Praise for August and Then Some
Eighteen-year old JT, veering between resigned despair and furious anger, has dropped out of home and college. Instead he works long hours as a labourer on New York’s Upper East Side – apart from Friday afternoons spent attending enforced counselling sessions with his parents. Danielle; his younger sister, has died, and the chain of responsibility stretches back to their drunken, abusive father. The desperate need for atonement is evident from JT’s befriending of Stephanie, a troubled but spirited Dominican girl from his tenement block. In Prete’s writing dialogue and metaphor are energetically engaged, mixing sparring wit, sombre sorrow and recollection so ephemeral it has “the life expectancy of a flame in a bottle”.
- Catherine Taylor, The Guardian
The electrifying August And Then Some by David Prete (Fourth Estate, £12.99) weaves a raw and tantalising tale of revenge and repentance, played out when a Pandora’s box of family secrets implodes. Random author fact: Prete is the exboyfriend of Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote Eat, Pray, Love (he’s played by James Franco in the film).
- Susan Swarbrick, Herald Scotland
Eighteen-year-old JT Savage is a little blurred around the edges. No, that doesn’t quite do it. JT Savage is totally messed up. That’s no great surprise given his vicious lout of a father and his ineffectual mouse of a mother. The only member of his New York family with whom he connects is his little sister, Dani. The trouble is, his father also connects with Dani – just not in the way he’s supposed to. David Prete’s first novel is from that most abused of genres, the literary thriller. And it’s impeccably crafted, Switching timelines and narratives seamlessly, slowly letting us In to JT’s hollowed-out life, a life that is given a kernel of substance by teenager Stephanie, who lives in the same East Village tenement and who offers JT a chance of redemption. There is much truth here about father-son relationships – not much of it edifying. There’s also wit, insight and some truly lovely wiling that, along with a heartbreaking final act, will prick your eyes with tears.
- Paul Connolly, Metro Edinburgh
JT Savage has taken refuge in a new york tenament, a chronic insomniac, labouring to
his physical limits. He’s hiding from his family, hiding from himself. In his wake lies the ghost of a seemingly typical suburban childhold, corroded by family secrets and torn apart by tragedy. Prete’s portrayal of an adolescent inexorably scarred by secrets and lies, revenge and its consequences is beautifully done.
- Recommended by Sarah, Bay Tree Books
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