Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Kings of Innocence by Michael Burns


REVIEW and GIVEAWAY

The Kings of Innocence by Michael Burns

Fiction, paperback 218 pgs.
Tucket Publishing


This is a story about young men in the transition between their carefree college years and the realities of responsible manhood. Roy, a twenty-four year old investment analyst in Boston, narrates this story about the two weeks he spends back home in smalltown Massachusetts. He's there to watch his 17 year old brother Bobby while their parents are away in Ireland. He adores Bobby, whom he calls "the Golden Child" for his abilities in sports and academics and his handsome good looks. But he's critical of small town ways and cynical toward everyone from his private school years, which he hated. He seems a little cranky and unlikeable as the story begins but give him time. His two best friends are Mark, who's now a policeman working hard to advance his career, and will let nothing stand in the way of that. Then there's Jay, who's been teaching for a year now and wants to quit. Jay has quit colleges, switched majors more than once, then gone home to live with his strongly Catholic family and teach. He can't seem to settle into anything. His indecisiveness is baffling to friends and family. The bonds of lifelong friendship are strong between Roy and his two friends, forged back in grade school. But they don't hold back criticism of one another or of the decisions each has made. And when trouble comes to one, they're quick to get together and help. Jay will be the one who tests the limits of that friendship when his gambling debts to mob money lenders comes to a head. A surprising turn of events will change everything for them.

But for the few days that Roy's back in town they're going to party like they're teenagers again, drinking, fighting, gambling, and ogling women, hang the consequences. Roy does try to keep a better standard around his little brother though, hoping no will pull out any drugs while Bobby's around. The narration is of an easy-going kind, Roy swears more than he needs to, his thoughts and opinions are clear enough without that. The conversation in the bars at night is sports and more sports. There are many sports references and metaphors throughout the book, mostly baseball. When Roy says that a man "fell like Ivan Drago" or a horse had "muscles that would have made Earl Campbell jealous" the effect was lost on me. I did understand the racing terms though because I had an uncle who had a thing for the horses. Sports are foreign to me otherwise. I think this is a book that most men will really enjoy, or women if they're into sports, although it's a story everyone can relate to. It makes you look back at that time in your own life and smile about yourself. Roy pines for the time when him and his friends were "the kings of innocence" and some of Burns best writing comes out when he describes looking for that special basball card or catching frogs and snakes down by the river as a kid. Everyone is forced to grow up sooner or later, and the author does a good job of showing us the struggles that younger men have with that. His characters are believable, it felt as if I knew these guys, or men just like them. I recommend this book and I hope Burns keeps writing. I'd really like to see what he does next.

Michael burns homepage: http://www.thekingsofinnocence.com/


Thank you to Michael for the lovely copy he sent me.

GIVEAWAY

I'm giving away a FREE copy of The Kings of Innocence by Michael Burns. This is not an ARC but the real thing, gently read.

Open worldwide until midnight Wednesday, September 17, 2008.

1) To enter tell me why you want to read The Kings Of Innocence, or comment on something specific from the review. (Longer comments won't get you an extra entry but they will impress the judge.)

OR if you're reluctant to share your thoughts on this subject:

2) Blog about this giveaway and put a link back to it . If you don't have a blog, email 3 friends telling them about this giveaway and copying me at sfuhringer(at) sympatico(dot) ca.

If you want to do both, you'll having my undying gratitude, but either way one entry per person. I'm hoping for dialogue here, not numbers.

Please leave a contact address if you're entering the giveaway and don't have a blog where I can contact you.

Winner will be announced on Thursday, September 18,2008.

9 comments:

  1. Enter me. I'd like to read this book because I have a son in college and I'm hoping he'll be trying to grow up and make mature decisions soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No need to enter me. I'm just dropping in to say hi and thanks for the e-mail. I've posted about this at Win a Book.

    Hope good conversation ensues!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Please enter me in the contest.

