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Boy Underground
During WWII, a teenage boy finds his voice, the courage of his convictions, and friends for life in an emotional and uplifting novel by the New York Times and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author.
1941. Steven Katz is the son of prosperous landowners in rural California. Although his parents don’t approve, he’s found true friends in Nick, Suki, and Ollie, sons of field workers. The group is inseparable. But Steven is in turmoil. He’s beginning to acknowledge that his feelings for Nick amount to more than friendship.
When the bombing of Pearl Harbor draws the US into World War II, Suki and his family are forced to leave their home for the internment camp at Manzanar. Ollie enlists in the army and ships out. And Nick must flee. Betrayed by his own father and accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he turns to Steven for help. Hiding Nick in a root cellar on his family’s farm, Steven acts as Nick’s protector and lifeline to the outside world.
As the war escalates, bonds deepen and the fear of being different falls away. But after Nick unexpectedly disappears one day, Steven’s life focus is to find him. On the way, Steven finds a place he belongs and a lesson about love that will last him his lifetime.
1941. Steven Katz is the son of prosperous landowners in rural California. Although his parents don’t approve, he’s found true friends in Nick, Suki, and Ollie, sons of field workers. The group is inseparable. But Steven is in turmoil. He’s beginning to acknowledge that his feelings for Nick amount to more than friendship.
When the bombing of Pearl Harbor draws the US into World War II, Suki and his family are forced to leave their home for the internment camp at Manzanar. Ollie enlists in the army and ships out. And Nick must flee. Betrayed by his own father and accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he turns to Steven for help. Hiding Nick in a root cellar on his family’s farm, Steven acts as Nick’s protector and lifeline to the outside world.
As the war escalates, bonds deepen and the fear of being different falls away. But after Nick unexpectedly disappears one day, Steven’s life focus is to find him. On the way, Steven finds a place he belongs and a lesson about love that will last him his lifetime.
334 pages, Paperback
First published December 7, 2021
2516 people are currently reading
6792 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Ryan Hyde
73 books6,194 followersCatherine Ryan Hyde is the author of more than 50 published and forthcoming books.
She is co-author, with publishing industry blogger Anne R. Allen, of How to be a Writer in the E-Age: a Self-Help Guide.
Her bestselling 1999 novel Pay It Forward was made into a major Warner Brothers motion picture. It was chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in over 30 countries. Simon & Schuster released a special 15th anniversary edition in December of ’14.
Pay It Forward: Young Readers Edition, an age-appropriate edited edition of the original novel, was released by Simon & Schuster in August of ‘14. It is suitable for children as young as eight.
You can learn much more about Catherine at www.catherineryanhyde.com
She is co-author, with publishing industry blogger Anne R. Allen, of How to be a Writer in the E-Age: a Self-Help Guide.
Her bestselling 1999 novel Pay It Forward was made into a major Warner Brothers motion picture. It was chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in over 30 countries. Simon & Schuster released a special 15th anniversary edition in December of ’14.
Pay It Forward: Young Readers Edition, an age-appropriate edited edition of the original novel, was released by Simon & Schuster in August of ‘14. It is suitable for children as young as eight.
You can learn much more about Catherine at www.catherineryanhyde.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 719 reviews
June 17, 2021
Catherine Ryan Hyde is one of my top 5 favorite authors. Despite the fact she has already written over 30 novels, I think she continues, amazingly, to improve. I read in Ms. Hyde’s blog that she thinks Boy Underground is the best book she has written since Have You Seen Luis Velez. I can now see why she says that as even though Luis Velez has always been my favorite CRH book, Boy Underground now holds that honor.
Boy Underground is the story of young Steven Katz. It takes place from 1941 to 1945 with a beautiful epilogue from 2019. Steven is 14 in 1941 and is in that state of limbo so many young teens find themselves in. He is on the cusp of manhood yet stuck under the thumb of his parents. His “should-have-never-had-kids” parents. Not only that, but he has fallen into some situations that no 14-year-old deserves to be in. So much angst and responsibility for a young man that age. Complicating everything is the disaster at Pearl Harbor and the subsequent entry of America into WWII.
As with many of the other CRH books I have read, this one has a protagonist to remember for life (how rare is that?), a true-to-life portrayal of the setting (California Sierra Mountains area in the early 1940s), valuable life lessons to share, a heartfelt original storyline, and a most welcome epilogue that is both poignant and satisfying. How Ms. Hyde continues to write quality book after quality book is hard for me to fathom.
While WWII is a backdrop in this novel, I want to make clear this isn’t a war story per se. This is a tale about coming of age, prejudice, family relationships (good and bad), the power of friendship, being true to oneself, courage, and wisdom.
Ms. Hyde kept me riveted time and time again with foreshadowing statements such as: “It was the beginning of a new era. An era for which I thought I was prepared. Rarely in my life have I ever been so spectacularly wrong.” Reading a Hyde book is also an opportunity to learn. I found Chapter Seventeen, entitled “Things Are Incomplete,” to be especially enlightening.
I flew through this book. I have no doubt that despite stiff competition from several other phenomenal books Boy Underground will be one of my top 5 reads of 2021. I strongly recommend this book and author to all devotees of quality fiction.
Boy Underground is the story of young Steven Katz. It takes place from 1941 to 1945 with a beautiful epilogue from 2019. Steven is 14 in 1941 and is in that state of limbo so many young teens find themselves in. He is on the cusp of manhood yet stuck under the thumb of his parents. His “should-have-never-had-kids” parents. Not only that, but he has fallen into some situations that no 14-year-old deserves to be in. So much angst and responsibility for a young man that age. Complicating everything is the disaster at Pearl Harbor and the subsequent entry of America into WWII.
As with many of the other CRH books I have read, this one has a protagonist to remember for life (how rare is that?), a true-to-life portrayal of the setting (California Sierra Mountains area in the early 1940s), valuable life lessons to share, a heartfelt original storyline, and a most welcome epilogue that is both poignant and satisfying. How Ms. Hyde continues to write quality book after quality book is hard for me to fathom.
While WWII is a backdrop in this novel, I want to make clear this isn’t a war story per se. This is a tale about coming of age, prejudice, family relationships (good and bad), the power of friendship, being true to oneself, courage, and wisdom.
Ms. Hyde kept me riveted time and time again with foreshadowing statements such as: “It was the beginning of a new era. An era for which I thought I was prepared. Rarely in my life have I ever been so spectacularly wrong.” Reading a Hyde book is also an opportunity to learn. I found Chapter Seventeen, entitled “Things Are Incomplete,” to be especially enlightening.
I flew through this book. I have no doubt that despite stiff competition from several other phenomenal books Boy Underground will be one of my top 5 reads of 2021. I strongly recommend this book and author to all devotees of quality fiction.
May 29, 2021
Steven Katz has a hard time fitting in at school until he meets Suki (Itsuki), Ollie and Nick at baseball tryouts. The boys decide to go camping together in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and set off on 6th December 1941. It’s a life changing decision for all three of them. Steven narrates looking back on these events in 2019 aged 94.
This is a beautifully written and poignant novel which handles sensitive topics with great care and respect. It’s an emotional story of tragedy, sexual orientation, homophobia, racism and injustice in more ways than one, as each of them faces one or several of these issues. The landowning Katz family dynamics are something else, even before war broke out Steven’s cold mother dislikes all these friends, initially because of different social status but she gets worse unfortunately. You soon realise there is something very basic missing in the home which fills you will sadness for Steven. You feel like an uncomfortable voyeur at some of the family diner table discussions which are just as unpalatable as the food. Some of these are pivotal at severing any connection Steven has with his family and at times there’s a disconnection in the writing which I’m assuming is deliberate on Stevens/the authors part. Steven is a really good central character, he’s constant in his loyalty to his friends despite the obstacles, he grows braver and bolder towards those he believes are wrong, challenging their views. Mr Cho becomes Stevens mentor and I really warm to him as he’s so wise and his counselling helps Steven immeasurably. The Japanese internment camp at Manzanar is also pivotal in bringing about further change in Steven, it has a deep affect on him as on those of us reading in in 2021.
Overall, this is a very thought provoking and emotional book which I’m glad to have read.
With thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
This is a beautifully written and poignant novel which handles sensitive topics with great care and respect. It’s an emotional story of tragedy, sexual orientation, homophobia, racism and injustice in more ways than one, as each of them faces one or several of these issues. The landowning Katz family dynamics are something else, even before war broke out Steven’s cold mother dislikes all these friends, initially because of different social status but she gets worse unfortunately. You soon realise there is something very basic missing in the home which fills you will sadness for Steven. You feel like an uncomfortable voyeur at some of the family diner table discussions which are just as unpalatable as the food. Some of these are pivotal at severing any connection Steven has with his family and at times there’s a disconnection in the writing which I’m assuming is deliberate on Stevens/the authors part. Steven is a really good central character, he’s constant in his loyalty to his friends despite the obstacles, he grows braver and bolder towards those he believes are wrong, challenging their views. Mr Cho becomes Stevens mentor and I really warm to him as he’s so wise and his counselling helps Steven immeasurably. The Japanese internment camp at Manzanar is also pivotal in bringing about further change in Steven, it has a deep affect on him as on those of us reading in in 2021.
Overall, this is a very thought provoking and emotional book which I’m glad to have read.
With thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
October 6, 2021
Life is constantly in motion. Forever changing. We bend and sway in response.... never realizing the transformations taking place within us.
Steven Katz never knew that trying out for the baseball team in high school would actually hit a lifetime homerun for him. It's here in the heat of Owens Valley, California in 1941 that Steven will meet Suki Yamamoto, Ollie, and Nick sitting on a picnic bench near the field. All are tall, lanky fourteen year olds except for Ollie who is seventeen. An immediate friendship takes place.
But a solid bond will form as the boys plan to hike together in the Sierras. The trails are rough and the steep terrain almost unexpected, but they make it to the crystal blue lake. When they make it back down to the trail head, the world will have changed. It's the 7th of December and America has been attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. Nothing will ever be the same for these boys.
And to add to the chaos is the reality that FDR signed the War Relocation Authority in which Japanese living in America were sent to camps. Suki and his family will be relocated to Manzanar. Ollie will volunteer for service and Nick will be accused of a crime that he did not commit. And Steven will become an outcast in his own family because of his beliefs and his personal choices.
It is mindboggling to even imagine the long corridors that exist in the mind of Catherine Ryan Hyde. She creates stories that are so brilliant and so painfully human time and time again. Her characters range from all ages and from all backgrounds depicting joyous triumphs to gut-wrenching realities. Boy Underground is especially poignant. Through the character of Steven, she allows us to experience the global nature of the world in meltdown mode through war. And then through the voice of this young boy, we hold snippets of the aftermath of the breakdown of his soul. Beautifully rendered. A must read.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Lake Union Publishers and to the talented Catherine Ryan Hyde.
Steven Katz never knew that trying out for the baseball team in high school would actually hit a lifetime homerun for him. It's here in the heat of Owens Valley, California in 1941 that Steven will meet Suki Yamamoto, Ollie, and Nick sitting on a picnic bench near the field. All are tall, lanky fourteen year olds except for Ollie who is seventeen. An immediate friendship takes place.
But a solid bond will form as the boys plan to hike together in the Sierras. The trails are rough and the steep terrain almost unexpected, but they make it to the crystal blue lake. When they make it back down to the trail head, the world will have changed. It's the 7th of December and America has been attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. Nothing will ever be the same for these boys.
And to add to the chaos is the reality that FDR signed the War Relocation Authority in which Japanese living in America were sent to camps. Suki and his family will be relocated to Manzanar. Ollie will volunteer for service and Nick will be accused of a crime that he did not commit. And Steven will become an outcast in his own family because of his beliefs and his personal choices.
It is mindboggling to even imagine the long corridors that exist in the mind of Catherine Ryan Hyde. She creates stories that are so brilliant and so painfully human time and time again. Her characters range from all ages and from all backgrounds depicting joyous triumphs to gut-wrenching realities. Boy Underground is especially poignant. Through the character of Steven, she allows us to experience the global nature of the world in meltdown mode through war. And then through the voice of this young boy, we hold snippets of the aftermath of the breakdown of his soul. Beautifully rendered. A must read.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Lake Union Publishers and to the talented Catherine Ryan Hyde.
December 18, 2021
EXCERPT: We bounced along on that rutted dirt road, saying exactly nothing. It was cool, just after dawn, and the day was clear but no colour at all. Like steel. I had my back up against the tailgate, facing the mountains, watching them grow closer as we bumped along. They had always been there, as long as I had been alive, but only as a background for my world. They never seemed entirely real. More like a movie set, or one of those theater plays with a painted backdrop to make it seem as if the stage has the depth of a real outdoors scene.
My stomach jangled with fear at going up there on foot. They looked big and powerful and unforgiving, and that made me feel small.
I thought about what my father had said. How it was rough country up there, and how I didn't get that yet. How I hadn't had much in the way of hardship. It gave me a chill.
Then I remembered the words that came right after.
My father saying, 'It'll make a man out of him.'
My mother countering with, 'Unless he dies first.'
It brought a shiver that I think the others might have seen if they hadn't been watching the view.
Still, I knew that whatever awaited me, there was no backing down now. And I wasn't sorry about that. I was scared. But I was still ready.
ABOUT 'BOY UNDERGROUND': 1941. Steven Katz is the son of prosperous landowners in rural California. Although his parents don’t approve, he’s found true friends in Nick, Suki, and Ollie, sons of field workers. The group is inseparable. But Steven is in turmoil. He’s beginning to acknowledge that his feelings for Nick amount to more than friendship.
When the bombing of Pearl Harbor draws the US into World War II, Suki and his family are forced to leave their home for the internment camp at Manzanar. Ollie enlists in the army and ships out. And Nick must flee. Betrayed by his own father and accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he turns to Steven for help. Hiding Nick in a root cellar on his family’s farm, Steven acts as Nick’s protector and lifeline to the outside world.
As the war escalates, bonds deepen and the fear of being different falls away. But after Nick unexpectedly disappears one day, Steven’s life focus is to find him. On the way, Steven finds a place he belongs and a lesson about love that will last him his lifetime.
MY THOUGHTS: Steven may think that he is ready to face whatever is ahead, but he is wrong. No one could possibly predict or be ready for the events that take place. Life changes fast.
Like Dicken's 'A Tale of Two Cities', it is about to become both the best of times, and the worst. Before they return home, the lives of all four boys will have changed irrevocably, taking them in directions they never could, nor should, have imagined.
Steven Katz is one of four fourteen year old boys at the centre of this story, which is told entirely through his eyes. He is a boy who feels at odds with the world and those around him. He just doesn't fit in until he meets Suki, Nick and Ollie, and a friendship is formed that will last their entire respective lives.
Catherine Ryan-Hyde is an automatic read for me and I looked forward to Boy Underground, expecting 'an emotional and uplifting' read as promised. But it never happened. I felt strangely detached from the story and never quite became fully invested. In fact, I found myself skimming in places and, once or twice, debated not finishing. I'm glad I did finish, but the fact that it took me four days to read this speaks for itself.
I loved the friendship between the four boys, the sense of solidarity and their need to protect one another. But at certain points that should have produced a strong emotional response in me, I felt little or nothing. Maybe it's me . . .
I felt the thread involving Nick's father accusing his son of a crime that he himself had committed to be a weak link in the story. It never rang true and seemed to drag on interminably.
I became bored and frustrated by the improbability of it.
The family dynamics of this era were interesting. Other than the Yamamoto's, none of the boys had close family relationships. Steven's family is very insular and remote from one another. They don't talk. Their characters are rigid and dogmatic. There is no obvious affection between family members, and 'what people think' and their own social standing is extremely important to them.
There is a wonderful, wise character by the name of Gordon Cho who rapidly became my favourite and a surrogate father/sounding board for Steven.
I would have liked this more, I think, had we been able to see into the other boy's lives. I would have loved to know more about the Yamamoto's lives in the internment camp; how Ollie felt as he set off for war; and Nick's experiences as he struck out on his own.
'The older I get, the less I know. I mean that in a good way. It seems that most of the trouble in this world stems from the things that we're sure we know. Now that I'm old enough and experienced enough to know that I know nothing, the world is a constant, pleasant surprise. And the things that I allow life to bring me are consistently better than anything I might have sought - or even imagined - for myself.' And while I am sure that the world is not entirely 'a constant, pleasant surprise,' this is a sentiment that I can definitely relate to.
Boy Underground was a good read, but not a great one, although I seem to be an outlier on that point. As I said, maybe it's me . . .
