num_pages: 280
description: In this powerful and gritty first novel, Steve Yarbrough takes us into the deep-South world of Ned Rose, who works nights checking the oxygen levels in fish-farm ponds and does all the dirty work his wealthy boss requires. He silently shares the family home with his sister Daze, who is nearly blinded by bitterness, obsessed with her mother's reputation as a loose, lustful woman. Since his angry teenage years as a scholarship student at a posh, segregated school, Ned's life has been marred by a violence that erupts loudly and quickly disappears, leaving him filled with secrets and regret. When one last hope for deliverance emerges, however, both brother and sister are forced to come to terms with their heritage.
language: English
title: The Oxygen Man
titlecomplete: The Oxygen Man
genres: Fiction
ratings_count: 164
awards: awardedAt: 915177600000
name: California Book Award
category: First Fiction (Gold), awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Lawson Library