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Night Town
When tragedy strikes, thirteen-year-old Maddy Barnes's life shatters. Torn from her family and village, she finds herself out on the mean streets of Toronto in the 1970s, a gritty twilight world of street kids, speed freaks, glam rockers, body rub parlours and a vicious biker named Hermann. But Toronto is also the centre of Canada's emerging gay revolution. As men and women start coming out of the shadows, Maddy confronts the shadows of her own past, and ultimately comes to understand that sometimes there's no explaining the unspeakable things we do for love.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 28, 2013
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 6, 2013
****SPOILER ALERT****
Night Town knocked my socks off.
The writing is professional. Taut. Gripping.
I did not always find it an easy book to read. The protagonist Maddy's descent into hell was harrowing. I didn't want to be in that world with her. But I wanted to know about that world. I felt like I needed to know about that world. I kept wondering, how did the author know about that world? It all came off as terrifically authentic.
Maddie's point of view was always consistent and disturbing. I wondered about her reliability as a narrator. Almost everybody in her story shut her out (even her mother, tragically), nobody offered her the support and love she desperately required, at least according to the story as she tells it. I suspected that she was a love filter, filtering out love and support, not absorbing it when it came her way, so although it might have been present in her life, she filtered it out so of course it wasn't reflected in her story. Or maybe there was none at all and that's why turned out the way she did. They say that lab rats raised alone without comfort and support invariably become sociopathic.
The characterizations were deft and superb. Aunt Anne was real. Grandpa was real. Dad leapt off the page. The bit players, especially Gabe, lived authentic (if pathetic) lives. And Maddie of course rang truest of all.
I wondered how the author would manage a happy ending without it feeling trite or stage managed. She pulled it off. I wanted there to be hope at the end and there was. I couldn't have borne it had there not been hope for Maddie. I want to know what became of Lily. But that story must be left unsaid, the same way the true nature of Gabe and Lily's relationship is best left unsaid.
I think this is not only an excellent book, it's an important book. A book with difficult subject matter that a lot of people might not be able to get past -- the exact same people that most need to read it.
Highly recommended.
Night Town knocked my socks off.
The writing is professional. Taut. Gripping.
I did not always find it an easy book to read. The protagonist Maddy's descent into hell was harrowing. I didn't want to be in that world with her. But I wanted to know about that world. I felt like I needed to know about that world. I kept wondering, how did the author know about that world? It all came off as terrifically authentic.
Maddie's point of view was always consistent and disturbing. I wondered about her reliability as a narrator. Almost everybody in her story shut her out (even her mother, tragically), nobody offered her the support and love she desperately required, at least according to the story as she tells it. I suspected that she was a love filter, filtering out love and support, not absorbing it when it came her way, so although it might have been present in her life, she filtered it out so of course it wasn't reflected in her story. Or maybe there was none at all and that's why turned out the way she did. They say that lab rats raised alone without comfort and support invariably become sociopathic.
The characterizations were deft and superb. Aunt Anne was real. Grandpa was real. Dad leapt off the page. The bit players, especially Gabe, lived authentic (if pathetic) lives. And Maddie of course rang truest of all.
I wondered how the author would manage a happy ending without it feeling trite or stage managed. She pulled it off. I wanted there to be hope at the end and there was. I couldn't have borne it had there not been hope for Maddie. I want to know what became of Lily. But that story must be left unsaid, the same way the true nature of Gabe and Lily's relationship is best left unsaid.
I think this is not only an excellent book, it's an important book. A book with difficult subject matter that a lot of people might not be able to get past -- the exact same people that most need to read it.
Highly recommended.
May 17, 2013
I enjoyed my trip to Night Town so much that when I looked up from reading it several hours had passed. I hadn't even gotten up to go to the bathroom. Oops. ( Just kidding) No, really Oops. It was an harrowing novel in places and I found myself feeling Maddy's angst and struggles as if I was on the streets of Toronto with her. I wanted to hug her and tell her everything was going to be ok.I've read books like this one before but the author gives it a fresh perspective. She captured the voice of a hurt, confused teenager well and left us with the hope that Maddy was going to be just fine. A lovely debut novel.
I received a complimentary arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I received a complimentary arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
June 13, 2017
Very emotional read. Pulled at my heart strings and made me cry multiple times! This book makes you really think about love and how far one can go when nearly at the edge of their life.
January 5, 2022
I feel misled by the blurb of this book. There's not much romance in this story and a lot of drug abuse and shitty adults. Other that the false advertising, the story was good.
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August 12, 2015http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/0...
Review by Kathleen Yamazaki
One marvels at how far we've progressed and yet how little has changed. In the 1970s in Canada there was still a profound stigma attached to homosexuality. Sound familiar?
We certainly like to think of ourselves as progressive in Canada, but one merely needs to glance at the headlines to see we are a long way off. Who hasn't read a story of a teenager committing suicide because they are bullied about their sexual orientation?
Although it was decriminalized in 1967, homosexuality continued to be considered a perversion by many, retaining its status as a psychiatric disorder by the American Psychiatric Association for another six years. Cathi Bond’s debut novel Night Town takes place at this crossroad between the burgeoning underground gay revolution in progressive downtown Toronto and the conservative social backdrop that still prevailed in the 1970s.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/0...
Review by Kathleen Yamazaki
One marvels at how far we've progressed and yet how little has changed. In the 1970s in Canada there was still a profound stigma attached to homosexuality. Sound familiar?
We certainly like to think of ourselves as progressive in Canada, but one merely needs to glance at the headlines to see we are a long way off. Who hasn't read a story of a teenager committing suicide because they are bullied about their sexual orientation?
Although it was decriminalized in 1967, homosexuality continued to be considered a perversion by many, retaining its status as a psychiatric disorder by the American Psychiatric Association for another six years. Cathi Bond’s debut novel Night Town takes place at this crossroad between the burgeoning underground gay revolution in progressive downtown Toronto and the conservative social backdrop that still prevailed in the 1970s.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2013/0...
October 5, 2013
Pop culture, movie critic and CBC regular Kathi Bond writes the story of a small town girl in southwestern Ontario whose idyllic existence is disrupted by tragedy as a 13 year old and further compromised by struggling with her sexual identity. The story follows the narrator to the druggy and dangerous streets of downtown Toronto in the 70s.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews