Back Roads
Type
Book
Authors
ISBN 10
0670894184
ISBN 13
9780670894185
Category
813 Fiction
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Publication Year
2000
Publisher
Pages
338
Subject
Teenage boys -- Fiction. Brothers and sisters -- Fiction. Dysfunctional families -- Fiction.
Tags
Abstract
A novel on a dysfunctional family in a Pennsylvania coal-mining town. The mother is in jail for killing the father and the four children are on their own. They are supported by the eldest, Harley Altmyer, 20, who is having an affair with the mother of a friend of his sister.
Description
Publisher Comments
"One day you're that guy who's happy he managed to survive high school and get that almighty piece of paper, and you're thinking you might try to get a job at Redi-Mix concrete where your dad's worked since the beginning of time. And at least you've got a family you can stand even if they are all sisters.
One day you're that guy, and the next day you're assigned to a social worker and a therapist and given the choice of either being a LEGAL ADULT with three DEPENDENTS or an ORPHAN with NOBODY." --From Back Roads
Harley Altmyer should be in college drinking Rolling Rock and chasing girls. He should be freed from his closed-minded, stricken coal town, with its lack of jobs and no sense of humor. Instead, he's constantly reminded of just how messed up his life is.
With his mother in jail for killing his abusive father, Harley is an orphan with the responsibilities of an adult and the fiery, aggressive libido of a teenager. Just nineteen years old, he's marooned in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters, whose feelings about him range from stifling dependence to loathing. And once he develops an obsession with the sexy, melancholic mother of two living down the road, those Victoria's Secret catalogs just won't do the trick anymore. He wants Callie Mercer so badly he fears he will explode. But it's the family secrets, the lies, and the unspoken truths that light the fuse and erupt into a series of staggering surprises, leaving what's left of his family in tatters. Through every ordeal, the unforgettable Harley could never know that his endearing humor, his love for his sisters, and his bumbling heroics would redeem them all.
Funny and heartbreaking, Tawni O'Dell's pitch-perfect characters capture the maddening confusion of adolescence and the prickly nature of family with irony and unerring honesty. Back Roads is a riveting novel by a formidable new talent.
Review
"An intense story of family, frailty and dysfunction, set in the coal-mining towns of western Pennsylvania...captivatingly told." Chicago Tribune
"Tense...involving...deftly captures the voice of a teenage boy who's in trouble." New York Times Book review
Synopsis
The poignant and hilarious "New York Times bestseller and Oprah Book-of-the-Month club pick.
Synopsis
Harley Altmyer's mother is in prison for killing his father. So Harley is bringing up his younger sisters and working two jobs to pay the bills-and that doesn't leave a lot of time for distractions. But lately, he's getting distracted by Callie Mercer, an older woman who fills him with such desire he fears he might explode. And as he struggles to keep it together while things begin to spin out of control, Harley finds that as shattered as his family is, there are still more shattering surprises in store...
Synopsis
The "hilarious...moving [and] deeply disturbing" (Mademoiselle) New York Times bestseller-now in trade paperback to coincide with her new novel Coal Run.
About the Author
Tawni O'Dell, a western Pennsylvania native, earned a degree in journalism from Northwestern University. In addition to earning wages as a bankteller and a waitress, she put herself through college working as an exotic dancer jumping out of cakes at bachelor parties. A mother of two, she lives with her husband in Illinois. This is her first novel.
"One day you're that guy who's happy he managed to survive high school and get that almighty piece of paper, and you're thinking you might try to get a job at Redi-Mix concrete where your dad's worked since the beginning of time. And at least you've got a family you can stand even if they are all sisters.
One day you're that guy, and the next day you're assigned to a social worker and a therapist and given the choice of either being a LEGAL ADULT with three DEPENDENTS or an ORPHAN with NOBODY." --From Back Roads
Harley Altmyer should be in college drinking Rolling Rock and chasing girls. He should be freed from his closed-minded, stricken coal town, with its lack of jobs and no sense of humor. Instead, he's constantly reminded of just how messed up his life is.
With his mother in jail for killing his abusive father, Harley is an orphan with the responsibilities of an adult and the fiery, aggressive libido of a teenager. Just nineteen years old, he's marooned in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters, whose feelings about him range from stifling dependence to loathing. And once he develops an obsession with the sexy, melancholic mother of two living down the road, those Victoria's Secret catalogs just won't do the trick anymore. He wants Callie Mercer so badly he fears he will explode. But it's the family secrets, the lies, and the unspoken truths that light the fuse and erupt into a series of staggering surprises, leaving what's left of his family in tatters. Through every ordeal, the unforgettable Harley could never know that his endearing humor, his love for his sisters, and his bumbling heroics would redeem them all.
Funny and heartbreaking, Tawni O'Dell's pitch-perfect characters capture the maddening confusion of adolescence and the prickly nature of family with irony and unerring honesty. Back Roads is a riveting novel by a formidable new talent.
Review
"An intense story of family, frailty and dysfunction, set in the coal-mining towns of western Pennsylvania...captivatingly told." Chicago Tribune
"Tense...involving...deftly captures the voice of a teenage boy who's in trouble." New York Times Book review
Synopsis
The poignant and hilarious "New York Times bestseller and Oprah Book-of-the-Month club pick.
Synopsis
Harley Altmyer's mother is in prison for killing his father. So Harley is bringing up his younger sisters and working two jobs to pay the bills-and that doesn't leave a lot of time for distractions. But lately, he's getting distracted by Callie Mercer, an older woman who fills him with such desire he fears he might explode. And as he struggles to keep it together while things begin to spin out of control, Harley finds that as shattered as his family is, there are still more shattering surprises in store...
Synopsis
The "hilarious...moving [and] deeply disturbing" (Mademoiselle) New York Times bestseller-now in trade paperback to coincide with her new novel Coal Run.
About the Author
Tawni O'Dell, a western Pennsylvania native, earned a degree in journalism from Northwestern University. In addition to earning wages as a bankteller and a waitress, she put herself through college working as an exotic dancer jumping out of cakes at bachelor parties. A mother of two, she lives with her husband in Illinois. This is her first novel.
Biblio Notes
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Tawni O'Dell
ISBN: 0670894184 9780670894185
OCLC Number: 246116152
Description: VIII, 338 Seiten
Responsibility: Tawni O'Dell
Number of Copies
1
