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Desert Boys : Fiction by Chris McCormick (2016, Hardcover)

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Title: Desert Boys: Fiction. Language: English. Number of Pages: 240. Weight: 0.55 lbs. Publication Date: 2016-05-03. Publisher: Picador USA.

About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherPicador

ISBN-101250075505

ISBN-139781250075505

eBay Product ID (ePID)219204310

Product Key Features

Book TitleDesert Boys : Fiction

Number of Pages240 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicPsychological, Lgbt / Gay, Literary

Publication Year2016

GenreFiction

AuthorChris Mccormick

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight12 Oz

Item Length8.5 in

Item Width5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2015-044337

Reviews" Desert Boys is hilarious, devious, original, and unforgettable; Chris McCormick writes with a joyful swerve and swagger that is all his own."--Karen Russell, New York Times bestselling author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove " Desert Boys is a show off's debut, the work of an unabashed polyglot. There seems to be nothing Chris McCormick can't do: smartypants metafictional experiment, heart-pounding thriller, eulogy for boyhood bonds, meditation on sexuality and post-9/11 intolerance. These linked stories assemble into a kind of compound eye through which we glimpse an oft-forgotten corner of California and, most superbly, a fresh take on masculine Americana. McCormick is the artsy outsider, the affectionate anthropologist, the near-feral boy with a wide-angle lens of history."--Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn and Gold Fame Citrus "In the hands of this young master of purified prose, ambition, love, and the restlessness of boyhood are trapped as if in a crystal vial. No reader will be able to turn away."--Chigozie Obioma, author of The Fishermen "Chris McCormick's book is a gift from the new West. In the dry, highland exurbs of Los Angeles and other exotic places, McCormick crafts lustrous tales of brotherhood, immigrants, love, and paintball. Filled with unforgettable characters, Desert Boys is a deeply moving journey through the natural and emotional landscapes of the American present."--Héctor Tobar, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Down Dark and The Barbarian Nurseries "This is a book about place, or really like so many books about place ( Dubliners, Winesburg, Ohio ) two places, in this case two Californias--San Francisco on the one hand; the less familiar but finely evoked small desert community from which the narrator originates on the other. But it's also a book about shame, two shames, the shame of where we come from, and the shame of leaving it. Through a series of quietly intimate confessions we learn how torn the teller is between past and present, small town and big city, and McCormick captures this tension beautifully in the contrast between his laconic, but frankly feeling prose and his restless formal innovation. Wise and vulnerable by turns, this is a quietly stunning debut."--Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl "Engaging...The stories in which Daley, known in the book as Kush, interacts with his friends have a shaggy, circuitous, random feeling--a combination of edge and aimlessness that believably evokes adolescent anomie and angst....A lovely, quiet book by a promising new voice."-- Publishers Weekly, " Desert Boys is hilarious, devious, original, and unforgettable; Chris McCormick writes with a joyful swerve and swagger that is all his own."--Karen Russell, New York Times bestselling author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove " Desert Boys is a show off's debut, the work of an unabashed polyglot. There seems to be nothing Chris McCormick can't do: smartypants metafictional experiment, heart-pounding thriller, eulogy for boyhood bonds, meditation on sexuality and post-9/11 intolerance. These linked stories assemble into a kind of compound eye through which we glimpse an oft-forgotten corner of California and, most superbly, a fresh take on masculine Americana. McCormick is the artsy outsider, the affectionate anthropologist, the near-feral boy with a wide-angle lens of history."--Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn and Gold Fame Citrus "In the hands of this young master of purified prose, ambition, love, and the restlessness of boyhood are trapped as if in a crystal vial. No reader will be able to turn away."--Chigozie Obioma, author of The Fishermen "Chris McCormick's book is a gift from the new West. In the dry, highland exurbs of Los Angeles and other exotic places, McCormick crafts lustrous tales of brotherhood, immigrants, love, and paintball. Filled with unforgettable characters, Desert Boys is a deeply moving journey through the natural and emotional landscapes of the American present."--Héctor Tobar, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Down Dark and The Barbarian Nurseries "This is a book about place, or really like so many books about place ( Dubliners, Winesburg, Ohio ) two places, in this case two Californias--San Francisco on the one hand; the less familiar but finely evoked small desert community from which the narrator originates on the other. But it's also a book about shame, two shames, the shame of where we come from, and the shame of leaving it. Through a series of quietly intimate confessions we learn how torn the teller is between past and present, small town and big city, and McCormick captures this tension beautifully in the contrast between his laconic, but frankly feeling prose and his restless formal innovation. Wise and vulnerable by turns, this is a quietly stunning debut."--Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl "Bold and intoxicating, McCormick's stories redefine manhood in the face of war, longing, and escape."-- Booklist "Engaging...The stories in which Daley, known in the book as Kush, interacts with his friends have a shaggy, circuitous, random feeling--a combination of edge and aimlessness that believably evokes adolescent anomie and angst....A lovely, quiet book by a promising new voice."-- Publishers Weekly, " Desert Boys is hilarious, devious, original, and unforgettable; Chris McCormick writes with a joyful swerve and swagger that is all his own."--Karen Russell, New York Times bestselling author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove " Desert Boys is a show off's debut, the work of an unabashed polyglot. There seems to be nothing Chris McCormick can't do: smartypants metafictional experiment, heart-pounding thriller, eulogy for boyhood bonds, meditation on sexuality and post-9/11 intolerance. These linked stories assemble into a kind of compound eye through which we glimpse an oft-forgotten corner of California and, most superbly, a fresh take on masculine Americana. McCormick is the artsy outsider, the affectionate anthropologist, the near-feral boy with a wide-angle lens of history."--Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn and Gold Fame Citrus "In the hands of this young master of purified prose, ambition, love, and the restlessness of boyhood are trapped as if in a crystal vial. No reader will be able to turn away."--Chigozie Obioma, author of The Fishermen "Chris McCormick's book is a gift from the new West. In the dry, highland exurbs of Los Angeles and other exotic places, McCormick crafts lustrous tales of brotherhood, immigrants, love, and paintball. Filled with unforgettable characters, Desert Boys is a deeply moving journey through the natural and emotional landscapes of the American present."--Héctor Tobar, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Down Dark and The Barbarian Nurseries "This is a book about place, or really like so many books about place ( Dubliners, Winesburg, Ohio ) two places, in this case two Californias--San Francisco on the one hand; the less familiar but finely evoked small desert community from which the narrator originates on the other. But it's also a book about shame, two shames, the shame of where we come from, and the shame of leaving it. Through a series of quietly intimate confessions we learn how torn the teller is between past and present, small town and big city, and McCormick captures this tension beautifully in the contrast between his laconic, but frankly feeling prose and his restless formal innovation. Wise and vulnerable by turns, this is a quietly stunning debut."--Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl, " Desert Boys is hilarious, devious, original, and unforgettable; Chris McCormick writes with a joyful swerve and swagger that is all his own." -- Karen Russell, New York Times bestselling author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove " Desert Boys is a show off's debut, the work of an unabashed polyglot. There seems to be nothing Chris McCormick can't do: smartypants metafictional experiment, heart-pounding thriller, eulogy for boyhood bonds, meditation on sexuality and post-9/11 intolerance. These linked stories assemble into a kind of compound eye through which we glimpse an oft-forgotten corner of California and, most superbly, a fresh take on masculine Americana. McCormick is the artsy outsider, the affectionate anthropologist, the near-feral boy with a wide-angle lens of history." -- Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn and Gold Fame Citrus "Chris McCormick's book is a gift from the new West. In the dry, highland exurbs of Los Angeles and other exotic places, McCormick crafts lustrous tales of brotherhood, immigrants, love, and paintball. Filled with unforgettable characters, Desert Boys is a deeply moving journey through the natural and emotional landscapes of the American present."--Héctor Tobar, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Down Dark and The Barbarian Nurseries "This is a book about place, or really like so many books about place ( Dubliners, Winesburg, Ohio ) two places, in this case two Californias - San Francisco on the one hand; the less familiar but finely evoked small desert community from which the narrator originates on the other. But it's also a book about shame, two shames, the shame of where we come from, and the shame of leaving it. Through a series of quietly intimate confessions we learn how torn the teller is between past and present, small town and big city, and McCormick captures this tension beautifully in the contrast between his laconic, but frankly feeling prose and his restless formal innovation. Wise and vulnerable by turns, this is a quietly stunning debut." -- Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl, Desert Boys is hilarious, devious, original and unforgettable; Chris McCormick writes with a joyful swerve and swagger that is all his own.-Karen Russell, New York Times bestselling author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove "This is a book about place, or really like so many books about place ( Dubliners, Winesburg, Ohio ) two places, in this case two Californias - San Francisco on the one hand; the less familiar but finely evoked small desert community from which the narrator originates on the other. But it's also a book about shame, two shames, the shame of where we come from, and the shame of leaving it. Through a series of quietly intimate confessions we learn how torn the teller is between past and present, small town and big city, and McCormick captures this tension beautifully in the contrast between his laconic, but frankly feeling prose and his restless formal innovation. Wise and vulnerable by turns, this is a quietly stunning debut."-Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl

Table Of ContentCONTENTS Mother, Godfather, Baby, Priest -- 1 The Tallest Trees in the Antelope Valley -- 41 My Uncle's Tenant -- 61 Notes for a Spotlight on a Future President -- 79 You're Always a Child When People Talk About Your Future -- 103 The Stars Are Faggots, and Other Reasons to Leave -- 113 Habibi -- 125 The Immigrants -- 135 The Costs and Benefits of Desert Agriculture -- 163 How to Revise a Play -- 183 Shelter -- 199 The Missing Antelope of the Antelope Valley -- 215

SynopsisWinner of the Stonewall Book Award/Barbara Gittings Literature Award Finalist for the Binghamton University's John Gardner Fiction Book Award Finalist for the Saroyan Prize for Fiction Longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize "Hilarious, Devious, Original, and Unforgettable."--Karen Russell A vivid and assured work of fiction, from a major new voice, following the life of a young man growing up, leaving home, and coming back again, marked by the start beauty of California's Mojave Desert and the various fates of those who leave and those who stay behind. This series of powerful, intertwining stories illuminates Daley Kushner's world - the family, friends and community that have both formed and constrained him, and his new life in San Francisco. Back home, the desert preys on those who cannot conform: an alfalfa farmer on the outskirts of town; two young girls whose curiosity leads to danger; a black politician who once served as his school's confederate mascot; Daley's mother, an immigrant from Armenia; and Daley himself, introspective and queer. Meanwhile, in another desert on the other side of the world, war threatens to fracture Daley's most meaningful - and most fraught - connection to home, his friendship with Robert Karinger. A luminous debut, Desert Boys by Chris McCormick traces the development of towns into cities, of boys into men, and the haunting effects produced when the two transformations overlap. Both a bildungsroman and a portrait of a changing place, the book mines the terrain between the desire to escape and the hunger to belong.

LC Classification NumberPS3613.C38267D47