In the Spotlight: Brian Malloy

[reviews_and_ramblings]

The Book: It is 1978 in the Twin Cities, and Kevin Doyle, a high school senior, is a marginal student in love with keggers, rock and roll, and-unbeknownst to anyone else-a boy in his class with thick eyelashes and a bad attitude. His mother Eileen died two years earlier when her car plunged into the icy waters of the Mississippi River, and since then Kevin's relationship with his father Patrick has become increasingly distant. As lonely women vie for his father's attention, Kevin discovers Patrick's own closely guarded secret: he had planned to abandon his family for another woman. More disturbingly, his mother's death may well have been a suicide, not an accident.

Complicating the family dynamic is the constant meddling of Kevin's outspoken Aunt Nora-who will never forgive Patrick for Eileen's death-along with Patrick's inability to stay single for very long. His loyalties divided between his father and his aunt, between his internal reality and his public persona, Kevin is forced to reevaluate his notions of family and love as painful truths emerge about both.

"I wrote The Year of Ice to examine what happens to a family when the fiercest loyalties are not to each other, but to one's own secrets. I hope you will enjoy it." Brian Malloy

Darkly brilliant, treacherously funny, absolutely convincing. This is a debut to heed, a writer to cherish. - Paul Russell, author of The Coming Storm

Malloy's poignant, quietly effective debut...show plenty of talent...the author also displays a razor-sharp comic touch. - Publishers Weekly, May 13, 2002

...an impressive debut...it's Malloy's voice and his attention to detail that resonate so beautifully. - Out Magazine, July 2002

Amazon: The Year of Ice: A Novel

Other Books in the List: 

Brendan Wolf (2008)
Amazon: Brendan Wolf

Twelve Long Months (2008)
Amazon: Twelve Long Months 
  
The Author: Brian Malloy is the Education Director for The Loft, the largest independent literary arts center in the U.S., as well as grants director for Open Book, a community center for the literary and book arts. The Year of Ice is his first novel.

Brian has taught creative writing and literature at Emerson College. He is adjunct faculty in the MFA programs at the University of Minnesota and Hamline University.
 
His interests include solo trips through Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, contemporary gay and lesbian literature, and outdoor adventure writing.

He is a member of the President's Council of the Defenders of Wildlife.

He lives in Minneapolis with his partner Terry and dogs Maggie, Lucy, and Tippie Moo Cow.

http://www.malloywriter.com/

Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)

*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.

Other titles not in the top 100 list:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top50MM

Comments

[snowmore.livejournal.com]

On maximvanziel's recommendation, I read this novel. I really enjoyed it. :) Again, not a HEA, but a good read nonetheless.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

You seem to have read all my spotlight authors :-) Thanks for the advice, Elisa

[maximvanziel.livejournal.com]

As snowmore says, this book is in my list of "must read". There is no happy ending (spoiler!), but very humorous and enjoyable. The author describes excellently the inner thoughts of a closet high school student. There are a lot of problems in his life and they remain unsolved even the end of the story. Although, the last sentence is so beautiful and memorable that it compensates for everything, giving a perspective of optimistic future.
Tell truth, I'm expecting the author to write what'll become of Kevin after this story.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

It was his first book, so maybe it's not said, he can write it sooner or later :-)

And thanks for the mini-review.

Elisa