Brendan Wolf

by Brian Malloy

Who is Brendan Wolf? It all depends on who you ask. * To the staff of a Minneapolis nursing home, he's the devoted partner of a much older man who's recently suffered a debilitating stroke. * To the women of a conservative, Christian pro-life organization, he's the tireless volunteer grieving over the recent loss of his wife and their unborn child. * To one gay activist, he's the unaffectedly charming, yet directionless and unemployed man that he's fallen hopelessly in love with * To his brother and his brother's wife, he's the lynchpin of a scam that will net them enough money to start their lives over somewhere new. * To the general public, he's an armed and dangerous fugitive All of these people - and yet none of them - Brendan Wolf is an ambivalent lover, reluctant conspirator, counterfeit Christian, and, most of all, an unemployed daydreamer obsessed with a dead man.
From the author of the award-winning The Year of Ice , this is a tour-de-force - a compelling, hilarious, heart-breaking novel about one utterly typical, and completely original, Brendan Wolf.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Gay, Gay Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Queer

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2007

About the author

Thanks for stopping by! My novels are The Year of Ice (St. Martin's Press), Brendan Wolf (St. Martin's Press), and the young-adult novel Twelve Long Months (Scholastic). I regained the rights to my first two novels from St. Martin's Press, and have re-published them under my own imprint.

My books have been a Book Sense pick, a New York Times "New and Notable" title, and a Booklist editors' choice, and have won the Minnesota Book Award and the American Library Association's Alex Award.

My new novel is After Francesco (John Scognamiglio/Kensington).

Reviews

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Falling Man': Brian Malloy examines the post 9/11 psyche

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One of the more terrifying and fascinating images to remain so long after the tragedy of 9/11 is the iconic image of the falling man captured in his jump to escape the devastation of the Twin Towers during the terrorist attack in New York City. As Sean, the love interest in the life of the book's title character tries to explain to Brendan Wolf, 'I meant no matter how much we believe our lives are in order, it's an illusion. Nobody knows for sure who the Falling Man is, but he was in the Tower on that day because it was part of the order of his life. And then, from out of nowhere, a bunch of religious fanatics fly a plane into his building, and finally he's forced to make a choice - what to do when the life you knew is taken from you? .....He didn't want to suffocate or have a ceiling drop on his head. Yeah, he was a victim, but he took control of his last moments, they all did, all the jumpers. They were left with just a few minutes to decide how their lives would end. I admire them, their courage.' Brian Malloy has succeeded in creating a story that despite its at times meandering subplots ultimately results in creating a character, a set of characters, that become indelible in our memory. It is a powerful story, a book filled with moments both hilarious and fantastical, as well as serious examinations of 21st century man.

Brendan Wolf is a 35-year-old lost soul, a lad who with his brothers Ian and Steven was deserted by his criminal parents, placed in foster homes and eventually adopted by people who also turned out to be a much the losers as his parents. 'Brendan Wolf' is not his real name (he was born Victor Hall) but instead is a make-believe name in many ways reflecting his obsession with the character from the Jon Krakauer memoir 'In the Wild' - Alexander Supertramp. Brendan goes from meaningless job to meaningless job in Minneapolis, unconnected to anyone since his breakup with his former lover Jeff. His brother Ian is incarcerated in Rush City, a jail, and during a visit to try to reconnect with his true family, Ian recommends Brendan connect with a old obese man Marv whose 'houseboy' Frankie is Ian's current partner in Rush City. Desperate for money and a roof over his head, Brendan goes to Marv's mansion and there the changes in his life begin. How Brendan copes with Marv, becoming involved in a near tragedy that turns his thinking around to become the caretaker of a man who initially disgusted him, how he tries to align with Ian once released form Rush City and becomes involved with Ian and his wife Cynthia's fraudulent scheme involving an anti-abortion group, and how he meets Sean, a lonely but comfortably out gay man and tastes some moments of normalcy, only to make wrong decisions that lead to his compounded failures is a mere outline of this book's treasures. Malloy's writing style keeps the reader involved with every page, even through episodes that at times seem to threaten the momentum of the story, leading to the somewhat surprisingly bleak ending. It is a work of an author unafraid to tell truths instead of create happy-ever-after endings: the result is an enormously engaging story as well as a fine critique of just where we are today. Highly recommended!

Grady Harp

[Trent · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I loved Malloy's "The Year of Ice," this melodramatic 2d novel is a disappointment. It's very plot-heavy, which is not a compliment (my head hurt from following all the various narrative threads, and Malloy's talent for sketching nuanced characters seems overwhelmed by the task of managing his plot)

[Juan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read though not the best from this author. Nevertheless, it was still an interesting take on a life of a well read man though misguided character who can't see past a deep desire for restitution for the trauma/disappointment he experienced in his early life. He wants to recover something of his bygone childhood but alas is unable to and gets himself in very unsavory and unstable situations. A bit humorous and a bit sad, still a worthwhile read.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another twisted story from Brian Malloy. Our hero and villain, Brendan Wolf, is a 35y/o man with a disturbing upbringing resulting in his Talented Mr. Ripley-esque multiple personalities... Failing in love and in his career, he reconnects with his incarcerated brother, Ian, and more of his troubled past resurfaces. Brendan is gay and is propositioned by an elderly man, Marv, and unfortunate scenes take place where Brendan becomes Marv's caregiver.
Brendan does find a romantic connection with a man named Sean, and starts to make a family with him and his dog, Maggie, and his extended family and circle of friends.
There are a lot of subjects and politics brought to light which help in dating this to a very current time (published in 2007) including gay marriage and equality, pro-life and pro-choice debates, and mental health issues.
Malloy's writing is consistent with his other novels in that he makes us think we've missed part of the story, only to have pieces revealed more and more later on to built the plot.

[Nicholas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little implausible and slightly boring as well. I really liked his other book, The Year of Ice, but this one not so much...

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an odd book. It was like an accident I couldn't look away from. If you want to read about terrible people doing terrible things, then Brendan Wolf is the book for you! There's a part in the book near the end that states "He's losing his mind. This is how it is to lose your mind..." Brendan had lost his mind way before this scene with his lying, crimes, and just general awfulness. I had a hard time believing he was 35 years old because, mentally, he seemed about 5-10 years younger. There are plot holes here that others have mentioned. (I highly doubt a hospital or rehab facility is going to let someone remove a stroke victim who hasn't recovered satisfactorily without proper identification from the caregiver and a plan for follow-up care, especially someone who has good insurance as Marv surely did.) What I liked about Brendan Wolf was that Malloy just let this character go off the chain. Yes, he did try to show some redeeming qualities, but mainly he was just a crazy loser from a jacked up family who used other people and had little to no remorse about it. I didn't like that the author seemed to imply that Brendan and his jailbird brother Ian were awful because they'd grown up in a schizophrenic environment. At some point as an adult, you have to take responsibility for your own actions and stop blaming your parents/caregivers for your own behavior.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. A good friend of mine suggested it to me and had nothing but nice things to say. I tried and tried. I find the protagonist to be a crappy person. Well beyond crappy and I just don’t care about how awful his life is and what stupid thing he will do next. I give him points for doing some good things, but even there he always seems to make it worse.

I ended up reading it at a pace of about two pages a time, forcing myself to read it all. It took months and in the mean time I probably started and completed 100 books that I liked a lot more. The things we do for friends.

Triggers: Elder abuse. Elder neglect. Death of a major character. Shooting of a major character. Robbery.

The bottom line is that apparently I missed the point of this book entirely.

I rated it two stars which means “I don’t like it, but others might”.

I like the author a lot, read his other writings, The year of Ice was a much better book.

[Tom Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book and it started out with interest, but soon the plot became tiresome and the characters simply annoying. Usually, there is one character who is a protagonist but every character was flawed and unlikeable in this plot heavy book.
If the author had developed the Marvin and Brendan plot effectively the whole Sean subplot would not have been needed, a plot which bored me. The author writes well but the book definitely needed editing.

[John Gronley · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Malloy's 'Year of Ice', which I really enjoyed, I decided to read 'Brendan Wolf'. Unfortunately, I was left slightly disappointed. Malloy is a good writer. Unfortunately, this novel didn't measure up. I'll assert that some honest input/editing could have greatly improved his effort here. I hope he continues writing, as I know he is capable of creating a compelling story.

[Persephone Abbott]

Honestly, the first thirty pages were wonderful. I very much loved the writing, the perspective. And then, the plot suddenly became logged down with unwieldy dialogue once Marv entered the scene. I missed the finesse of the observational aspects I had noted within minutes of opening the novel. With regret I simply had to put down this book and leave it alone.

[Charles McCaffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved The Year of Ice and After Francesco; Brendan Wolf, not so much. Terrible people doing terrible things; and then it just kinda ends.

[Madeleine]

I love this twisted and quietly hilarious author.

[Gary Garth McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brian Malloy's Year of Ice is a book I love, so if you haven't read any Malloy, I'd say read it first. Brendan Wolf is an interesting read, but dark, whereas Year of Ice is uplifting. Brendan Wolf is cleverly written in that you understand how this young man stumbles into the bad times he's headed for. I understand how it is that Malloy perhaps didn't want to redeem his young man--as a writer myself I feel an urge against always writing what readers want as opposed to what we see in the real world. Brendan Wolf, as a character, behaves as a real person with his background is probably apt to behave, so in that sense the book is satisfying, and the fact that it left me wanting to hug and kiss and cry over Brendan must mean the novel is successful. What more could a writer hope to spark in a reader?

[James Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you read about a young man who in his brief life has adopted at least five aliases while attempting to live a life mostly depending on others you wonder what is going on in the mind of this character. The book is a little strange and the title character is a little strange, a little reminiscent of a character out of a Patricia Highsmith novel but without her panache and wit. Brendan Wolf, just one of the aliases of Victor Hall, is a reader, and the book is filled with literary references that remind you of his interest in reading. References and quotes from Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jack London, Boris Pasternak, Leo Tolstoy, Willa Cather, and Eudora Welty speak to an obsessional interest in books which he still maintains when everything else in his life is stripped away. His personal hero is the ill-fated wanderer Christopher McCandless who was chronicled by Jon Krakauer in his book, Into the Wild. This reference, reinforced in the second chapter, titled "The Call of the Wild", foreshadows the eventual arc of Brendan's own journey. The book is filled with strange characters none of whom are particularly likable and with few exceptions are also unmemorable. While written in a clear and lucid style I found myself working much too hard to finish the book to give it more than a tepid okay.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This started out slow. Pleasant enough read, but I could have put it down after the first 50 pages. But then it started getting interesting. The main guy, Brendan, really wanted to help his newly released from jail brother. To do so? Join the ranks of pro-life Christian women so he can steal the high-end donations during their yearly awareness walk.

Soon, he gets in so deep that he can't find his way out. Even when he falls in love with Sean. And by the time he truely does want to get away from everything and run away to Canada with Sean (as opposed to Mexico with his brother), he can't.

Now, I love angst. But I wanted nothing more than a happy ending to this book. I think it would have ended happier if Brendan would have died. Uugh! Not many books can make me swear at them.
289 pages

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was unsure about this book after I took a peek inside and saw that it was all written in present tense, because I'm really, really not a fan of that particular writing trope. I picked it up anyway, and I probably should have listened to my first instinct. The book was well written, and the story was interesting, but the main character, Brendan Wolf ... well, I just didn't like him. I didn't dislike him either, and that was the whole problem. I spent the whole book being ambivalent about the character, and that didn't make me care what happened to him one way or the other. I kept reading to see where the story went, not because I cared whether Brendan ended up in jail or not. Other people may like this book better than I did. I just didn't 'click' with Brendan at all.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brendan Wolf was written by one of my wife's English/writing teachers in college, Brian Malloy. Since she absolutely LOVED him as a teacher, and loved his first book, I thought I'd give Brendan Wolf a try. This book was really quite outstanding. One of those books where you just want to kind of take the main character, grab him by the lapels, throw him up against a wall, and yell at him to set him straight. The poor kid in this novel just keeps screwing up, and you don't want him to because he is rather quite likable, even though he shouldn't be. This is a dark dark dark read. And is one of the most depressing books I have ever read. However I still highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys good fiction, and doesn't mind traveling to the dark places within themselves and others.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in about two days. I'm not a big novel reader, but this one had me enthralled. I really did not expect any of the twists that happened in the book. I was a little disappointed that it didn't have a happier ending, but I think that made the characters much more real. I enjoyed that realness and the originality of the characters. I rooted for Brendan, and actually found myself becoming really attracted to him, or at bare minimum really identifying him (I, too, would love to follow the footsteps of Alexander Supertramp - but, like Brendan, with a partner with whom I could share in my exile).

