Brewster: A Novel
*Starred Review* Slouka (The Visible World, 2007) brings a Richard Russo–like compassion and his own powerfully stripped-down prose to this poignant coming-of-age story set in the small blue-collar town of Brewster, New York, in the year 1968. Jon Mosher has always felt like an outsider because of his parents’ roots as German-Jewish émigrés and the accidental death of his older brother, which has broken his parents’ spirit. He channels his anger into running track with his high-school team and eases his isolation through his friendships with the hulking Frank Krapinski, a devout Christian and talented athlete; volatile Ray Cappiciano, who is forever getting banged up in fistfights; and beautiful, forthright Karen Dorsey, who soon starts dating bad-boy Ray. Always looming in the background is the specter of Ray’s alcoholic father, a sadistic WWII veteran possessed of a raging temper. What Slouka captures so well here is the burning desire of the four teens to leave their hardscrabble town behind and the restricted circumstances that seem to make tragedy an inevitable outcome. What Slouka also draws, with unerring accuracy, is the primacy of friendship and loyalty among teens who feel they are powerless. Slouka gives them a voice here, one filled with equal parts humor and pain. --Joanne Wilkinson