Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
A Song for the Asking
by
Steve Gannon
Dan Kane is the self-proclaimed king of his castle, his beachfront California home, and the iron-fisted loving ruler of his subjects-his wife, Catheryn, and his four children, Tommy, Travis, Allison and Nate. Hardened by his years in law enforcement, he is determined to toughen up his children to prepare them to face a violent world. The story unfolds over the course of a...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
November 3rd 1997
by Bantam
(first published January 1st 1997)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
173)
This is one novel which dragged me into anger-filled turmoil and it has to be pretty powerful to do that.
Kane is an alcoholic, macho-type detective who mistakenly believes that in order to prepare his children for the "real" world, he has to toughen them up. However, this takes the form of emotional and physical abuse. He has no understanding of compassion or empathy with his wife and children who are terrified of him. What he says goes and if anyone - heaven forbid - wants to have a life of the...more
Kane is an alcoholic, macho-type detective who mistakenly believes that in order to prepare his children for the "real" world, he has to toughen them up. However, this takes the form of emotional and physical abuse. He has no understanding of compassion or empathy with his wife and children who are terrified of him. What he says goes and if anyone - heaven forbid - wants to have a life of the...more
Wow - if this is a first novel, keep them coming!
First of all - this is listed as a Young Adult book. I would NOT consider this to be anything but a book for adults or possibly very mature older teenagers. This is an excellent book, depicting life in a dysfunctional family led by an alcoholic, controlling despot of a father. I found it hard to believe that this was Steve Gannon's first book. The writing was clear, concise, evocative. The characters were exceptionally well drawn. Yes, there were...more
First of all - this is listed as a Young Adult book. I would NOT consider this to be anything but a book for adults or possibly very mature older teenagers. This is an excellent book, depicting life in a dysfunctional family led by an alcoholic, controlling despot of a father. I found it hard to believe that this was Steve Gannon's first book. The writing was clear, concise, evocative. The characters were exceptionally well drawn. Yes, there were...more
Sep 26, 2012
Mary
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who likes contemporary fiction
Recommended to Mary by:
Library Book Sale
Dan Kane is the self-proclaimed "king of his castle" - his beachfront California home - and rules his subjects with a loving but undisputed will. His wife, Cathryn fears him; as do his four children, Tommy, Travis, Allison and Nate. Hardened by his years in law enforcement, he is determined to toughen his children up in order to prepare them to face a violent and unforgiving world. This leads to each member of the family paying both a physical and psychic price for Dan's unwitting cruelty toward...more
May 18, 2012
Elaine
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
free-kindle-finds,
kindle
A gem of a story!
There is so much to this. The characters come to life. Kane (Dan) - big, mean-tempered, militant, Irish cop who can treat his family the same way as those he arrests. There's no soft side to him though he does have favorites among his four children and makes no secret about it. He expects much from his sport scholarship, college-bound son Tommy while never failing to berate his 16-year old son Travis. His only daughter, 15-year old Allison (Ali)? Ya, he let's her get away with h...more
There is so much to this. The characters come to life. Kane (Dan) - big, mean-tempered, militant, Irish cop who can treat his family the same way as those he arrests. There's no soft side to him though he does have favorites among his four children and makes no secret about it. He expects much from his sport scholarship, college-bound son Tommy while never failing to berate his 16-year old son Travis. His only daughter, 15-year old Allison (Ali)? Ya, he let's her get away with h...more
I really enjoyed this book....cops & music, what a perfect combination in a novel for me! This story follows the Kane family during one tumultuous summer. The patriarch, Daniel, is a hard-ass LA Homicide Detective who rules his home with an iron thumb. His unlikely wife, Catherine, is a concert cellist (how the college football jock & musician hooked up wasn't really ever explained). They have four children. Tommy is the oldest, he's just graduated high school & is preparing to atten...more
A first novel, and overwritten in the way some first novels are. (Put the thesaurus down and just right a good story!) The plot is overblown. The characters are not very likeable. Kane, the father, is abusive. The sensitive side of his character is brought out too little and too late for me. I only finished this book because I felt I had to. It's not the worst book I read, but it's far from the best.
I almost didn't read this book. I knew it was going to be a tough read and I wasn't wrong. It's about a family that is unable (in their minds) to meet the high expectations of their father, leaving them each holding inside sometimes terrible secrets. I wasn't expecting it to be as emotional as it was - it was an extremely well-written book.
An okay book with suspense, murder, and romance. A great police officer--rules his family almost like the military but needs to be able to interact with his family with more caring and understanding.
A well told story with a little bit of everything in it. It has some dark parts that are not easy to read. You will certainly be routing for the underdogs if you rad this.
I loved it!! Can't believe this is this guy's first book. You need to read it.
Good read. Family struggles, detective mystery, twists and turns.
view 1 comment
I thought this book would never end! Very drawn out and predictable.
May 16, 2013
Betti
marked it as to-read
May 03, 2013
Linda Brown
marked it as to-read
Apr 24, 2013
Christy Flatley
marked it as to-read
Apr 13, 2013
Christie
added it
Apr 03, 2013
cariedaway
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-aams,
status-not-read-yet
Apr 03, 2013
BookishDreamer
marked it as to-read
Apr 02, 2013
Kim Grobbelaar
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
