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The Boy
Once a free spirit who refused to be tied down, Anna is a 40-something single mother trying to put her life together after a bitter divorce. She crosses paths with a 20-year-old neighbor who could not be more wrong for herand her life suddenly has a new focus. She is drawn to his youth, his easy grace, and his freedom from the constraints that rule her existence. Though she resists temptation in every way she can, Anna is soon engaged in a reckless and obsessive affair. The consequences are life changing. Provocative, headlong, and utterly compelling, The Boy is the story of a woman on the edge, torn between love and lust, desire and duty. Lara Santoro writes in fierce, unflinching prose about the dark side of passion, motherhood, and a womans unthinkable rebellion.
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First published January 1, 2013
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June 10, 2025
ATTRAZIONE, FATALE PER IL LETTORE
Mercy (Il mio cuore riposava sul suo, nell’edizione italiana), esordio nella narrativa di Lara Santoro nel 2007, era zoppicante, a tratti irritante, ma riscattato da un magnifico personaggio, quello che dava il nome al romanzo, Mercy.
Questo The Boy (Fine estate, nell’edizione italiana) sembra essere la continuazione del primo (il sequel?).
Non ricordo se anche lì la protagonista si chiamasse Anna, ma tutto sembra convergere per fare di questo il secondo episodio nella vita di questa donna che intuisco essere estremamente autobiografica.
New Mexico
Eccoci in USA, dopo aver lasciato l’Africa: nello stato di New Mexico, che Georgia O’Keeffe e Breaking Bad hanno consacrato per sempre luogo di deserti luminosi, di cieli senza confine, e di confini nel senso di frontiere, le mille luci sono qui, oltre che a NY.
La storia ruota intorno alla relazione tra una 42enne e un 20/21enne: insomma, il ragazzo ha la metà degli anni di lei.
L’attrazione è fisica, in modo viscerale e comprensibile da parte di lei – quella di lui, invece, risulta meno chiara.
Ma non è certo questo il limite e il difetto del libro.
New Mexico
Il disastro è la scrittura, pressoché inesistente, totalmente vuota, incapace di andare oltre una scia di parole inespressive; è la voglia di fare la gggggiovane della Santoro; sono i tanti e lunghi dialoghi di rara mediocrità; è il fatto che su quattro protagonisti e quattro coprotagonisti a me lettore non interessa assolutamente nulla di nessuno, possono sparire in qualsiasi momento e neanche me ne accorgo, possono entrare o uscire e io resto indifferente; è il fatto che la figlia ha otto anni all’inizio e alla fine ne dovrebbe avere nove, o quasi, ma si comporta sempre come se ne avesse quattro o cinque; è il fatto che la persona veramente infantile è sua madre, che invece di anni ne ha 42, quando elabora e dialoga di anni ne dimostra tre; è il fatto che tutto risulta scarsamente credibile…
Siamo di fronte a una madre che alla nascita della figlia, Eva, comincia a sparire per settimane come reazione alla depressione post parto.
Poi, invece, rinuncia del tutto al lavoro brillante di reporter che gira il mondo e incontra gente, per chiudersi in casa con la creatura che cresce e la tata messicana (che io battezzerei Gracia, invece di Esperanza, perché mi ricorda Mercy: due governanti/badanti che rimane un mistero come possano provare affetto per un datore di lavoro così insopportabile sgradevole e detestabile).
Alfred Stieglitz: Georgia O’Keeffe Hands and Horse Skull. 1931.
E così quando Eva comincia ad avere l’età per poter restare ferita a fondo, la madre le rinfaccia proprio questo, d’aver rinunciato a tutto per lei, gliene fa una colpa, l’accusa.
Ecco come Anna descrive la sua situazione di madre senza un marito (ma con governante full time) al suo psicanalista:
Ho fatto una vita da serva, sono stata ridotta in tutti i modi possibili e immaginabili a fare la badante. Ma chi bada a me, chi? Mi sono stati imposti limiti che vanno oltre i parametri della ragionevolezza, sono stata schiavizzata, incatenata come una galeotta e cazzo, sono stanca.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Anna, la protagonista, è così sistematicamente sgradevole verso tutti – la figlia, l’ex marito, il giovane amante, la governante assurdamente devota – che io lettore fatico a restare concentrato, a seguire la perdita di controllo sulla sua vita, Anna che va verso il caos, mentre io vado avanti nella noia e nel disinteresse.
L’opera (?!) termina con finale aperto e terribilmente presago, ahimé (ahinoi?), di un terzo capitolo, che io comunque mi perderò.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Mercy (Il mio cuore riposava sul suo, nell’edizione italiana), esordio nella narrativa di Lara Santoro nel 2007, era zoppicante, a tratti irritante, ma riscattato da un magnifico personaggio, quello che dava il nome al romanzo, Mercy.
Questo The Boy (Fine estate, nell’edizione italiana) sembra essere la continuazione del primo (il sequel?).
Non ricordo se anche lì la protagonista si chiamasse Anna, ma tutto sembra convergere per fare di questo il secondo episodio nella vita di questa donna che intuisco essere estremamente autobiografica.
New Mexico
Eccoci in USA, dopo aver lasciato l’Africa: nello stato di New Mexico, che Georgia O’Keeffe e Breaking Bad hanno consacrato per sempre luogo di deserti luminosi, di cieli senza confine, e di confini nel senso di frontiere, le mille luci sono qui, oltre che a NY.
La storia ruota intorno alla relazione tra una 42enne e un 20/21enne: insomma, il ragazzo ha la metà degli anni di lei.
L’attrazione è fisica, in modo viscerale e comprensibile da parte di lei – quella di lui, invece, risulta meno chiara.
Ma non è certo questo il limite e il difetto del libro.
New Mexico
Il disastro è la scrittura, pressoché inesistente, totalmente vuota, incapace di andare oltre una scia di parole inespressive; è la voglia di fare la gggggiovane della Santoro; sono i tanti e lunghi dialoghi di rara mediocrità; è il fatto che su quattro protagonisti e quattro coprotagonisti a me lettore non interessa assolutamente nulla di nessuno, possono sparire in qualsiasi momento e neanche me ne accorgo, possono entrare o uscire e io resto indifferente; è il fatto che la figlia ha otto anni all’inizio e alla fine ne dovrebbe avere nove, o quasi, ma si comporta sempre come se ne avesse quattro o cinque; è il fatto che la persona veramente infantile è sua madre, che invece di anni ne ha 42, quando elabora e dialoga di anni ne dimostra tre; è il fatto che tutto risulta scarsamente credibile…
Siamo di fronte a una madre che alla nascita della figlia, Eva, comincia a sparire per settimane come reazione alla depressione post parto.
Poi, invece, rinuncia del tutto al lavoro brillante di reporter che gira il mondo e incontra gente, per chiudersi in casa con la creatura che cresce e la tata messicana (che io battezzerei Gracia, invece di Esperanza, perché mi ricorda Mercy: due governanti/badanti che rimane un mistero come possano provare affetto per un datore di lavoro così insopportabile sgradevole e detestabile).
Alfred Stieglitz: Georgia O’Keeffe Hands and Horse Skull. 1931.
E così quando Eva comincia ad avere l’età per poter restare ferita a fondo, la madre le rinfaccia proprio questo, d’aver rinunciato a tutto per lei, gliene fa una colpa, l’accusa.
Ecco come Anna descrive la sua situazione di madre senza un marito (ma con governante full time) al suo psicanalista:
Ho fatto una vita da serva, sono stata ridotta in tutti i modi possibili e immaginabili a fare la badante. Ma chi bada a me, chi? Mi sono stati imposti limiti che vanno oltre i parametri della ragionevolezza, sono stata schiavizzata, incatenata come una galeotta e cazzo, sono stanca.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Anna, la protagonista, è così sistematicamente sgradevole verso tutti – la figlia, l’ex marito, il giovane amante, la governante assurdamente devota – che io lettore fatico a restare concentrato, a seguire la perdita di controllo sulla sua vita, Anna che va verso il caos, mentre io vado avanti nella noia e nel disinteresse.
L’opera (?!) termina con finale aperto e terribilmente presago, ahimé (ahinoi?), di un terzo capitolo, che io comunque mi perderò.
Georgia O’Keeffe
February 11, 2017
Note: I'm not sure if I truly grasped the themes Lara Santoro was trying to convey in The Boy, but I will do my best to share what I took away from my reading experience.
At it's core, I felt this story was dark but realistic nonetheless. The Boy offers a look at motherhood in all it's boredom, warranted eyerolls, and the death of adult independence. Themes that were addressed/challenged in my opinion include social norms/expectations about parenting style, the midlife crises that women are not allowed to have, the stereotypical roles and allowances (or lack thereof) for each gender in families, the personal identity that is forgotten or lost when children enter the equation, the decision to have children or not to, the degrees of imperfection we all possess, and the presence of dark thoughts in the minds of some parents when there is no respite from their tyrant of a child.
The writing style in The Boy felt very minimalistic and repetitious, and I think this is what negatively impacted my enjoyment overall. I didn't dislike this book but I had a hard time continuing it to be honest. It almost landed on my DNF shelf but the audiobook is only 4 hours long so I was determined to push through. The themes I took away from my reading experience were interesting and in-your-face real, and I enjoyed the unexpected zingers incorporated here and there. For example...
My favorite quote:
"We have children and we don't know how."
At it's core, I felt this story was dark but realistic nonetheless. The Boy offers a look at motherhood in all it's boredom, warranted eyerolls, and the death of adult independence. Themes that were addressed/challenged in my opinion include social norms/expectations about parenting style, the midlife crises that women are not allowed to have, the stereotypical roles and allowances (or lack thereof) for each gender in families, the personal identity that is forgotten or lost when children enter the equation, the decision to have children or not to, the degrees of imperfection we all possess, and the presence of dark thoughts in the minds of some parents when there is no respite from their tyrant of a child.
The writing style in The Boy felt very minimalistic and repetitious, and I think this is what negatively impacted my enjoyment overall. I didn't dislike this book but I had a hard time continuing it to be honest. It almost landed on my DNF shelf but the audiobook is only 4 hours long so I was determined to push through. The themes I took away from my reading experience were interesting and in-your-face real, and I enjoyed the unexpected zingers incorporated here and there. For example...
“We do not count to ten”, the woman said.I would absolutely be interested in checking out some of this author's other work. I don't regret reading The Boy but in summary, it was an odd experience. Check it out for yourself though and see what you think!
“You don't count to ten.”
“Absolutely not.”
“What do you do?”
“We wait.”
“You wait for them?”
“Exactly.”
“For the children.”
“For the children.”
“You, the grownups, wait for the children.”
“That's correct.”
“You should stop smoking dope.”
“I don't smoke dope.”
“You're smoking too much dope.”
My favorite quote:
"We have children and we don't know how."
January 21, 2013
New favorite thing: Wake up on a day with a windchill in the negatives, don fleece leisure wear, peek out the window while bagel toasts and say to self “Today I will read a book in its entirety.” Tramp knee-high boot slippers back upstairs to the bedroom, turn it to a radio station where the only lyrics you might hear will be sung in Italian by people with exquisite diaphragm control, slip between so-soft sheets purchased at awesome kiosk during the holiday season, fire up Kindle app on iPad and have a-go at Lara Santoro’s slight, delicious, naughty novel “The Boy.” (Two cats in a single ball at your feet: optional).
How it goes: Anna is a 40-something single mother and problem drinker at a party at her neighbor’s when she gets the hard sell from the host’s 20-year-old son, a kid who has recently dropped out of college because he doesn’t see a need for it.
“We’re running out of potable water,” he gives as his reason.
The kid’s throwing lines, eyes and vibes at her in an unsettling way and it’s all got her a bit frothy. Though she leaves the party without giving into his raw appeal, she continues to think about him, tell her analyst about him, complain to her friends about him. And, dude. He knows he’s in. He rides his dirt bike past her house shirtless and damn near puts her in a coma.
Things are a bit unsettled at their New Mexico home. Anna has an 8-year-old daughter who is the resident caretaker. The two escaped Anna’s cheating husband in London and set up a new life on a new continent. There is a housekeeper/nanny who is obsessed with the bleaches and disinfectants she sees advertised on The Cleaning Channel. Nanny also has perma-red eyes and a problem that regularly finds her parked in front of a slot machine with a case of beer at the quick.
This thing with the kid is getting out of control. Anna is busted making out with him at a party and things intensify from there. When Eva goes to London to spend the summer with her father, the kid brings his spare change, baseball caps and electronics into the house for an extended, lusty stay.
Listen. Readers won’t like Anna. She’s an addict and she acts like an addict, unwilling to consider maybe not engaging in a lip lock with the kid. She is 100 percent feed-the-crave at any cost. Her past with Eva has a few suspicious years of neglect, followed by resentment. The fights she has with her daughter sound like the fights she should be having in the mirror.
But this story is really well done. It’s a bullet train to disaster with a handful of characters with convoluted motives and interesting ticks. It’s a delicious way to spend four hours.
How it goes: Anna is a 40-something single mother and problem drinker at a party at her neighbor’s when she gets the hard sell from the host’s 20-year-old son, a kid who has recently dropped out of college because he doesn’t see a need for it.
“We’re running out of potable water,” he gives as his reason.
The kid’s throwing lines, eyes and vibes at her in an unsettling way and it’s all got her a bit frothy. Though she leaves the party without giving into his raw appeal, she continues to think about him, tell her analyst about him, complain to her friends about him. And, dude. He knows he’s in. He rides his dirt bike past her house shirtless and damn near puts her in a coma.
Things are a bit unsettled at their New Mexico home. Anna has an 8-year-old daughter who is the resident caretaker. The two escaped Anna’s cheating husband in London and set up a new life on a new continent. There is a housekeeper/nanny who is obsessed with the bleaches and disinfectants she sees advertised on The Cleaning Channel. Nanny also has perma-red eyes and a problem that regularly finds her parked in front of a slot machine with a case of beer at the quick.
This thing with the kid is getting out of control. Anna is busted making out with him at a party and things intensify from there. When Eva goes to London to spend the summer with her father, the kid brings his spare change, baseball caps and electronics into the house for an extended, lusty stay.
Listen. Readers won’t like Anna. She’s an addict and she acts like an addict, unwilling to consider maybe not engaging in a lip lock with the kid. She is 100 percent feed-the-crave at any cost. Her past with Eva has a few suspicious years of neglect, followed by resentment. The fights she has with her daughter sound like the fights she should be having in the mirror.
But this story is really well done. It’s a bullet train to disaster with a handful of characters with convoluted motives and interesting ticks. It’s a delicious way to spend four hours.
January 17, 2013
First of all, let me just stress this point --> I did not like the main character.
Still, the way the author manically forced me in the direction of utter hate toward this character’s choices made a hell of an unattractive motive.
I am not a child. I am a grown woman who understands life, love, and family. I have a wonderful mother that would have made the world turn in a different direction if I willed it so. In other words, I understand the importance of motherhood, I understand the obligations, I understand the privilege.
What I don’t understand is the why the author of this book was determined to make a “bad mommy” drama. She portrayed her lead character as utterly unlikable, sporadic, bipolar, and a substance abuser. All of this was meant to underline the fact that the selfishness of the female lead had to be paid for, and something important must be taken away from her. In this case --> she “learns” her lesson trough losing her child.
The problem?
I don’t see a good lesson in this mess.
One of the main problems of this “lesson” is the fact that the “heroine's” child is a horrible she-devil. I am not saying that a child like this should be loved less, but still, let us not make her an angel, and stuff her as the main character of a revolving theme-song of “utter blessings that God bestowed upon us.” She needed discipline. Maybe after she became less of a monster I would have felt more sympathetic toward her plight. One thing was for sure --> the pull of the “loss” was very mild, when you take in to consideration what you are losing. Yes, motherhood is important. But you still have to weight what kind of person your child is.
I get that kid was hurt over her parents divorce, and sometimes neglected because of her mother’s yearnings. BUT! She is most plainly spoiled, arrogant, and pissy. She constantly clashes with her mother, showing her no respect whatsoever. I get that this is supposed to be made “ok”, since said mother is not mother-of-the-year material. Still, the little girl is daddy obsessed, mouthy and pushy to the limits of madness.
Frankly, I was more distressed over how the heroine treated her young lover, then how she treated her daughter.
I KNOW! I KNOW! THIS WHOLE BOOK WAS SUPOSSED TO SHOW ME THAT LUST IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN FAMILY AKA MOTHERHOOD.
(Or in other words, if you are a bad person you will find a young lover and almost kill your kid while drunk driving. It’s just how thing are done. They ALWAYS happen this way to evil divorcees that neglect their kids. QUICK! LET US FIND SOME “How to be a good housewife” books and stop this horror from spreading!!)
DARN! I GUESS I AM EVIL AT HEART AND HAVE MESSED UP PRIORITIES! :O
Anyway, the lead female is constantly pushing her lover and their relationship to the sidelines because of what her daughter and her housekeeper think.
(Yes. Housekeeper. Because those are equivalent with GOD’S WILL. You don’t do anything without their approval.)
After the **** hits the fan, she drops him like a hot potato, never to look back, not caring for the feelings of this person for even one second. Because, LORD, he is JUST A BOY. Being YOUNG makes you unable to feel anything remotely real, and makes you immune to suffering. I just can’t even…
The cherry on top of this whole aspect of the stoty is the “boy’s” father with his dramatic drama-lama-monologues. At times I was so confused I started tripping “the boy” was 12, not 20-something.
Finally, the conclusion, the moral of this story, the summary of summaries….
If you work a stressful job that takes chunks out of you until you can only find solace in a glass of wine, karma is bound to gift you with a husband who could care less about you or your child, but is fully prepared to bit*h and moan about everything you did wrong…when it comes to him, to your kid, the next door neighbor.
Even when you brake away from those chains, you will still be stuck with a daughter that says more mean things than any 5year old should, and you will be mentally incapable of returning somebody’s love ever again.
So, it is totally normal, expected and RIGHT, for you to just fail again and again, until even your ungrateful child is taken away from you.
I think there were waaay too many forces AGAINST the “heroine”.
As I said, I could practically feel the author urging me to side with everybody else in this book and be utterly appalled over the lead character's behavior, while being happy that she got her just deserts.
Again, let me remind people --> I stated that I DID dislike this character, but I find her fate sad. I see her behavior as a product of mostly bad luck, and people never appreciating her. I KNOW this does not make her blameless, but the “punishment”? I don’t see it as punishment. I see it as somebody NEVER GETTING A FREAKING BRAKE.
All in all, this book would have been so much more interesting if just one of the many people that were supposedly worried or cared about the heroine took the time to stuff her in to a rehab center.
Posed as it was --> It just pis*ed me off. Add in the ludicrous prose that was supposed to sound philosophical, and I can safely tell you that this read almost made me in to an alcoholic, because no amount of wine could make it better.
Still, the way the author manically forced me in the direction of utter hate toward this character’s choices made a hell of an unattractive motive.
I am not a child. I am a grown woman who understands life, love, and family. I have a wonderful mother that would have made the world turn in a different direction if I willed it so. In other words, I understand the importance of motherhood, I understand the obligations, I understand the privilege.
What I don’t understand is the why the author of this book was determined to make a “bad mommy” drama. She portrayed her lead character as utterly unlikable, sporadic, bipolar, and a substance abuser. All of this was meant to underline the fact that the selfishness of the female lead had to be paid for, and something important must be taken away from her. In this case --> she “learns” her lesson trough losing her child.
The problem?
I don’t see a good lesson in this mess.
One of the main problems of this “lesson” is the fact that the “heroine's” child is a horrible she-devil. I am not saying that a child like this should be loved less, but still, let us not make her an angel, and stuff her as the main character of a revolving theme-song of “utter blessings that God bestowed upon us.” She needed discipline. Maybe after she became less of a monster I would have felt more sympathetic toward her plight. One thing was for sure --> the pull of the “loss” was very mild, when you take in to consideration what you are losing. Yes, motherhood is important. But you still have to weight what kind of person your child is.
I get that kid was hurt over her parents divorce, and sometimes neglected because of her mother’s yearnings. BUT! She is most plainly spoiled, arrogant, and pissy. She constantly clashes with her mother, showing her no respect whatsoever. I get that this is supposed to be made “ok”, since said mother is not mother-of-the-year material. Still, the little girl is daddy obsessed, mouthy and pushy to the limits of madness.
Frankly, I was more distressed over how the heroine treated her young lover, then how she treated her daughter.
I KNOW! I KNOW! THIS WHOLE BOOK WAS SUPOSSED TO SHOW ME THAT LUST IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN FAMILY AKA MOTHERHOOD.
(Or in other words, if you are a bad person you will find a young lover and almost kill your kid while drunk driving. It’s just how thing are done. They ALWAYS happen this way to evil divorcees that neglect their kids. QUICK! LET US FIND SOME “How to be a good housewife” books and stop this horror from spreading!!)
DARN! I GUESS I AM EVIL AT HEART AND HAVE MESSED UP PRIORITIES! :O
Anyway, the lead female is constantly pushing her lover and their relationship to the sidelines because of what her daughter and her housekeeper think.
(Yes. Housekeeper. Because those are equivalent with GOD’S WILL. You don’t do anything without their approval.)
After the **** hits the fan, she drops him like a hot potato, never to look back, not caring for the feelings of this person for even one second. Because, LORD, he is JUST A BOY. Being YOUNG makes you unable to feel anything remotely real, and makes you immune to suffering. I just can’t even…
The cherry on top of this whole aspect of the stoty is the “boy’s” father with his dramatic drama-lama-monologues. At times I was so confused I started tripping “the boy” was 12, not 20-something.
Finally, the conclusion, the moral of this story, the summary of summaries….
If you work a stressful job that takes chunks out of you until you can only find solace in a glass of wine, karma is bound to gift you with a husband who could care less about you or your child, but is fully prepared to bit*h and moan about everything you did wrong…when it comes to him, to your kid, the next door neighbor.
Even when you brake away from those chains, you will still be stuck with a daughter that says more mean things than any 5year old should, and you will be mentally incapable of returning somebody’s love ever again.
So, it is totally normal, expected and RIGHT, for you to just fail again and again, until even your ungrateful child is taken away from you.
I think there were waaay too many forces AGAINST the “heroine”.
As I said, I could practically feel the author urging me to side with everybody else in this book and be utterly appalled over the lead character's behavior, while being happy that she got her just deserts.
Again, let me remind people --> I stated that I DID dislike this character, but I find her fate sad. I see her behavior as a product of mostly bad luck, and people never appreciating her. I KNOW this does not make her blameless, but the “punishment”? I don’t see it as punishment. I see it as somebody NEVER GETTING A FREAKING BRAKE.
All in all, this book would have been so much more interesting if just one of the many people that were supposedly worried or cared about the heroine took the time to stuff her in to a rehab center.
Posed as it was --> It just pis*ed me off. Add in the ludicrous prose that was supposed to sound philosophical, and I can safely tell you that this read almost made me in to an alcoholic, because no amount of wine could make it better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2015
I want to blame it on my sleepy brain because I got lost somewhere in the book. And not the good way lost, the bad one where you have no idea what the author wants to say or if she has something to say or what is happening to the characters. The Boy doesn't have a big role to the story. The babysitter/housekeeper/whatever is in a bigger part of the book. I will be damned if he said 10 lines in the book! The book focuses more on the daughter-mother relationship than the Jack-Anne one. Also, why doesn't she say the names of Jack and Eva's father? Its weird. I felt unsatisfied as I finished the book and a little disappointed.
January 27, 2013
Anna is a real woman, not an imaginary "good" mother. She has a child, she is alone after a bitter relationship with her daughter's father, and now she longs for a life of her own. She commits the apparently unforgivable sin of falling in love, maybe even just lust, with a man. What? A woman, a mother, in lust? Because he is 20 and she is 42, this seems to make her a monster -- in the eyes of others, her own, her housekeeper's, even her therapist's. She struggles, no tangles, with the guilt, the judgment, the reproach. It comes at her from all sides, and she holds strong, for a while. But as she tries to keep afloat and she gets constantly thrown back down. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that Santoro's writing is searing and evocative; and her dialogues are masterful. A must-read.
February 16, 2013
Ugh.
"Provocative, headlong, and utterly compelling, THE BOY is the story of a woman on the edge, torn between love and compulsion, desire and duty." It is exactly not this. It is the opposite. So boring, and all the sexy parts are just skipped over.
Also, the lady who reads out the audiobook was not the best. She gets a 2/5. Her male voices are horrible, and she lacked so much emotion in all of the reading.
Seriously. Do not waste your time.
"Provocative, headlong, and utterly compelling, THE BOY is the story of a woman on the edge, torn between love and compulsion, desire and duty." It is exactly not this. It is the opposite. So boring, and all the sexy parts are just skipped over.
Also, the lady who reads out the audiobook was not the best. She gets a 2/5. Her male voices are horrible, and she lacked so much emotion in all of the reading.
Seriously. Do not waste your time.
February 14, 2013
The pendulum has swung the other way. At the height of the feminist movement, women who only wanted to stay at home and raise their children were ridiculed; they were abettors of the patriarchal system, living only half lives. We who were girls during the late 60s and 70s were told we could do anything and have everything. We could be not just teachers and nurses, but astronauts, doctors, lawyers and journalists. We could be mothers, too, as long as that role took second billing to our careers.
We are now experiencing a kind of baby mania, an obsession with pregnancy and motherhood. Movie stars extoll the virtues of motherhood; how selfless having a child has made them; how it’s the toughest job they’ve ever loved. As soon as a celebrity couple is married the womb watch begins and when months have passed and there’s still no bun in the oven questions arise. Why haven’t they gotten pregnant? Is there a problem? Female stars who reach a certain age, still childless, are compelled to talk about their desires to be mothers. Some have chosen to adopt the desire is so strong. It’s like they’ve all signed on to be spokeswomen for the maternal industrial complex.
The one thing you never hear is a female celeb saying is “You know what, I’m not having kids. The whole prospect doesn’t interest me.”
And just as rarely does one read a story by woman that openly catalogues a mother’s challenges and failures, as Lara Santoro does in The Boy. The title refers to the much younger man, barely out of his teens, whom Anna gets involved with, but it is misleading for the book is really about the relationship between a mother and child.
Anna, the protagonist, is a complicated and, at times, not very likable woman; she drinks too much; she’s selfish; she resents the demands placed on her by motherhood; she misses her free-wheeling days as a journalist in Africa. Many women who read the book may be repulsed by Anna, by her choices and her behavior, but it would be dishonest, and delusional, to say that women like her don’t exist. Their revulsion may come from fear that Anna hits too close to home, that even though we love our children, having them came at the cost of our freedom. While the complaints of men about the changes to their lives fatherhood has wrought are expected, and to a certain degree accepted, it is not so for women. Motherhood is our biological destiny and it should be embraced and celebrated and our personal lives gladly sacrificed to our children.
Santoro, through beautifully wrought prose, dares to lay bear the truth that not all women aspire to maternity and are grateful when it is thrust upon them unexpectedly. Anna’s love for her daughter, though, is never in doubt as she struggles to reconcile her needs as a woman with the obligations of motherhood. The terrible price Anna pays for an impetuous decision should satisfy those who have never erred as parents or human beings.
We are now experiencing a kind of baby mania, an obsession with pregnancy and motherhood. Movie stars extoll the virtues of motherhood; how selfless having a child has made them; how it’s the toughest job they’ve ever loved. As soon as a celebrity couple is married the womb watch begins and when months have passed and there’s still no bun in the oven questions arise. Why haven’t they gotten pregnant? Is there a problem? Female stars who reach a certain age, still childless, are compelled to talk about their desires to be mothers. Some have chosen to adopt the desire is so strong. It’s like they’ve all signed on to be spokeswomen for the maternal industrial complex.
The one thing you never hear is a female celeb saying is “You know what, I’m not having kids. The whole prospect doesn’t interest me.”
And just as rarely does one read a story by woman that openly catalogues a mother’s challenges and failures, as Lara Santoro does in The Boy. The title refers to the much younger man, barely out of his teens, whom Anna gets involved with, but it is misleading for the book is really about the relationship between a mother and child.