    I'd love to read this book...I graduated a few months ago and now I'm trying to make the right choices for my life.

    avalonne83 [at] yahoo [dot] it

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like coming up of age books. This souns like one of those.Please do count me in!

    gautami.tripathy[at]gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'd like to read this just to get a glimpse at how men think. I'm always amazed at some of the stories my husband tells me about this time in his life.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I totally got the Ivan Drago reference, but then my dad made me watch all of Sylvester Stallone's movies multiple times. :)

    This book sounds like it would be an enlightening look inside the minds of guys (almost men). I would be interested to see how many of the sports references I understood.

    akreese (at) hotmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd love to read this because I've recently transitioned into the "real world" from college myself. Boy is it different.... I like to read about the transition but also I just like college stories.

    aleareads @ gmail . com

    ReplyDelete
  8. I do enjoy coming-of-age stories, no matter what the setting. Please enter me!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Please include me in the drawing. Having grown up with four brothers, their world is so foreign and different to me and I think it would be fun to read this and kind of compare the book's adventures and challenges to those I've seen my brothers go through.
    doot65{at}comcast[dot]net
    Elizabeth

    ReplyDelete

Labels

"25 Books That Caused A Commotion" (1) 4 1/2 stars (5) 4 stars (6) 5 stars (8) American literature (21) Asian American authors (1) Australian literature (3) book awards (10) book giveaways (23) book news (4) booking through thursday (3) Books Read This Week (2) Books TBR in 2009 (1) Burma (1) Cambodia (2) Canada (11) Canadian lit (3) Canadian literature (11) Columbian literature (1) Cover Attraction (3) doctors (1) education (1) elephants (1) England (3) English literature (5) environment (1) epistolary fiction (4) Ex-Cottagers in Love (1) family (3) fiction (2) five stars (2) forewords (1) four and a half stars (1) four stars (1) French literature (3) Friday Finds (6) Giller Prize (2) Giller Prize longlist (1) Giller Prize Winner 2008 (1) guest reviews (10) Hachette (2) haiku (4) Haiku Friday (5) historical fiction (6) humour (1) immigrants (1) Index of Books Reviewed (1) interview (1) Iraq (1) Israel (2) Israeli literature (1) It's Monday What are you reading this week? (2) Italian literature (1) Italy (1) Jerusalem (1) Jewish Book Month (3) Jewish Literature (6) Jewish Literature Challenge (2) Judaism (1) Latin American literature (1) Latin American Reading Challenge (1) library books (1) Library Loot (28) Library Loot July 22 (1) literary fiction (38) literature (20) literature in translation (1) love stories (2) Mailbox Monday (19) male friendship (1) marriage (1) medicine (1) memoir (1) music (1) Musing Mondays (2) My Favourite Reads (1) my work (1) mystery (1) Native Canadians (1) New Crayons (6) New Crayons July 5 (1) New England (1) New York (1) Nigeria (1) Nigerian literature (1) Nobel author (3) Nobel authors (1) Nobel Laureate (1) non-fiction (1) Norway (1) Norwegian literature (1) Nova Scotia (1) Orange Prize (2) ornithology (1) Orthodox Judaism (1) psychological fiction (3) Pulitzer Project (1) rating system (1) Read 'Em Yet? Wednesday (1) Read in 2008 (1) reading challenges (62) reading challenges 2010 (1) reviews (46) Russia (1) Russian literature (1) Salon Sunday (1) Scandinavian mystery (1) short stories (2) Show Me 5 Saturday (2) Spanish literature (2) Sunday Salon (3) The Complete Booker Reading Challenge (1) The Martel-Harper Challenge (1) The Sunday Salon (12) Thursday Tea (4) Toronto (1) translation (2) triplets (1) TSS (2) TSS June in Review (1) TSS March in Review (1) TSS May in Review (1) TSS Week in Review (2) Turkish literature (2) Venice (1) Waiting on Wednesday (8) Waiting on Wednesday July 15 (1) war stories (2) Weekly Geeks (11) What Are You Reading On Mondays? (10) What's On Your Nightstand? (8) winners (14) women writers (2) Wondrous Words (1) Wordless Wednesday (3) writers (1) WW II (2) Wyoming (1)
free logo design

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin