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Clamor
Johnny Malice is coming home.
Halfway through the punk rocker’s U.S. tour, he gets word that his New York City detective dad has died. Johnny is forced to return nearly 20 years after rebelling against his Catholic conser- vative Queens family. Now, siblilngs who last saw each other as youths must come to terms with what it means to be adults — who last spoke to each other with their fists.
Johnny must survive a full-on family reunion, a father’s funeral and the faucet drip of memories that reveal the complicated and very personal reasons the star left the city.
CLAMOR is part Prodigal Son and part indie concept album, forged from Johnny Malice’s mosaic of sexual deviance, emotional codependency and distorted rock and roll.
Halfway through the punk rocker’s U.S. tour, he gets word that his New York City detective dad has died. Johnny is forced to return nearly 20 years after rebelling against his Catholic conser- vative Queens family. Now, siblilngs who last saw each other as youths must come to terms with what it means to be adults — who last spoke to each other with their fists.
Johnny must survive a full-on family reunion, a father’s funeral and the faucet drip of memories that reveal the complicated and very personal reasons the star left the city.
CLAMOR is part Prodigal Son and part indie concept album, forged from Johnny Malice’s mosaic of sexual deviance, emotional codependency and distorted rock and roll.
181 pages, Paperback
First published November 26, 2013
About the author
Gerry LaFemina
41 books69 followersGerry LaFemina believes poetry is the highest art form; believes everyone should rock out with a guitar at least once--even if they can't play; believes teaching is a calling; believes the New York City subways are beautiful (even if they smell badly); believes in love, bigfoot and other mythic creatures; believes in the power of a good meal, a good night's sleep, good wine, etc; believes laughter is a type of prayer....
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, LaFemina holds an MFA in Poetry from Western Michigan University as well as an MA in Literature with an emphasis on Twentieth-century Literature from WMU. He has taught at Nazareth College, Kirtland Community College, West Virginia University, Wheeling Jesuit University and Sarah Lawrence College. He directs the Center for Literary Arts at Frostburg State University, where he is an Associate Professor of English, and he serves as a poetry mentor in the Carlow University MFA program He divides his time between Maryland and New York.
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, LaFemina holds an MFA in Poetry from Western Michigan University as well as an MA in Literature with an emphasis on Twentieth-century Literature from WMU. He has taught at Nazareth College, Kirtland Community College, West Virginia University, Wheeling Jesuit University and Sarah Lawrence College. He directs the Center for Literary Arts at Frostburg State University, where he is an Associate Professor of English, and he serves as a poetry mentor in the Carlow University MFA program He divides his time between Maryland and New York.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 21, 2013
Wow. Love that leather jacket!
Gerry LaFemina presents Clamor a well-crafted novel about an Italian-American family estrangement that comes to a mature resolution at the father's funeral in Queens, New York. Vinny Malucci, cop dad, and Johnny Malice, successful punk rock son, haven't seen eye to eye for fifteen years, causing a deep divide within the Malucci clan. Get out the Chianti, Sinatra, fresh bread, mix it up with a hit of Johnny Thunders, and kick back with this story about loss, change, growing up, forgiveness, and respect -- and knowing when it's time to "take the stage."
Gerry LaFemina presents Clamor a well-crafted novel about an Italian-American family estrangement that comes to a mature resolution at the father's funeral in Queens, New York. Vinny Malucci, cop dad, and Johnny Malice, successful punk rock son, haven't seen eye to eye for fifteen years, causing a deep divide within the Malucci clan. Get out the Chianti, Sinatra, fresh bread, mix it up with a hit of Johnny Thunders, and kick back with this story about loss, change, growing up, forgiveness, and respect -- and knowing when it's time to "take the stage."
March 11, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. I won an advanced uncorrected proof a few years ago and it ended up hidden in the bookcase. So my apologies to Gerry since he took the time to write to me too. This is a great book about relationships, their complexity and the need to live your own life. Definitely recommended.
December 14, 2013
The most resonant parts of this book were the details of Johnny Malice's early life as a nascent punk rocker and his meditations on that earlier life. Placing a character like Johnny Malice in the context of a family gathering was an inventive move and allowed all the characters in the novel to develop in unexpected ways. My only quarrel with the book comes with the portrayal of some of the other characters, particularly Johnny's brother, who comes across as a bit too black and white to be entirely believable. The deceased father casts a long shadow on this book and I would have welcomed a few more scenes featuring him. Those things aside, this is a vibrant debut novel from a writer who has long been one of our best young contemporary poets (it's a mark of my age that I consider a man in his 40's to be young). I eagerly await his next books, be they poems or fiction.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews