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Bronxland
Paul Wolfenthal is a peculiar 13-year-old kid grappling with the absurdities of his young Bronx life circa 1960. He visits the dead, hears voices in his head, despises Richard Nixon, is infatuated with his Marilyn Monroe look-alike math teacher, and is a choice victim for the neighborhood’s sadistic bully. And then Paul really starts running into trouble.
Paul is, in fact, a kid in search of heroes, alive and otherwise, and finds them in John Kennedy and Harry Houdini, both of whom cross into his life. But these are strange and even dangerous times. Hovering in the shadows are “the demons” that haunt Paul’s young childhood dreams, only to come alive and shatter his world. One steals away a neighborhood child. And then his president.
Set against the turbulent history of the times, Bronxland tugs on a kaleidoscope of emotions as an uproarious and heartrending coming-of-age tale. It is also a story of a place, a Bronx long gone but one that still resides in the collective memory of those who once called these streets their home. A place of the heart known to all of us, with our own story to tell of growing up, of trying to make sense of our life, with everything that comes along.
Paul is, in fact, a kid in search of heroes, alive and otherwise, and finds them in John Kennedy and Harry Houdini, both of whom cross into his life. But these are strange and even dangerous times. Hovering in the shadows are “the demons” that haunt Paul’s young childhood dreams, only to come alive and shatter his world. One steals away a neighborhood child. And then his president.
Set against the turbulent history of the times, Bronxland tugs on a kaleidoscope of emotions as an uproarious and heartrending coming-of-age tale. It is also a story of a place, a Bronx long gone but one that still resides in the collective memory of those who once called these streets their home. A place of the heart known to all of us, with our own story to tell of growing up, of trying to make sense of our life, with everything that comes along.
319 pages, Paperback
Published October 14, 2017
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290 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 30, 2018
I must begin by thanking Paul Thaler for sharing his delightful coming of age story with the world. Told in the style of the iconic “A Christmas Story” by Jean Shepherd, I smiled through every page of the book. As a girl growing up during the sixties in the Hunt’s Point section of the Bronx (somewhat lower on the economic scale of the Grand Concourse) I, too, experienced many of the joys, fears, trials and tribulations his story recounts. So many memories were sparked of places and events, of hopes and dreams, of friendships gained and lost.
The term “turbulent times” can be used to describe many eras throughout history. But for those of us who grew up in the sixties, the memories of that decade have special meaning. It was an awakening of sorts, a time when young people shed the complacency and repression of the fifties and voiced their outrage at the social injustice in our country. We had “Camelot,” the Kennedy years, whose promise of hope for the future was snatched away by an assassin’s gun. Krushchev and the cold war with Russia hung over our heads and had us diving under our school desks in preparation for a nuclear attack. (Like that would save us!) The war in Vietnam stole our brothers and friends and created an uproar of protest with a call to “make love, not war.”
Paul Thaler’s semi-autobiography of a boy growing up during this time took me on a glorious trip down memory lane. It is penned so beautifully, I felt the joy of meeting JFK outside Alexanders on Fordham Road, the pain of his outrage at the treatment of his friend, Joe Bailey, and relived the fear and awe inspired by the reputation of the Fordham Baldies—who knew if they were a rumor or if they really existed?
Five stars doesn’t seem to be enough for this book so, if you’re a baby boomer relic of the sixties as I am, do yourself a favor and read it.
The term “turbulent times” can be used to describe many eras throughout history. But for those of us who grew up in the sixties, the memories of that decade have special meaning. It was an awakening of sorts, a time when young people shed the complacency and repression of the fifties and voiced their outrage at the social injustice in our country. We had “Camelot,” the Kennedy years, whose promise of hope for the future was snatched away by an assassin’s gun. Krushchev and the cold war with Russia hung over our heads and had us diving under our school desks in preparation for a nuclear attack. (Like that would save us!) The war in Vietnam stole our brothers and friends and created an uproar of protest with a call to “make love, not war.”
Paul Thaler’s semi-autobiography of a boy growing up during this time took me on a glorious trip down memory lane. It is penned so beautifully, I felt the joy of meeting JFK outside Alexanders on Fordham Road, the pain of his outrage at the treatment of his friend, Joe Bailey, and relived the fear and awe inspired by the reputation of the Fordham Baldies—who knew if they were a rumor or if they really existed?
Five stars doesn’t seem to be enough for this book so, if you’re a baby boomer relic of the sixties as I am, do yourself a favor and read it.
October 6, 2025
Bronxland is not just a coming of age story it’s a haunting, hilarious, and heart tugging time capsule that vibrates with the pulse of 1960s America. Paul Thaler gifts readers a front row seat to the confusions and contradictions of adolescence through the unforgettable voice of Paul Wolfenthal a boy equal parts oddball philosopher and tender dreamer.
Every page hums with emotional authenticity. The Bronx of Thaler’s memory is rendered so vividly you can smell the asphalt after rain, hear the distant hum of doo wop, and feel the ache of innocence slipping away in a world that doesn’t make sense. The historical echoes from Kennedy’s Camelot to Houdini’s ghostly presence make this book shimmer with magic and melancholy.
Thaler captures something rare: the ache of youth, the absurdity of growing up, and the fragile beauty of belief in a world forever changing. Bronxland belongs on the same shelf as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Catcher in the Rye a modern classic of memory and meaning.
Every page hums with emotional authenticity. The Bronx of Thaler’s memory is rendered so vividly you can smell the asphalt after rain, hear the distant hum of doo wop, and feel the ache of innocence slipping away in a world that doesn’t make sense. The historical echoes from Kennedy’s Camelot to Houdini’s ghostly presence make this book shimmer with magic and melancholy.
Thaler captures something rare: the ache of youth, the absurdity of growing up, and the fragile beauty of belief in a world forever changing. Bronxland belongs on the same shelf as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Catcher in the Rye a modern classic of memory and meaning.
October 22, 2025
Few novels capture the bewildering beauty of adolescence quite like Bronxland. Paul Thaler has written a story that feels at once intimate and epic a tender, heartbreaking symphony of a boy’s struggle to make sense of a world coming apart. Through the eyes of thirteen year old Paul Wolfenthal, the Bronx of 1960 breathes, bruises, and bursts with color.
Thaler’s writing shimmers with humor and pain, threading the innocence of childhood through the chaos of history Kennedy’s assassination, neighborhood bullies, and the ghosts that haunt Paul’s imagination. This is a coming of age tale that refuses to flinch: equal parts nostalgia and nightmare, hilarity and heartbreak.
What makes Bronxland unforgettable isn’t just its pitch perfect evocation of a vanished Bronx, but the way it reminds us that growing up in any decade, in any city means confronting the demons that shape us and finding the courage to dream anyway.
It’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn meets The Catcher in the Rye, with a dash of magical realism that makes every page glow. A rare and radiant novel.
Thaler’s writing shimmers with humor and pain, threading the innocence of childhood through the chaos of history Kennedy’s assassination, neighborhood bullies, and the ghosts that haunt Paul’s imagination. This is a coming of age tale that refuses to flinch: equal parts nostalgia and nightmare, hilarity and heartbreak.
What makes Bronxland unforgettable isn’t just its pitch perfect evocation of a vanished Bronx, but the way it reminds us that growing up in any decade, in any city means confronting the demons that shape us and finding the courage to dream anyway.
It’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn meets The Catcher in the Rye, with a dash of magical realism that makes every page glow. A rare and radiant novel.
October 22, 2025
Bronxland is a cinematic time capsule a rich, funny, and deeply moving portrait of a boy and a borough at a crossroads. Paul Thaler doesn’t just tell a story; he resurrects a world. You can almost smell the pretzels from the corner stand, hear Sinatra on a transistor radio, and feel the ache of a childhood that’s vanishing too fast.
Paul Wolfenthal is the kind of protagonist you fall for instantly bright, odd, fearless, and fragile. His world of Houdini dreams and Kennedy ideals collides with the harsh realities of loss, change, and growing up. Yet even as tragedy strikes, Thaler’s prose refuses despair; it glows with humor, compassion, and truth.
There’s magic here in the writing, in the setting, in the aching humanness of it all. Bronxland isn’t just a story about one boy; it’s a mirror held up to anyone who’s ever been young, lost, and desperate to believe in heroes.
Thaler has given us a Bronx that belongs to memory, myth, and the marrow of what it means to be alive.
Paul Wolfenthal is the kind of protagonist you fall for instantly bright, odd, fearless, and fragile. His world of Houdini dreams and Kennedy ideals collides with the harsh realities of loss, change, and growing up. Yet even as tragedy strikes, Thaler’s prose refuses despair; it glows with humor, compassion, and truth.
There’s magic here in the writing, in the setting, in the aching humanness of it all. Bronxland isn’t just a story about one boy; it’s a mirror held up to anyone who’s ever been young, lost, and desperate to believe in heroes.
Thaler has given us a Bronx that belongs to memory, myth, and the marrow of what it means to be alive.
October 6, 2025
Few novels capture the raw, restless spirit of youth like Bronxland. Paul Thaler writes with both tenderness and fire, weaving humor and heartbreak into a narrative that feels utterly alive. Paul Wolfenthal precocious, peculiar, and profoundly human becomes a mirror for every reader who has ever felt too strange, too curious, too alive for the world they were born into.
The book’s magic lies in its contrasts: laughter brushing against loss, innocence colliding with the brutality of history, the small Bronx streets standing in for the vast emotional landscapes of childhood. Thaler’s prose is lyrical without pretension, cinematic in detail, and deeply empathetic.
By the final page, Bronxland doesn’t just tell a story it resurrects a vanished world and reminds us that growing up is, in every generation, an act of quiet heroism. A radiant, unforgettable novel.
The book’s magic lies in its contrasts: laughter brushing against loss, innocence colliding with the brutality of history, the small Bronx streets standing in for the vast emotional landscapes of childhood. Thaler’s prose is lyrical without pretension, cinematic in detail, and deeply empathetic.
By the final page, Bronxland doesn’t just tell a story it resurrects a vanished world and reminds us that growing up is, in every generation, an act of quiet heroism. A radiant, unforgettable novel.
February 24, 2019
I LOVED this book. Even though I grew up in the "country", and Paul in the city, his stories of growing up touched me...brought back some old forgotten feelings and stories of my youth. I laughed, cringed, cried and laughed again. I felt Paul's sadness, happiness and angst. Bravo.
January 13, 2019
Great mid-20th century coming of age story set in the Bronx. Felt like a more grown-up style of Judy Blume. Recommend. Great work!
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March 15, 2019I was a Bronxite from birth to age 25, attending Bronx public schools from elementary through high school as well as a Bronx college. I’m the same age as author Paul Thaler and iived two neighborhoods away. I can totally relate to his experiences in a Jewish/Irish/Italian neighborhood, tenements and fire escapes, school, bullies, girls/dating, the Yanks, egg creams and baseball cards, stickball/basketball/
stoop ball, Alexanders/ Krums/ Jahns, and white flight. I highly recommend this book to not only other baby boomer Bronxites but also to others curious about what it was like coming of age in the tenements of the Bronx in the ‘60s
stoop ball, Alexanders/ Krums/ Jahns, and white flight. I highly recommend this book to not only other baby boomer Bronxites but also to others curious about what it was like coming of age in the tenements of the Bronx in the ‘60s
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews