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Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel
The inside view of a seriously dysfunctional family, and the devoted (though rather unhealthy) relationship between a brother and sister, both trying to survive into adulthood. In his debut novel Thurber tackles a moral conundrum with an almost impossible amount of grace. Thought-provoking. Tastefully written. Delivered in short, tight chapters.... Thurber's haunting and memorable first novel about two teenagers struggling to survive through the summer of 1969, the year of the first moon landing, and the end of the turbulent sixties, is a touching and intriguing story that knocks you back on your heels. The writing is sharp and the voice of Jack, the paperboy, is engaging and genuine. This book could be used to spark discussions on any number of issues relating to violence, abuse and manipulation in dysfunctional families.What's most unsettling is you know this story. You knew these people. And after reading Paperboy, you'll understand why these children never looked you in the eye and pleaded for help, for mercy, for anything.PAPERBOY is a display of endurance, and a document of an era. Once you've met Jack and Kelly, you'll not soon forget them.Their story is a psychodrama that will leave you breathless!With bitesize chapters that are short stories in themselves, you'll find yourself turning the pages for one more bite.At times, despite the intensely serious subject matter, the novel is darkly humorous. An insightful portrayal of a brother and sister during the final summer of 1969 when the entire nation is waiting for the United States to win the space race and land a man on the moon. Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Jack Fisher--malnourished and battered, abandoned by his father, neglected by his mother, manipulated by his older sister, harangued by his boss, and shortchanged by customers--is delivering newspapers in downtown Pawtucket and trying to keep his family from self-destructing completely. As the whole world holds its breath to see what will become of the Apollo 11 astronauts, Jack clings to his daily mantra, "Things will get better." But in this poignant novel by award-winning short story writer Bob Thurber, things do not get better; they get drastically worse, at space-age speed.
257 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2011
7 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
Bob Thurber
16 books23 followersAn American author renown for his "exceedingly brief" short fiction, Bob Thurber's work has received a long list of awards, appeared in hundreds of publications, including Esquire, and been anthologized over 70 times.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 6, 2011
Little did I know what I was getting myself into when I picked up this flaming hot frying pan of a novel; bare-handed. I read the first few chapters and was just hooked. I loved it but the love I feel for it is not the same love I express for dandelions and good dogs. This is the love of the lost and broken child inside of myself; and all of us. Now that I've put a little distance between finishing it and this review I've gained some perspective. Jack, the protagonist, is me. And yes all great characters are mirrors, but not since Holden Caulfield have I felt such a kinship with a boy in a book (and I wrote a damn book about a boy). Like Catcher in the Rye this is a story which captures a time and a person *in* it so perfectly that at times I felt I was reading a well-written diary I had found at a bus-stop. Paperboy is riveting, haunting, disturbing, tragic and road-kill beautiful. You cannot look away, and why should you? This is not a book for the feint of heart but if you *are* feint of heart why are you even reading in the first place? A great book will often take you out of your comfort zone and into the twilight zone - a dimension not of sight and sound but of mind. And boy does Paperboy do that. Forget summer reading, forget airplane books, this is Shakespeare if Shakespeare had balls. It's amazing that such truth-telling can still get published. It gives this writer hope. Warning: unlike Catcher in the Rye, this is NOT a book for teens. Paperboy is for paper men...and women.
April 17, 2013
A book like this is not easy to write a review. Its not easy to 'rate'. It had to take courage to write.
I remember reading the books by Dave Pelzer: "The Boy Called It", The Lost Boy", and "A Man Name Dave". (my daughters were into reading these books at one time --so I did too). It was part of our 'Mitzvah' month --(service month when we were visiting a shelter bringing food and playing games with the children) ....
Its been a long time since reading anything even close to a book like this for me.
Its very sad whe children do not have a safe loving home to grow up in. It leaves life lasting scars.
Lost kids --leads to what? lost adults? Or.....if those adults are 'lucky' with a strong fight inside them, their adult life is a journey of healing --loving--nourishing the beautiful person they are --and the family and friends they have in their present life.
It takes work to thrive as an adult for 'anyone' ---but ten times more work when that adult came from a very dysfunctional family.
What a beautiful soul this author has!
I remember reading the books by Dave Pelzer: "The Boy Called It", The Lost Boy", and "A Man Name Dave". (my daughters were into reading these books at one time --so I did too). It was part of our 'Mitzvah' month --(service month when we were visiting a shelter bringing food and playing games with the children) ....
Its been a long time since reading anything even close to a book like this for me.
Its very sad whe children do not have a safe loving home to grow up in. It leaves life lasting scars.
Lost kids --leads to what? lost adults? Or.....if those adults are 'lucky' with a strong fight inside them, their adult life is a journey of healing --loving--nourishing the beautiful person they are --and the family and friends they have in their present life.
It takes work to thrive as an adult for 'anyone' ---but ten times more work when that adult came from a very dysfunctional family.
What a beautiful soul this author has!
July 14, 2011
Devastating! I haven't felt this shaken by a book since reading Trainspotting many years ago. Of course, I recognized Jack in the wounded part of myself, which is what made the story so painful, but also so necessary.
Finding the right words to capture the truth of a terrible childhood is the greatest challenge a writer faces, and many back down or flinch before they get to the end. Not Bob Thurber. His ability to stay the course, and to keep us with him to the bitter end, makes him a hero. If you're going down into those depths, he's just the companion you want by your side.
Finding the right words to capture the truth of a terrible childhood is the greatest challenge a writer faces, and many back down or flinch before they get to the end. Not Bob Thurber. His ability to stay the course, and to keep us with him to the bitter end, makes him a hero. If you're going down into those depths, he's just the companion you want by your side.
January 19, 2022
Jack Fisher, who had been and is verbally and physically abused by his single mother, lives with her and his slightly older sister Kelly who also suffers under their mother's abusive attitude, but Kelly has mental problems of her own and has been institutionalized. Jack, fourteen, at the time of the action in 1969 has a newspaper route but never seems to be able to collect all that he is owed from his customers, so it is kind of a fruitless endeavor. Meanwhile, there is some incestuous activity occurring between brother and sister while Mom is off dating losers and all are preparing, somewhat, for Grandpa Rudy to die. Jack's story, for it is basically Jack, for whom we are rooting, is told in very brief chronological, though not strictly contiguous chapters much in the manner of a novella-in-flash. This is good forceful writing that grabs and holds the reader's interest, at least mine it did, and I strongly identified with most, though not all of the family dynamics. Highly recommended, well-written, and memorable. Bob Thurber, who excels at flash fiction and the short story, here proves he easily takes you through a novel length tale squirming in discomfort though you might want to read it all again to marvel at his talents.
December 29, 2022
Intense and disturbing
This was a very intense and surprising sort of story. Things happened that I didn't expect. Perhaps one of the best books I've read all year, though it's not one of those books for the faint of heart.
This was a very intense and surprising sort of story. Things happened that I didn't expect. Perhaps one of the best books I've read all year, though it's not one of those books for the faint of heart.
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December 11, 2012This is a book that I don't really feel comfortable rating just yet. The writing itself is outstanding, but the material is dark, depressing and very disturbing. I didn't exactly go in expecting smiles and sunshine. I'd have been an idiot thinking that of any book subtitled "A Dysfunctional Novel", let alone after reading a few reviews here. What I found was so far beyond my comfort level that you might as well have strapped my kicking and screaming sensibilities to the Saturn V rocket and sent them to the moon.
There is some part of my mind that screamed at Bob Thurber for "wasting" his obvious writing talent on material that is irremediably gauche and bleak. But that's horribly unfair to Bob, and speaks more to my own squeamishness and conventional taste. In fact, it takes great courage and conviction to write what you feel needs to be said rather than what you think your audience wants.
Even though I'm still unsure how to process what I've just read, I have no qualms about describing this as good literature. The style is crisp, the characters are engaging, the prose has a leanness that continuously propels the narrative, and it certainly possesses a sort of revelatory quality. That I would have prefered it to play nice rather than sucker punch me is almost irrelevant next to the overall quality. This is a book I know I'll be struggling with and pondering over for the next while. To me, that's a sure sign that this dysfunctional novel has achieved its purpose, despite the fact that I can't in good conscience throw up a rating.
There is some part of my mind that screamed at Bob Thurber for "wasting" his obvious writing talent on material that is irremediably gauche and bleak. But that's horribly unfair to Bob, and speaks more to my own squeamishness and conventional taste. In fact, it takes great courage and conviction to write what you feel needs to be said rather than what you think your audience wants.
Even though I'm still unsure how to process what I've just read, I have no qualms about describing this as good literature. The style is crisp, the characters are engaging, the prose has a leanness that continuously propels the narrative, and it certainly possesses a sort of revelatory quality. That I would have prefered it to play nice rather than sucker punch me is almost irrelevant next to the overall quality. This is a book I know I'll be struggling with and pondering over for the next while. To me, that's a sure sign that this dysfunctional novel has achieved its purpose, despite the fact that I can't in good conscience throw up a rating.
May 10, 2011
In “Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel,” Bob Thurber skillfully addresses a disturbing and largely untalked about subject: incest between siblings. It is difficult to imagine that a family unit like the Fishers could really exist; it is just too horrible. The reader becomes a voyeur as a few months of Jack’s pitiful life unfolds on the printed page. Bob Thurber brilliantly lets the events and the emotions they spark speak for themselves. Day after day, Jack inexpertly plays the hand he has been dealt in life. We meet Jack’s abusive mother, who is mentally and physically cruel to her children, and his crazy sister Kelly, who, though abused herself, abuses and manipulates Jack. While Jack plods along, his life is mirrored in his paper route. Nothing really is good, or goes right; it is a never-ending struggle just to maintain the status quo, which, at best, is bad. While Jack – and the reader – can hope for better things, sometimes there is no hope, and no rescuer. My hope is that author Bob Thurber can find a happier topic for future novels. While well written, this novel is too dark and too disturbing to be enjoyed. Not for the sensitive and faint of heart, it is nevertheless a compelling read. I received this book free from Goodreads First Reads.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 15, 2013
It is inappropriate to rate this novel as "really liked." The rating here is a statement of its power, its punch, not its likeability.
Thurber treats a troubling story with a one-two down for the count series of rounds. You walk away not certain you wanted to watch that fight.
The core issues straddle socioeconomic boundaries, but do pay attention to the stresses and limitations of options imposed by poverty and its surroundings, and by the lack of economic opportunities available to the characters, as the story is told here.
The stories and pictures of Audrie Pott this week added a surreal backdrop to the reading -- teenagers in trouble.
Thurber treats a troubling story with a one-two down for the count series of rounds. You walk away not certain you wanted to watch that fight.
The core issues straddle socioeconomic boundaries, but do pay attention to the stresses and limitations of options imposed by poverty and its surroundings, and by the lack of economic opportunities available to the characters, as the story is told here.
The stories and pictures of Audrie Pott this week added a surreal backdrop to the reading -- teenagers in trouble.
November 13, 2015
I have mixed feelings about this book. While I read it almost instantaneously, being captivated by the setting and author's light writing style when talking about such dark topics, there were not enough situations in the novel picturing other key characters to open up their personalities or tell their stories in more detail. To my taste, author focused too much on the ugly relationship between main character and his sister, especially as Bob Thurber kept describing it though petty much the same type of interaction, while other characters have been left a bit a side.
January 25, 2022
Dysfunctional
This novel is good but difficult to read. Not difficult in the sense of hard to read, but difficult in the sense that that that the paperboy's homelier is so dysfunctional. Incest is a major theme.
Jack's paper route is also major theme, but it too is dysfunctional. Having grown up in a small town during the novel's time setting with a paper route, much of the setting is familiar.
Also, my family was my mother, my older sister and I. We were poor, as well. Dysfunctional, but not to the point of this family.
This novel is good but difficult to read. Not difficult in the sense of hard to read, but difficult in the sense that that that the paperboy's homelier is so dysfunctional. Incest is a major theme.
Jack's paper route is also major theme, but it too is dysfunctional. Having grown up in a small town during the novel's time setting with a paper route, much of the setting is familiar.
Also, my family was my mother, my older sister and I. We were poor, as well. Dysfunctional, but not to the point of this family.
October 19, 2011
The book jacket warns that things will not get better. But I read this breath held, hoping all the same. This is book isn't wonderful, because the writing is crafted and beautiful, though it is, and it's not wonderful because it's as ugly as real life, though that's true too. It's a great book, because even when it hurts you're willing to go with the characters to where ever they end up, fully invested, wanting more for them than the jacket promises.
June 22, 2013
I read Paperboy because of comments about it by Vincent Carrella. I picked it up yesterday morning and finished it last night. I couldn't put it down, and now I can't get it out of my mind. It is human tragedy at its darkest...no glimmer of hope. But I felt like I know these people. I've met them, but I had no idea. Now I do.
February 11, 2013
Exceptional. It is to the author's credit that this story feels credible (and how). It's not comfortable reading – and not for the faint-hearted – but many children endure what Jack suffers. They need more authors like Bob Thurber to tell their stories, which need to be read.
February 5, 2013
very interesting and disturbing
January 3, 2017
This debut novel by Bob Thurber was released this past May 1, 2011 by Casperian Books. I received my autographed copy a couple of months prior to that official release date, but didn’t start reading until around March or so with a few stops and starts before fully committing (I’m easily distracted with all my different interests and I’ve got going on).
What I have read so far is classic Thurber, which is to say it’s a story about damaged people finding their way, told through his most intimate first-person voice yet, and prose so keen you'll cut your eyes reading it. Thurber doesn't pad his word count like many literary writers do, his prose is very economic. But don't let this fool you into thinking the writing is bare, it's quite the contrary. Each sentence feels robust because he makes every word count; he doesn't overwrite. He simply tells you everything you need to know in the most direct and efficient way possible with a spare economy of words. In other words, he's more storyteller than writer; he gets out of the way to allow the character and the story be the star rather than himself, the writer. I have always raved about Thurber's often convincing, true confessional styled storytelling. Well, this time it's more confessional than ever with its outsourcing of a certain amount of autobiographical events.
Paperboy follows the troubled, dysfunctional life of paperboy Jack Fisher (and his maybe crazy sister Kelly), a neglected and abused youngster. Your heart certainly goes out to this tough little guy as he endures the awful things that he, and his slightly older sister has to endure. There's some dark, seedy stuff in this story. And it's riveting and sharply written in that direct, no non-sense way and authentic, unapologetic voice for which Thurber is renowned. I’m about midway through it and what it has me wondering is if this is a story that answers the nurture VS nature debate, because I don’t think it’s that cut and dried. The two are not mutually exclusive
Bob Thurber is a dear New England writer-friend who as a short story, flash and micro fiction guru has taught me a great deal about writing lean, straight-to-the-heart fiction over the last dozen years (but only occasionally have I managed to apply that wisdom so well). You can learn more about him in the interviews I recently did with him at: http://www.liquid-imagination.com/Iss... (part 1) & http://www.liquid-imagination.com/Iss... (part 2)
(I’ll have more after completion)
What I have read so far is classic Thurber, which is to say it’s a story about damaged people finding their way, told through his most intimate first-person voice yet, and prose so keen you'll cut your eyes reading it. Thurber doesn't pad his word count like many literary writers do, his prose is very economic. But don't let this fool you into thinking the writing is bare, it's quite the contrary. Each sentence feels robust because he makes every word count; he doesn't overwrite. He simply tells you everything you need to know in the most direct and efficient way possible with a spare economy of words. In other words, he's more storyteller than writer; he gets out of the way to allow the character and the story be the star rather than himself, the writer. I have always raved about Thurber's often convincing, true confessional styled storytelling. Well, this time it's more confessional than ever with its outsourcing of a certain amount of autobiographical events.
Paperboy follows the troubled, dysfunctional life of paperboy Jack Fisher (and his maybe crazy sister Kelly), a neglected and abused youngster. Your heart certainly goes out to this tough little guy as he endures the awful things that he, and his slightly older sister has to endure. There's some dark, seedy stuff in this story. And it's riveting and sharply written in that direct, no non-sense way and authentic, unapologetic voice for which Thurber is renowned. I’m about midway through it and what it has me wondering is if this is a story that answers the nurture VS nature debate, because I don’t think it’s that cut and dried. The two are not mutually exclusive
Bob Thurber is a dear New England writer-friend who as a short story, flash and micro fiction guru has taught me a great deal about writing lean, straight-to-the-heart fiction over the last dozen years (but only occasionally have I managed to apply that wisdom so well). You can learn more about him in the interviews I recently did with him at: http://www.liquid-imagination.com/Iss... (part 1) & http://www.liquid-imagination.com/Iss... (part 2)
(I’ll have more after completion)
Read
October 15, 2013Well, this is going to be interesting...I think I am in for something I wasn't expecting when I started the book.
I heard the book is very good but reviews say it is disturbing. But I have read plenty of disturbing...no problem. Already there are hints at what is to come and yes, it is disturbing. I think the fact that this particular disturbing topic isn't covered in books as much makes it more uncomfortable to think about.
I heard the book is very good but reviews say it is disturbing. But I have read plenty of disturbing...no problem. Already there are hints at what is to come and yes, it is disturbing. I think the fact that this particular disturbing topic isn't covered in books as much makes it more uncomfortable to think about.
March 15, 2013
Thurber's Paperboy is an highly disturbing novel on an incredibly difficult topic, a book which doesn't lack meaning but sadly isn't able to expand it as much as its problematic nature requires.
Video Review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVXMJc...
Video Review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVXMJc...
March 8, 2013
7,5/10
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews