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Haarlem: A Novel
“The only thing that’ll last forever is my Thirst . . . .”
So says Abel Crofton as he explores the streets and canals of Amsterdam. A New York tunnel worker who’s struggling to stay sober after years of alcoholism, Abel is searching for the mother he’s never known. Despite having few clues as to her whereabouts, he soon finds a bureaucratic trail that takes him to Haarlem, the Dutch town from which the famed African-American neighborhood takes its name.
As Abel ventures into more new territory, he also takes on his identity as a Black man, his rough childhood in Harlem, New York, his relationship to his bitter father, and his battle with addiction. The questions around his life only get more complicated after he meets a coldly direct waitress and a ragged jazz musician, both also bearing major scars from their pasts. The road leads to Haarlem for them as well.
Welcome to Abel’s search for salvation in another tight page turner from Heather Neff.
So says Abel Crofton as he explores the streets and canals of Amsterdam. A New York tunnel worker who’s struggling to stay sober after years of alcoholism, Abel is searching for the mother he’s never known. Despite having few clues as to her whereabouts, he soon finds a bureaucratic trail that takes him to Haarlem, the Dutch town from which the famed African-American neighborhood takes its name.
As Abel ventures into more new territory, he also takes on his identity as a Black man, his rough childhood in Harlem, New York, his relationship to his bitter father, and his battle with addiction. The questions around his life only get more complicated after he meets a coldly direct waitress and a ragged jazz musician, both also bearing major scars from their pasts. The road leads to Haarlem for them as well.
Welcome to Abel’s search for salvation in another tight page turner from Heather Neff.
225 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 5, 2017
Abel is a man who had a troubled childhood and grew up to be an alcoholic just like his father. Heather Neff takes us through the struggles and the growth of a fractured man as he struggles to find the mother he never knew, and the journey of his recovery. This is the first novel that I have read by Heather Neff and I look forward to reading more of her work.
June 26, 2017
Okay, so I started this book, but I honestly did not finish it; only because I borrowed it from Overdrive and I could not renew it due to current holds. It's one I definitely plan on finishing because I want to see it ends. Interesting and fresh concept, told in a manner that piques your curiosity about the characters.
May 14, 2010
A quick read about a Black man in recovery and his search for his birth mother. Read it for my book club, and the author came to our meeting tonight. She's a fascinating woman, a real dynamo.
August 17, 2017
It was sad, but had a good ending
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews