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Man's Story
Man's Story is a crime-thriller-coming of age novel that takes place in Orange County, California in 1974. The style is reminiscent of writers such as Karl Knaussagaard Ove, Roberto Bolano and Elena Ferrante. It explores the themes of male violence inherent in the culture and how it is imbued in boys at an early age, specifically the two boys central to the story, Manuel and Gerald, who witness the secret lives of their fathers, which includes sex, drugs and murder. It also deals with the gradations of assimilation for Mexican Americans in Southern California.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published February 20, 2023
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May 2, 2023
I quite enjoyed this new novel by writer musician JC Hopkins. I had read his other novel, The Perfect Fourth which is very different. Though very good in its own right. This novel, Man’s Story does a great job of evoking the time which the story was set. That of mid 1970’s Southern California. The post Manson sense of foreboding rides over this story. The depiction of the two boys and their exposure to the violence, drugs and adultery at the center of the story kept me interested until the last page. I found the novel unlike any in contemporary literature. I am a Mexican American like the two boys central to the story. There aren’t a great deal of books on the market right now dealing with that experience.
Displaying 1 of 1 review