompromising, One of the Boys is a short and intense story... The prose throughout One of the Boys is spare and unflinching, the action delivered in deadpan style, making the grotesqueness of the actual events all the more impactful. The tension on the page is palpable from the very start, and the trajectory of the family's story is utterly compelling, while a smart epilogue throws new light on the journey into darkness that all three main characters have made. Cracking stuff' -- Big Issue

'Dynamic... Magariel relentlessly examines how love survives in the most atrociously violent of situations... Beautiful... Harrowing but important' --RTÉ Arena

'Affecting' -- Vanity Fair

'A meaty, fascinating book' -- BBC Radio Scotland

'A well-timed piece of work which gives an unfliching glimpse into the life of two adolescent boys as they grapple with their dysfunctional relationship with their father... Heartbreaking [and] gut-wrenching... [One of the Boys] is an authentic and poignant portrayal of addiction and abuse' -- Wales Arts Review

'[An] accomplished debut [...] the blend of slapstick and menace is deliciously uncomfortable: the reader cannot quite revel in his humiliation, for fear of its consequences... [With] understated candour [One of the Boys] is rendered with skill and sensitivity' -- 3:AM Magazine

'Impressive... With deft, impactful prose [Magariel] conveys complex ideas about the way this boy's specific upbringing warps his conception about his identity, life and the way men should behave... With its moving story, this novel will continue to resonate with me for a long time' -- Eric Anderson

'[Full of] short sharp shocks [...] the reader learns to be on the edge... Magariel's book, while definitely about the experiences of one particular child, is also about something bigger: the abuses perpetrated more generally by a toxic ideal of masculinity... In showing the madness of this attitude through the microcosm of a family, Magariel offers a different way to be a man: sometimes the way to step up is to ask for help' -- --Eleanor Franzen

'Written in a spare but elegant prose [...] One of the Boys is a disturbing evocation, without even the slightest hint of sentimentality, of a fiercely powerful relationship between a father and his young son, one where intense love sits alongside rage, paranoia, and an all-consuming need for control' -- Josh is Writing blog

'One of the Boys packs a huge emotional punch. This is the unflinching story of an abusive father and his two sons after he takes them away from their mother, told using wonderful stark prose. I read this book in one gulp, gripping the page and willing the boys to escape' -- Claire Fuller

''One of the Boys is a captivating portrait of a wayward father, brimming with charm and trouble' -- Justin Torres

'Magariel's portrayal of parental treachery, youthful courage and lost innocence is gripping and disquieting' -- Carys Bray

'With a charismatic, macho, drug-addicted dad, the young narrator pays an awful price to be one of the boys in the riveting, debut novel by Daniel Magariel. Move over Great Santini, this patriarch is rendered with such artful love, you'll be haunted by his presence long after you close this graceful and heartbreaking book' -- Mary Karr

'Daniel Magariel's absolutely brilliant and beautiful novel is that rarest thing: an incredibly mature book about kids. Not since I read Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping have I felt so at once in the presence of the magic-logic terrors of childhood and the too real and consequential realms of adults. The children in this novel act like loving, terrified parents; the parents behave like the most destructive of children. Yet Magariel has managed to tell the story of this failing family with so much love and gentleness that the lasting impression of this novel- full of enraging scenes and calamitous decisions- is of the unknowing courage unique to youth' -- Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances

'A deepy affecting portrait of innocence lost. Like Emma Donoghue's Room, One of the Boys is impossible to resist as we root for these young men to escape their brutal (yet charismatic) father. We feel the strength of the child through Magariel's precise, understated and unflinching prose, which builds in emotion and suspense by keeping us very close to how each moment leads to the next. A beautiful debut' --Dana Spiotta

About the Author

DANIEL MAGARIEL received his BA from Columbia University and his MFA from Syracuse University, where he was a Cornelia Carhart Fellow. He has lived in Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Florida, Colorado, and Hawaii. He currently lives in New York with his wife.

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 178378346X
• ISBN 13: 9781783783465
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160