[Carrie Rolph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brendan Wolf is the alias of Victor Hall, a young man estranged from his adopted parents, involved in a robbery scheme with his brother and sister-in-law, and pretending to be the boy-toy boyfriend of an elderly man so he can live in his house. It has a Minnesota-North Dakota noir feel to it, very grim and gray and sort of dark. None of the characters are particularly likable, Brendan included. I knew it wasn't going to end well or happily, but watching Brendan's life spiral farther out of control was oddly compelling to read.

Think Fargo meets Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad.

[Suhara · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING brilliant read at times it can be very confusing, but it was so good I could not put it down the story follow 35 year old 'Brendan Wolf' well that's what he changed his name too. And how he cops with falling in love, his brother coming out of prison, staying out of trouble (which he doesn't do very well) and just trying to grow up so that people don't look at him like he's scum. See Brendan has always had a hard life horrible adopted parents who never trusted him and who threw him out when they found out he was different (GAY)

[Ronald D Castaneda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I have to begin with this: I saw so much of myself in Brendan... all the loneliness and lack of direction. It's amazing how as I read each chapter I could see a bit of myself in them. This is a great read. I really wanted everything to workout for him if only because I felt such hope... for Brendan. I highly recommend this book to everyone that feels that hopelessness every now and again. It will make you think twice about your choices. Excellent work!

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure about this book, but finally picked it up and surprisingly enjoyed it. Each character has flaws and at times I was very frustrated and annoyed, but that is what makes a great book when the characters are written so well.

Despite the character flaws, I often found myself cheering for Brendan especially when he took the two steps forward to improve himself. It was the one step back (sometimes more than one step back) that I empathized, sympathized, and agonized over.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, but I found myself not really getting into the protagonist. I felt sorry for him, yes, but was he likeable? Hardly. He was a lost guy with nothing really going for him. He didn't even really learn anything through his travels.

I'd have rather a bit more character development and a little less whining. He had almost no redeeming qualities.

[Scoobs-buddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating characters + constant surprises= a book I read quickly
Few times I shook my head & said NO WAY- something like that couldn't happen & wondered if I'd decide the story was ridiculous but no- it kept surprising me & I couldn't help but really care about Brendan & what was going to happen. It's not going to find a place among my fave reads but it's a fascinating one for sure!

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar yet different from Year of Ice. I, too found the character compelling, yet not appealing. Some of this book read too much like "movie of the week." It is nice to see a gay character that doesn't fall into too many of the stereotypes out there today.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because Charles Baxter endorsed it. It's okay, but the author needs polishing, which I hope he can work on. The gay part is superfluous to the story, and the abortion protesters are stereotyped.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quietly odd book about strange characters (especially Brendan) making ill-advised choices. I also enjoyed Malloy's The Year of Ice (which I think was his debut novel). Both books deal with young gay manhood in Minnesota: interesting stuff, I think.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read INTO THE WOODS a while back and wondered, "Who would envy Alexander Supertramp?" Brendan Wolf is that guy. He's full of hope but constantly making bad choices, just like his hero. This was a very compelling read. I stayed up too late to find out what would happen next.

[Evan Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had some moments of quite effective descriptive prose, however the story was diluted by the numerous and at times unbelievable plot lines. If one character in the book had asked "Could I see your I.D. please?" the whole book would have fallen apart.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disorientingly honest in its depiction of the troubled lives that make up the core of the story. Incredibly well-written.