Anna, the protagonist, is a complicated and, at times, not very likable woman; she drinks too much; she’s selfish; she resents the demands placed on her by motherhood; she misses her free-wheeling days as a journalist in Africa. Many women who read the book may be repulsed by Anna, by her choices and her behavior, but it would be dishonest, and delusional, to say that women like her don’t exist. Their revulsion may come from fear that Anna hits too close to home, that even though we love our children, having them came at the cost of our freedom. While the complaints of men about the changes to their lives fatherhood has wrought are expected, and to a certain degree accepted, it is not so for women. Motherhood is our biological destiny and it should be embraced and celebrated and our personal lives gladly sacrificed to our children.
Santoro, through beautifully wrought prose, dares to lay bear the truth that not all women aspire to maternity and are grateful when it is thrust upon them unexpectedly. Anna’s love for her daughter, though, is never in doubt as she struggles to reconcile her needs as a woman with the obligations of motherhood. The terrible price Anna pays for an impetuous decision should satisfy those who have never erred as parents or human beings.
January 28, 2013
There is so much to appreciate in "The Boy": rich dialogue, witty humor, and the way the seasons and the landscape are woven into the fabric of the story line. "The Boy" transported me to New Mexico- to clear air, mountains, sensuality, the Rio Grande, wide-open spaces, a vast sky and deep emotion. Santoro skillfully reveals the fierce love that is ever-present when coming to terms with difficult choices. Though some may say this story is about bad parenthood and addiction, Anna's journey is that of so many single mothers as they wrestle with the desire for personal and sexual freedom while facing societal pressure to fit in with the playground moms. Anna is far from perfect; she pays, in soul-wrenching ways, for her compulsions. But despite her poor choices, the book left me longing for more of Anna's story. I want to stop her from careening into another tragic mistake.
February 28, 2013
Brutally honest... I guess. Sexually riveting... not so much. A bit disorganized in its format of the story itself... YES! A mother who left her child with a nanny not because she had to work, but because she wanted to get away from her kid because she couldn't handle her infant crying anymore! As honest as that was, it wasn't enough to get me to enjoy the rest of the book. From the beginning, it jumped back and forth between the past and the present so many times that I felt dizzy and couldn't remember what year in the story I was. It continued like that for the first 80 pages and that is what completely turned me off from the idea of even finishing the book. As unusually rare it is for me to give a book a bad rating or review, I honestly could not give this book a good one.
November 2, 2013
This really isn't a novel about 'the boy', but he's a catalyst for Anna to reflect and change or not change. Good mommy? Bad mommy? You make the call, but she certainly is an unlikable character. The daughter in this story acts as the adult in this mother/daughter relationship and the ending was perfect.
I like stories where you can hardly keep your eyes open as the trains are about to collide at a high rate of speed.
I like stories where you can hardly keep your eyes open as the trains are about to collide at a high rate of speed.
December 5, 2012
How do you choose between being a mom and being a woman? Post-divorce Anna tumbles into a relationship with a much younger man and makes some devestatingly bad choices. It's brually honest about the price of motherhood.
February 18, 2013
I'm not sure I understood what this book was trying to say. In its short 190 pages, THE BOY felt frenetic and disjointed, while employing biblical references, and also trying to invoke Anna Karenina (one of my favorite books). It was such a short novel, I'm not sure it all worked.
Centered around the very unlikable Anna, The Boy is just one of the many awful mistakes Anna makes in her life. Anna felt as if she had sacrificed her prime years for her now ex-husband and her young daughter, Eva, so is now on a selfish quest to regain some of her freedom and excitement. Unfortunately, all she manages to do is make a mess of everything, with the help of her enabling compulsive gambler housekeeper and her perpetually stoned friends.
Even though THE BOY is the title of the book, Anna's affair with her neighbor's college-aged son was just the beginning of Anna's downward spiral. Fortunately, there were no raunchy, gratuitous sex scenes, which would have added a cheapness to the novel. This may not have been my favorite book, but it had style.
I need to talk about her daughter, Eva, for a moment. I'm not sure exactly how old she was supposed to be in the book. At one point, I thought she was under 10 years old, but other times she spoke and acted like a teenager. Having young children of my own, this confused the heck out of me. I read the uncorrected proof, so maybe this was ironed out in the final round of editing.
The dialogue was irritating - a lot of repetition:
"So he owes you money, no?"
"He does."
"Like I owe you money."
"Like you owe me money."
or
"We do not count to ten."
"You don't count to ten."
"Absolutely not."
"What do you do?"
"We wait."
"You wait for them?"
"Exactly."
"For the children?"
"For the children."
I wouldn't have minded the pacing of the repetitive dialogue had it belonged solely to Anna. At first, the repeating seemed something only she did, as a part of her persona, but all the characters in the book did it, often forcing me to re-read certain exchanges after losing track of who was saying what.
Yes, she was a horrible mother, and an immoral person, but not connecting to a character does not necessarily mean I can't like a book. She was awful, and I'm sure Anna has a back story of how and why she became this way, but we don't really get to see the reasons, just the outcome and the carnage she leaves behind.
THE BOY may have been too short for me, a reader who enjoys a long epic historical fiction novel. It was like watching a movie through a strobe light, capturing important, yet disjointed scenes. Add the odd dialogue to these short, schizophrenic scenes and you have a unique style that may not be for everyone.
I'm sorry, when I don't like a book, I can usually give you a balanced review, of the things I liked and the things I didn't like. In this case, I believe that I simply may have been the wrong audience for THE BOY.
Centered around the very unlikable Anna, The Boy is just one of the many awful mistakes Anna makes in her life. Anna felt as if she had sacrificed her prime years for her now ex-husband and her young daughter, Eva, so is now on a selfish quest to regain some of her freedom and excitement. Unfortunately, all she manages to do is make a mess of everything, with the help of her enabling compulsive gambler housekeeper and her perpetually stoned friends.
Even though THE BOY is the title of the book, Anna's affair with her neighbor's college-aged son was just the beginning of Anna's downward spiral. Fortunately, there were no raunchy, gratuitous sex scenes, which would have added a cheapness to the novel. This may not have been my favorite book, but it had style.
I need to talk about her daughter, Eva, for a moment. I'm not sure exactly how old she was supposed to be in the book. At one point, I thought she was under 10 years old, but other times she spoke and acted like a teenager. Having young children of my own, this confused the heck out of me. I read the uncorrected proof, so maybe this was ironed out in the final round of editing.
The dialogue was irritating - a lot of repetition:
"So he owes you money, no?"
"He does."
"Like I owe you money."
"Like you owe me money."
or
"We do not count to ten."
"You don't count to ten."
"Absolutely not."
"What do you do?"
"We wait."
"You wait for them?"
"Exactly."
"For the children?"
"For the children."
I wouldn't have minded the pacing of the repetitive dialogue had it belonged solely to Anna. At first, the repeating seemed something only she did, as a part of her persona, but all the characters in the book did it, often forcing me to re-read certain exchanges after losing track of who was saying what.
Yes, she was a horrible mother, and an immoral person, but not connecting to a character does not necessarily mean I can't like a book. She was awful, and I'm sure Anna has a back story of how and why she became this way, but we don't really get to see the reasons, just the outcome and the carnage she leaves behind.
THE BOY may have been too short for me, a reader who enjoys a long epic historical fiction novel. It was like watching a movie through a strobe light, capturing important, yet disjointed scenes. Add the odd dialogue to these short, schizophrenic scenes and you have a unique style that may not be for everyone.
I'm sorry, when I don't like a book, I can usually give you a balanced review, of the things I liked and the things I didn't like. In this case, I believe that I simply may have been the wrong audience for THE BOY.
March 20, 2013
The Boy By Lara Santoro Anna lives with her little girl Eva in New Mexico. After bizarre snips of conversation with even more off the wall characters, Anna is described as a free spirit who has left her cheating ex husband who resides in England. After much difficulties in every area of her life Anna has decided to focus completely on her daughter who ironically takes care of her mother much more than the other way around. Until, The Boy. The Boy who is the twenty year old son of her good friend and neighbor. The Boy that makes Anna's mouth ache. A lot happens in this rather short novel. It is a miracle that one can follow the sarcasm, wit, deep dark humor of this unique group of characters as it twists and turns so abruptly but somehow you know what's going on. Most likely it is because this writing is so articulate, intense and original it drags you deeper and deeper into these lives, to places you are not sure you want to go. The storyline is probably less crazy than I would like to believe but it is a quick read and I recommend it if only to experience this style of writing not often seen.
August 20, 2017
This book is so so bad. It is the height of conceit on the author's part.
She had NO story. She wanted to share her ridiculous obtuse metaphors describing the view out the car window and life in general. Since no one would buy such drivel she wraps it up in a jacket blurb that is a scandalous and titillating robe. I have news for you- the emperor is naked.
There are some VERY minor details that don't quite end up as a plot- barely a sentence here or there. You can't even tell what's happening- events are afterthought. Plot is onionskin thin, practically non existent. For every line of character interaction, dialogue or actual "event" there are two pages of nonsense about scenery, sunsets or bad clichés on life. Just plain terrible.
Its offensive that the author thinks so much of herself as a "wordsmith" that she tries to get away with pasting a sentence here/there from a single page plot outline into hundreds of pages of pretentious ramblings.
She had NO story. She wanted to share her ridiculous obtuse metaphors describing the view out the car window and life in general. Since no one would buy such drivel she wraps it up in a jacket blurb that is a scandalous and titillating robe. I have news for you- the emperor is naked.
There are some VERY minor details that don't quite end up as a plot- barely a sentence here or there. You can't even tell what's happening- events are afterthought. Plot is onionskin thin, practically non existent. For every line of character interaction, dialogue or actual "event" there are two pages of nonsense about scenery, sunsets or bad clichés on life. Just plain terrible.
Its offensive that the author thinks so much of herself as a "wordsmith" that she tries to get away with pasting a sentence here/there from a single page plot outline into hundreds of pages of pretentious ramblings.
February 2, 2013
The title is misleading. I thought it was a romance story of an older woman & a younger man but it's mainly about the dysfunctional relationship between the mother & daughter. The 'boy' is merely a supporting character.
Did I like the book? Yes, very much so. The heroine is a divorced, single mom who is battling alcoholism and trying, unsuccessfully, to become a better parent. This book showed to me the sacrifices one makes in their personal & sexual freedom to become a better parent.
My only complaint is the ending. Don't get me wrong, I like that it was a very realistic result of the mother's mistake but I felt that it ended so abruptly. I first thought that there would be a sequel but I think it's a standalone book.
It's a short read. Finished it in 3 hours.
Did I like the book? Yes, very much so. The heroine is a divorced, single mom who is battling alcoholism and trying, unsuccessfully, to become a better parent. This book showed to me the sacrifices one makes in their personal & sexual freedom to become a better parent.
My only complaint is the ending. Don't get me wrong, I like that it was a very realistic result of the mother's mistake but I felt that it ended so abruptly. I first thought that there would be a sequel but I think it's a standalone book.
It's a short read. Finished it in 3 hours.
December 5, 2012
Beautiful and heartbreaking. It is a quick read but you won't be able to stop thinking about it.
March 20, 2017
Bleah, this is why I usually avoid current, modern fiction! Atrocious.
November 22, 2012
I won this in a First Reads Giveaway.
I loved this book so much, every part of it. I was hooked in from the very first page anddidn't couldn't put it down until after I had finished it; after I sat stunned for some time by the ending.
Even if you've read similar plots, I'd still suggest picking up this book. It's written so beautifully. It's practically poetic in starkly highlighting the deep, dark reality too many people experience, and too few admit. It's not a pleasant or happy story. It's a haunting tale about taking the wrong turn. I enjoyed reading book because it hits hard, and pulls no punches. The characters in this book are all realistic tragically flawed humans. They withdraw a reaction, and their story is emotionally impacting.
I'm going to read the author's other book, Mercy for sure and be on the look out for more books by her. I love her voice, and her style.
I loved this book so much, every part of it. I was hooked in from the very first page and
Even if you've read similar plots, I'd still suggest picking up this book. It's written so beautifully. It's practically poetic in starkly highlighting the deep, dark reality too many people experience, and too few admit. It's not a pleasant or happy story. It's a haunting tale about taking the wrong turn. I enjoyed reading book because it hits hard, and pulls no punches. The characters in this book are all realistic tragically flawed humans. They withdraw a reaction, and their story is emotionally impacting.
I'm going to read the author's other book, Mercy for sure and be on the look out for more books by her. I love her voice, and her style.
February 22, 2013
3.5
This book was totally not what I expected. It caught me off guard, and I felt like I was playing catch-up the entire time I read it. It isn’t a topic I have ever read written before, in this style or from this angle. There are so many stories, within stories, within stories, and the plot causes you to constantly question the characters motives and your own moral compass. At one point I wondered if I was smart enough to be reading it, often I questioned my emotional response to what was happening. And while I didn't like the main character, I don't think I was supposed to. And I admire the writer's courage for writing a book that is so different from what is expected, and for writing a character/storyline different from what most readers will probably "like" just for liking. It was thought provoking, and in different places in my life it would mean different things. Not a lot of books can say that.
This book was totally not what I expected. It caught me off guard, and I felt like I was playing catch-up the entire time I read it. It isn’t a topic I have ever read written before, in this style or from this angle. There are so many stories, within stories, within stories, and the plot causes you to constantly question the characters motives and your own moral compass. At one point I wondered if I was smart enough to be reading it, often I questioned my emotional response to what was happening. And while I didn't like the main character, I don't think I was supposed to. And I admire the writer's courage for writing a book that is so different from what is expected, and for writing a character/storyline different from what most readers will probably "like" just for liking. It was thought provoking, and in different places in my life it would mean different things. Not a lot of books can say that.
January 16, 2013
A single mother in her forties, Anna finds herself drawn to her neighbor’s son, a young man some twenty years her junior. Against her better judgment, she succumbs to the inexorable pull of an affair with him.
In the hands of a lesser writer, The Boy could have been nothing more than a titillating affair. Instead there are no titillating details à la Fifty Shades of Grey, just lots of descriptive prose that make us feel the longing that Anna feels: “Tight in her skin, hot in her head, she resolved a thousand times to leave but didn’t. Every time she looked up, he was there, his eyes fixed knowingly on hers.”
The author has created a complex character whose flaws and past sins manage to evoke sympathy. Even at the end, when Anna does something irresponsible, one cannot help but feel sorrow for the consequences and wish for a different outcome.
In the hands of a lesser writer, The Boy could have been nothing more than a titillating affair. Instead there are no titillating details à la Fifty Shades of Grey, just lots of descriptive prose that make us feel the longing that Anna feels: “Tight in her skin, hot in her head, she resolved a thousand times to leave but didn’t. Every time she looked up, he was there, his eyes fixed knowingly on hers.”
The author has created a complex character whose flaws and past sins manage to evoke sympathy. Even at the end, when Anna does something irresponsible, one cannot help but feel sorrow for the consequences and wish for a different outcome.
February 1, 2013
Once I started,I could not put this book down. Lara Santoro writes with fast paced style of the best writers that say more with less. She writes with brutal honesty the feelings we have but don't talk about. Eons of ingrained civility colliding with our most primal desires. This book will stick with me for a long time.
February 2, 2013
If I could give 31/2 stars, I would have. I really liked this book but felt like I couldn't rate it higher because there wasn't really much to it. The actual story was deeply honest, provocative and moving. But it read like a fast, light read. I'm conflicted about the presentation of such heavy subject matter in such a superficial way, but I think I kind of like it.
February 11, 2013
Hmm - short, fast read and the writing style is really compelling. I liked the writing quite a lot, but the main character is a drug addict/alcoholic mother who makes horrendously poor choices resulting in nothing good. Not really somebody you can root for because she really sucks...but I give it three stars because the writing was fascinating.
May 18, 2013
I'm surprised there aren't more people who loved this book as I do. It was amazing, raw and honest. Motherhood is not all rainbows and butterflies, and Ms. Santoro bravely tells it like it is. I was delighted by the dialog and mesmerized by her writing style. I'm going to read everything this author writes!
March 5, 2017
I'm devastated. I wasn't expecting this. What an amazing book. It pulled me in and wrapped me deep into the story and then took all my breath away with the last sentence. I couldn't put it down and read it all in one sitting. I'll be thinking about this book for days. It was so brutally honest, smart, funny and terribly sad. Being a woman is a deadly business indeed. Excellent writing.
January 7, 2013
Brief and seductive but not credible...liked the language and its power to pull you in but too much melodrama results from what is, basically, a hackneyed premise. That said, it's short and well-written and engrossing so not a total loss.
Want to read
November 15, 2012I just received this book as a FirstReads Giveaway. Will write a review when I've read it.
February 23, 2013
Did not finish this one. Just could not care about the characters.
February 14, 2013
Boring. Wished it had been more of a love story.
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