⭐⭐.8
#BoyUnderground #NetGalley
I: @catherineryanhyde @amazonpublishing
T: @cryanhyde @AmazonPub
#comingofage #historicalfiction #sliceoflife #WWII
THE AUTHOR: I am the author of more than 30 published and forthcoming books. I'm an avid hiker, traveler, equestrian, and amateur photographer.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Boy Underground by Catherine Ryan-Hyde for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinion.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
My stomach jangled with fear at going up there on foot. They looked big and powerful and unforgiving, and that made me feel small.
I thought about what my father had said. How it was rough country up there, and how I didn't get that yet. How I hadn't had much in the way of hardship. It gave me a chill.
Then I remembered the words that came right after.
My father saying, 'It'll make a man out of him.'
My mother countering with, 'Unless he dies first.'
It brought a shiver that I think the others might have seen if they hadn't been watching the view.
Still, I knew that whatever awaited me, there was no backing down now. And I wasn't sorry about that. I was scared. But I was still ready.
ABOUT 'BOY UNDERGROUND': 1941. Steven Katz is the son of prosperous landowners in rural California. Although his parents don’t approve, he’s found true friends in Nick, Suki, and Ollie, sons of field workers. The group is inseparable. But Steven is in turmoil. He’s beginning to acknowledge that his feelings for Nick amount to more than friendship.
When the bombing of Pearl Harbor draws the US into World War II, Suki and his family are forced to leave their home for the internment camp at Manzanar. Ollie enlists in the army and ships out. And Nick must flee. Betrayed by his own father and accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he turns to Steven for help. Hiding Nick in a root cellar on his family’s farm, Steven acts as Nick’s protector and lifeline to the outside world.
As the war escalates, bonds deepen and the fear of being different falls away. But after Nick unexpectedly disappears one day, Steven’s life focus is to find him. On the way, Steven finds a place he belongs and a lesson about love that will last him his lifetime.
MY THOUGHTS: Steven may think that he is ready to face whatever is ahead, but he is wrong. No one could possibly predict or be ready for the events that take place. Life changes fast.
Like Dicken's 'A Tale of Two Cities', it is about to become both the best of times, and the worst. Before they return home, the lives of all four boys will have changed irrevocably, taking them in directions they never could, nor should, have imagined.
Steven Katz is one of four fourteen year old boys at the centre of this story, which is told entirely through his eyes. He is a boy who feels at odds with the world and those around him. He just doesn't fit in until he meets Suki, Nick and Ollie, and a friendship is formed that will last their entire respective lives.
Catherine Ryan-Hyde is an automatic read for me and I looked forward to Boy Underground, expecting 'an emotional and uplifting' read as promised. But it never happened. I felt strangely detached from the story and never quite became fully invested. In fact, I found myself skimming in places and, once or twice, debated not finishing. I'm glad I did finish, but the fact that it took me four days to read this speaks for itself.
I loved the friendship between the four boys, the sense of solidarity and their need to protect one another. But at certain points that should have produced a strong emotional response in me, I felt little or nothing. Maybe it's me . . .
I felt the thread involving Nick's father accusing his son of a crime that he himself had committed to be a weak link in the story. It never rang true and seemed to drag on interminably.
I became bored and frustrated by the improbability of it.
The family dynamics of this era were interesting. Other than the Yamamoto's, none of the boys had close family relationships. Steven's family is very insular and remote from one another. They don't talk. Their characters are rigid and dogmatic. There is no obvious affection between family members, and 'what people think' and their own social standing is extremely important to them.
There is a wonderful, wise character by the name of Gordon Cho who rapidly became my favourite and a surrogate father/sounding board for Steven.
I would have liked this more, I think, had we been able to see into the other boy's lives. I would have loved to know more about the Yamamoto's lives in the internment camp; how Ollie felt as he set off for war; and Nick's experiences as he struck out on his own.
'The older I get, the less I know. I mean that in a good way. It seems that most of the trouble in this world stems from the things that we're sure we know. Now that I'm old enough and experienced enough to know that I know nothing, the world is a constant, pleasant surprise. And the things that I allow life to bring me are consistently better than anything I might have sought - or even imagined - for myself.' And while I am sure that the world is not entirely 'a constant, pleasant surprise,' this is a sentiment that I can definitely relate to.
Boy Underground was a good read, but not a great one, although I seem to be an outlier on that point. As I said, maybe it's me . . .
⭐⭐.8
#BoyUnderground #NetGalley
I: @catherineryanhyde @amazonpublishing
T: @cryanhyde @AmazonPub
#comingofage #historicalfiction #sliceoflife #WWII
THE AUTHOR: I am the author of more than 30 published and forthcoming books. I'm an avid hiker, traveler, equestrian, and amateur photographer.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Boy Underground by Catherine Ryan-Hyde for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinion.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
December 9, 2021
In a Nutshell: A brilliant coming-of-age story with the perfect balance of character and story development. This will be one of my favourite reads of 2021.
Story:
I have read many books this year that include too many social themes within their storyline. And this overdose creates a saturation of sorts. All these authors should learn from Catherine Ryan Hyde about how themes should be tacked on to a story without going over the top. Each of the four main characters deals with specific one or two issues. And the focus stays only on those. There is no umbrella solution provided for all the problems of the world, nor is there a diluted stance presented on matters unconnected to the story. I loved how she built her themes in a very logical way, keeping the problem within the natural flow of the storyline rather than forcing it in just to make a social comment.
The characters in the book are impeccably written. They aren’t perfect; they are as real as can be. As the story comes to us from Steven, you learn the most about his feelings and struggles. The way he matures out of his initial under-confident personality and learns to speak up for himself is touching. His friends too will leave a mark on your hearts and minds, though not all of them get equal focus in the story. Nick, who has a father that loves his freedom more than his son, and Suki, whose only crime is that he belongs to a Japanese family, will touch you with their sincerity and values. Ollie and his bravado in enlisting though he is underage will leave you simultaneously awed and bewildered. The titular “boy underground” can stand for any of these four teenagers in the story, as all of them struggle with some repression and are forced to keep some part of themselves “underground”/hidden, whether physically or emotionally.
The attack on Pearl Harbor plays a crucial role in this story though it isn’t directly included in the narrative. Rather, the storyline dwells more about the aftermath of the bombing on these people who weren’t even in Hawaii. (I’m not surprised that the release date for this book was set for 7th December 2021, the 80th anniversary of the bombing.) This insight into how the laypersons’ life in America was affected by events happening so far away deserves credit as it is written very sensitively and honestly.
The only minor complaint I would make is that the foreshadowing goes a little overboard at times. It does created an added hook as contemporary Steven knows things that 1941 Steven didn’t know and even we readers don’t know. So the curiosity factor improves greatly. But when there’s foreshadowing again and again, you tend to lose track of how many things to keep in mind. (Obviously, this is a problem only for those who like to keep the foreshadowed content in mind for future reference and “Aha!” moments, i.e. readers like me!)
Overall, this is a heartfelt novel that depicts what the bildungsroman genre should truly be about. Read it for its storyline. Read it for its beautiful writing and plenty of cherishable and thought-provoking lines. Read it for its characters. Read it to see a boy coming of age not just in calendar years but also in personal strength and maturity. Read it to see how one can live a dignified life while staying true to one’s character and identity.
4.5 stars from me for this amazing read.
My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of “Boy Underground”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
***********************
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Story:
Fourteen year old Steven Katz is the son of wealthy landowners in rural California. Because of certain personal issues, he has moved away from his old friend circle and found new friendship with Nick, Suki and Ollie, the sons of farm workers. Needless to say, his parents don’t approve of this new friendship, and not just because of the class differences. This is December 1941. When Pearl Harbour is bombed, the lives of the four friends get upended in a way that they never foresaw. Will they have a future together after so much of turmoil in their lives?
The entire story comes to us in the first person perspective of Steven Katz and is written in flashback from a contemporary time. Thus we get to see not just what happened but also Steven’s musings on what he now feels about what happened then. This adds to the personal touch of the story as you actually feel that the character is speaking to you through the pages.
I have read many books this year that include too many social themes within their storyline. And this overdose creates a saturation of sorts. All these authors should learn from Catherine Ryan Hyde about how themes should be tacked on to a story without going over the top. Each of the four main characters deals with specific one or two issues. And the focus stays only on those. There is no umbrella solution provided for all the problems of the world, nor is there a diluted stance presented on matters unconnected to the story. I loved how she built her themes in a very logical way, keeping the problem within the natural flow of the storyline rather than forcing it in just to make a social comment.
The characters in the book are impeccably written. They aren’t perfect; they are as real as can be. As the story comes to us from Steven, you learn the most about his feelings and struggles. The way he matures out of his initial under-confident personality and learns to speak up for himself is touching. His friends too will leave a mark on your hearts and minds, though not all of them get equal focus in the story. Nick, who has a father that loves his freedom more than his son, and Suki, whose only crime is that he belongs to a Japanese family, will touch you with their sincerity and values. Ollie and his bravado in enlisting though he is underage will leave you simultaneously awed and bewildered. The titular “boy underground” can stand for any of these four teenagers in the story, as all of them struggle with some repression and are forced to keep some part of themselves “underground”/hidden, whether physically or emotionally.
The attack on Pearl Harbor plays a crucial role in this story though it isn’t directly included in the narrative. Rather, the storyline dwells more about the aftermath of the bombing on these people who weren’t even in Hawaii. (I’m not surprised that the release date for this book was set for 7th December 2021, the 80th anniversary of the bombing.) This insight into how the laypersons’ life in America was affected by events happening so far away deserves credit as it is written very sensitively and honestly.
The only minor complaint I would make is that the foreshadowing goes a little overboard at times. It does created an added hook as contemporary Steven knows things that 1941 Steven didn’t know and even we readers don’t know. So the curiosity factor improves greatly. But when there’s foreshadowing again and again, you tend to lose track of how many things to keep in mind. (Obviously, this is a problem only for those who like to keep the foreshadowed content in mind for future reference and “Aha!” moments, i.e. readers like me!)
Overall, this is a heartfelt novel that depicts what the bildungsroman genre should truly be about. Read it for its storyline. Read it for its beautiful writing and plenty of cherishable and thought-provoking lines. Read it for its characters. Read it to see a boy coming of age not just in calendar years but also in personal strength and maturity. Read it to see how one can live a dignified life while staying true to one’s character and identity.
4.5 stars from me for this amazing read.
My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of “Boy Underground”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
***********************
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December 19, 2021
Boy Underground by Catherine Ryan Hyde
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Catherine Ryan Hyde once again you have completely captivated me with another incredible story. Your writing skills never sees to amaze me!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Catherine Ryan Hyde once again you have completely captivated me with another incredible story. Your writing skills never sees to amaze me!
December 7, 2021
In 1941, Steven Katz is fourteen and struggling to be accepted at high school near California's Sierra Mountains, when he makes a new friend, Suki Yamamoto, son of Japanese immigrants. He soon becomes friendly with Suki’s friends Ollie and Nick and soon they become a tight knit group. Steven knows his parents, wealthy landowners would not approve of his new friends, but they are disinterested in their son and what he’s doing, provided he’s not doing anything to harm the family name.
One day in December the boys decide to hike up to a lake in the Sierras and camp overnight. When they come back down the mountain the next morning their world has changed radically and nothing will ever be the same again for any of them. Pearl Harbour has been bombed and the US is now at war with rumours that all Japanese immigrants are to be sent to internment camps. More locally, one of the boys has been implicated in a serious crime that he couldn't have done and another of his group will decide to enlist in the army rather than wait around to be called up.
Catherine Ryan Hyde always writes such beautiful novels full of rich ideas and wonderful characters and this novel is no exception. The novel has a number of themes, exploring racism against immigrants (sadly still prevalent today), making sure justice is fairly dealt and the importance of respecting every individual for who they are, regardless of family or background. The boys and their relationships are very sensitively handled. Steven’s relationship with his parents is cold and distant and he has to deal on his own with a lot of emotional upheaval and distress regarding the events affecting his friends as well as his own growing awareness of his sexuality. He is fortunate to find an empathetic mentor, the wise and wonderful Mr Cho, to help him deal with his doubts about himself and wanting to do what you feel is the right thing by your friends, despite what others think of you. This is a wonderful coming of age novel as well as a look back at a dark time in the history of Japanese Americans. It’s very fitting that the novel is being published on 7th December on the 80th anniversary of the Pearl harbour bombing.
With thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for a copy to read
One day in December the boys decide to hike up to a lake in the Sierras and camp overnight. When they come back down the mountain the next morning their world has changed radically and nothing will ever be the same again for any of them. Pearl Harbour has been bombed and the US is now at war with rumours that all Japanese immigrants are to be sent to internment camps. More locally, one of the boys has been implicated in a serious crime that he couldn't have done and another of his group will decide to enlist in the army rather than wait around to be called up.
Catherine Ryan Hyde always writes such beautiful novels full of rich ideas and wonderful characters and this novel is no exception. The novel has a number of themes, exploring racism against immigrants (sadly still prevalent today), making sure justice is fairly dealt and the importance of respecting every individual for who they are, regardless of family or background. The boys and their relationships are very sensitively handled. Steven’s relationship with his parents is cold and distant and he has to deal on his own with a lot of emotional upheaval and distress regarding the events affecting his friends as well as his own growing awareness of his sexuality. He is fortunate to find an empathetic mentor, the wise and wonderful Mr Cho, to help him deal with his doubts about himself and wanting to do what you feel is the right thing by your friends, despite what others think of you. This is a wonderful coming of age novel as well as a look back at a dark time in the history of Japanese Americans. It’s very fitting that the novel is being published on 7th December on the 80th anniversary of the Pearl harbour bombing.
With thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for a copy to read
February 20, 2022
It’s hard growing up, even harder when you are a fourteen year old boy finding he is gay in a society that thought this was an aberration.
The time of this story, is a bit before the advent of WW 2. We are transported to a simpler time where hard work was expected and life seemed hard but regulated.
The main character Steven Katz has just aligned himself with a new group of friends, including a Japanese boy Suki, a boy, Nick he is attracted to and Ollie. They have hard lives but it is Nick and Steven who seem to be burdened with cold, unloving families. They are drawn to each other, looking for love that is so absent in their lives.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor and the actions of Nick’s father throw this small group of friends into turmoil as one goes off to war, one to Manzanar, and the third to be hidden in a root cellar.
This is truly a story of love, the need for companionship, the longing for closeness, and the learning that life offers choices but also delivers pain.
It is most basically a story of friendship. What does constitute a friend? It is a person who makes you whole, and who encourages you to embrace all that is given to you.
I enjoyed this tale mainly because the main character was such a steadfast young man. The topic of Nick's homosexuality is handled with grace and compassion for the times this boy lived in.
My thanks to Catherine Ryan Hyde, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this story which was published on December 7, 2021.
The time of this story, is a bit before the advent of WW 2. We are transported to a simpler time where hard work was expected and life seemed hard but regulated.
The main character Steven Katz has just aligned himself with a new group of friends, including a Japanese boy Suki, a boy, Nick he is attracted to and Ollie. They have hard lives but it is Nick and Steven who seem to be burdened with cold, unloving families. They are drawn to each other, looking for love that is so absent in their lives.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor and the actions of Nick’s father throw this small group of friends into turmoil as one goes off to war, one to Manzanar, and the third to be hidden in a root cellar.
This is truly a story of love, the need for companionship, the longing for closeness, and the learning that life offers choices but also delivers pain.
It is most basically a story of friendship. What does constitute a friend? It is a person who makes you whole, and who encourages you to embrace all that is given to you.
I enjoyed this tale mainly because the main character was such a steadfast young man. The topic of Nick's homosexuality is handled with grace and compassion for the times this boy lived in.
My thanks to Catherine Ryan Hyde, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this story which was published on December 7, 2021.
May 14, 2023
✰ 5 stars ✰
“So many times in life we think we see what we want. That we know what we want. Looking back through the wrong end of that scope, I sometimes wonder why we still believe we know anything at all.”
There is no other way to say it - I loved Boy Underground. Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote a beautiful poignant coming-of-age story about a young fourteen-year-old boy, Steven Katz, and how his life and the lives of his three friends were forever changed during World War II. The story is retold through the eyes of a much-older Steven as he recalls the memories of the events that took place during those four years that would turn him into the man that he was today.
“It’s funny, the different things we remember.”
Steven Katz had such a presence to him - even at fourteen, his voice, his beliefs, his helpful caring and kind nature for his friends was so very admirable - so much that I wanted him to achieve success in every obstacle he faced. He had such a hard time finding a place to belong and when he found a friendship with his three friends - he fought so hard to keep it. The lengths he went to protect Nicky - the effort he put into reaching Suki - the heartbreak and loneliness he felt for Ollie - he overcame so much that when he finally was able to achieve happiness with himself and his life, it warmed my heart so much. To let go of his past and his family, to venture out into the world alone - hopeful for a brighter, better future...
I adored the writing - there was such an honesty to it - such a clear-cut feeling to it - such bravery - such feeling and compassion it could just evoke in me - as I watched the world change in the eyes of these four boys - Steven, Suki, Nick, and Ollie. They share one magical unforgettable hike up into the mountains - an experience that would permanently bond them as a unit - never knowing that once they made the descent their lives would be taking a turn none of them were quite prepared for - mentally, physically or emotionally. 😢😢
“Enjoying the world just as it is. Understanding that many things are incomplete. Allowing it to be so.”
The title of this book has so many multi-facets to it - the literal meaning behind it that as I read, I wondered who really was the 'boy underground' ? Was it Steven - who had to bury his burgeoning newfound sexuality and his own personal views as he lay on the cusp of adulthood and under the strict thumb of his parents? Was it Nick - who was wrongfully accused for a crime he didn't commit and had to spend the better of his teen years buried away in a cellar - away from sunlight - away from growth - away from living? Was it Ollie - who met his untimely death - buried beneath the seas - without reaching the fruits of his youth? Or was it Suki - whose family had to bury all that they had spent their livings building and be relocated under duress - without any fault to their own? 😔😔
“What is what to me?” But I knew.
“Why are you concerned about Japanese relocation?”
“Because it’s wrong,” I said.
“Interesting,” he said. And scribbled on his pad again.
“What’s so interesting about it?”
“I just can’t help noticing that you seem to be very sure that you’re right and all the responsible adults are wrong.”
“You don’t need to be an adult,” I said. “You just need to have a conscience.”
When I was young, I read a book called Farewell to Manzanar - a sad but haunting glimpse into one family's life that was affected by the United States decision to send Japanese Americans to camps. To this day, I never understood - never can quite figure out how the U.S. justified their actions - who probably, much like, Steven's father who claimed 'it's okay, because no one is killing them'. Did they not realized the gravity of their actions?
The repercussions that these human beings would never be able to be let go? It hurt me so much - even now, the pain of just knowing that such events actually occurred willingly still breaks my heart. And to read Steven's attempts of trying to reach Suki at Manzanar - the journey and struggles he faced just to have one chance to meet him - to see if his friend - his vibrant, full of life friend - was alright - even just for a second... 💔💔
“My heart flew down to him. My body stayed upstairs. It was a wrenching experience. It felt like being torn apart. --- My stolen nighttime visits with Nick were all I really cared about. All I waited for. All that was holding me up anymore. Having one snatched away felt unbearable.”
And while this is not a romance - the moments when Steven was trying his hardest to keep Nick safe - sacrificing his own peace of mind just to keep him close was heart-wrenching. Because it wasn't just a friend he was trying to protect - it was his newly-discovered feelings - the realization that he was different from other boys - that what he was feeling was not normal in the eyes of his family. 🥺🥺 But, to have that comfort - that ache of warmth with someone who brought out those emotions in him - that made him feel something new - something precious - that he would forever keep him close to his heart for his teenage years...
““Steven, wait. You love me. Right?”
I just stood at the ladderlike steps for a moment, one hand on a damp rung. Trying to convince my heart to start beating again. Trying to remind my lungs how to draw air.
“Yes,” I said. “I love you.”
I waited to see if he would say it to me in return.
Instead he just said, “Good. Thank you. Somebody has to love me.”
“Okay,” I said.
I pulled to my feet, nursing the raw, empty chasm that had formed inside my chest. But a second later he spoke again, and the canyon closed.
And warmed. And filled. As though nothing had ever been missing inside me. Not one day of my life.
“I love you, too, Steven.”
The ending was very bittersweet - but honestly, very real. 🥹🥹 I would have liked to have seen more of Steven's life beyond, but the epilogue tied up everything so nicely - in such a heartfelt manner - even the final chapter concluded his coming-of-age journey in a manner that suited his future perfectly. It may have not been what I had hoped or expected to see happen, but for Steven grow up to the be the man that he was - to gain his freedom, to walk away from his family scorn and their prejudiced values, to stay honest to what he believed in and to stand by the values he steadfastly held onto - while still being true to himself was the most gratifying and rewarding moment ever. 🥹
No one person is perfect - they have their flaws and they make their mistakes - but how they find a way out of it - how Steven fought so hard to make things right for everyone made the writing so compelling. I was so engrossed in their stories - so much heart and care was given with each word and phrase - not to educate but to heighten the importance of acceptance, of prejudice, of family values, and most of all - being true to yourself. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
“So many times in life we think we see what we want. That we know what we want. Looking back through the wrong end of that scope, I sometimes wonder why we still believe we know anything at all.”
There is no other way to say it - I loved Boy Underground. Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote a beautiful poignant coming-of-age story about a young fourteen-year-old boy, Steven Katz, and how his life and the lives of his three friends were forever changed during World War II. The story is retold through the eyes of a much-older Steven as he recalls the memories of the events that took place during those four years that would turn him into the man that he was today.
“It’s funny, the different things we remember.”
Steven Katz had such a presence to him - even at fourteen, his voice, his beliefs, his helpful caring and kind nature for his friends was so very admirable - so much that I wanted him to achieve success in every obstacle he faced. He had such a hard time finding a place to belong and when he found a friendship with his three friends - he fought so hard to keep it. The lengths he went to protect Nicky - the effort he put into reaching Suki - the heartbreak and loneliness he felt for Ollie - he overcame so much that when he finally was able to achieve happiness with himself and his life, it warmed my heart so much. To let go of his past and his family, to venture out into the world alone - hopeful for a brighter, better future...
I adored the writing - there was such an honesty to it - such a clear-cut feeling to it - such bravery - such feeling and compassion it could just evoke in me - as I watched the world change in the eyes of these four boys - Steven, Suki, Nick, and Ollie. They share one magical unforgettable hike up into the mountains - an experience that would permanently bond them as a unit - never knowing that once they made the descent their lives would be taking a turn none of them were quite prepared for - mentally, physically or emotionally. 😢😢
“Enjoying the world just as it is. Understanding that many things are incomplete. Allowing it to be so.”
The title of this book has so many multi-facets to it - the literal meaning behind it that as I read, I wondered who really was the 'boy underground' ? Was it Steven - who had to bury his burgeoning newfound sexuality and his own personal views as he lay on the cusp of adulthood and under the strict thumb of his parents? Was it Nick - who was wrongfully accused for a crime he didn't commit and had to spend the better of his teen years buried away in a cellar - away from sunlight - away from growth - away from living? Was it Ollie - who met his untimely death - buried beneath the seas - without reaching the fruits of his youth? Or was it Suki - whose family had to bury all that they had spent their livings building and be relocated under duress - without any fault to their own? 😔😔
“What is what to me?” But I knew.
“Why are you concerned about Japanese relocation?”
“Because it’s wrong,” I said.
“Interesting,” he said. And scribbled on his pad again.
“What’s so interesting about it?”
“I just can’t help noticing that you seem to be very sure that you’re right and all the responsible adults are wrong.”
“You don’t need to be an adult,” I said. “You just need to have a conscience.”
When I was young, I read a book called Farewell to Manzanar - a sad but haunting glimpse into one family's life that was affected by the United States decision to send Japanese Americans to camps. To this day, I never understood - never can quite figure out how the U.S. justified their actions - who probably, much like, Steven's father who claimed 'it's okay, because no one is killing them'. Did they not realized the gravity of their actions?
The repercussions that these human beings would never be able to be let go? It hurt me so much - even now, the pain of just knowing that such events actually occurred willingly still breaks my heart. And to read Steven's attempts of trying to reach Suki at Manzanar - the journey and struggles he faced just to have one chance to meet him - to see if his friend - his vibrant, full of life friend - was alright - even just for a second... 💔💔
“My heart flew down to him. My body stayed upstairs. It was a wrenching experience. It felt like being torn apart. --- My stolen nighttime visits with Nick were all I really cared about. All I waited for. All that was holding me up anymore. Having one snatched away felt unbearable.”
And while this is not a romance - the moments when Steven was trying his hardest to keep Nick safe - sacrificing his own peace of mind just to keep him close was heart-wrenching. Because it wasn't just a friend he was trying to protect - it was his newly-discovered feelings - the realization that he was different from other boys - that what he was feeling was not normal in the eyes of his family. 🥺🥺 But, to have that comfort - that ache of warmth with someone who brought out those emotions in him - that made him feel something new - something precious - that he would forever keep him close to his heart for his teenage years...
““Steven, wait. You love me. Right?”
I just stood at the ladderlike steps for a moment, one hand on a damp rung. Trying to convince my heart to start beating again. Trying to remind my lungs how to draw air.
“Yes,” I said. “I love you.”
I waited to see if he would say it to me in return.
Instead he just said, “Good. Thank you. Somebody has to love me.”
“Okay,” I said.
I pulled to my feet, nursing the raw, empty chasm that had formed inside my chest. But a second later he spoke again, and the canyon closed.
And warmed. And filled. As though nothing had ever been missing inside me. Not one day of my life.
“I love you, too, Steven.”
The ending was very bittersweet - but honestly, very real. 🥹🥹 I would have liked to have seen more of Steven's life beyond, but the epilogue tied up everything so nicely - in such a heartfelt manner - even the final chapter concluded his coming-of-age journey in a manner that suited his future perfectly. It may have not been what I had hoped or expected to see happen, but for Steven grow up to the be the man that he was - to gain his freedom, to walk away from his family scorn and their prejudiced values, to stay honest to what he believed in and to stand by the values he steadfastly held onto - while still being true to himself was the most gratifying and rewarding moment ever. 🥹
No one person is perfect - they have their flaws and they make their mistakes - but how they find a way out of it - how Steven fought so hard to make things right for everyone made the writing so compelling. I was so engrossed in their stories - so much heart and care was given with each word and phrase - not to educate but to heighten the importance of acceptance, of prejudice, of family values, and most of all - being true to yourself. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
September 25, 2021
Once again, Catherine Ryan Hyde has written a wonderful novel that deals with challenging ideas in an accessible, easy-to-understand way. In Boy Underground, she writes a compelling narrative that touches on racism, classism, and ignorance and prejudice surrounding the LBGTQ community.
The book begins in 1941, when 14-year-old Steven Katz befriends Ollie, Suki, and Nick. Steven seems to have it easier than his new friends because his father is a landowner while their fathers are laborers on his or surrounding farms. His parents would not approve of his buddies, but they pay so little attention to him, they don’t even know who his friends are until the war manages to separate them for various reasons.
Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel, which RELEASES DECEMBER 7, 2021.
The book begins in 1941, when 14-year-old Steven Katz befriends Ollie, Suki, and Nick. Steven seems to have it easier than his new friends because his father is a landowner while their fathers are laborers on his or surrounding farms. His parents would not approve of his buddies, but they pay so little attention to him, they don’t even know who his friends are until the war manages to separate them for various reasons.
Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel, which RELEASES DECEMBER 7, 2021.
December 12, 2021
It was 1941 in the small rural town in California when Steven Katz became friends with Ollie, Suki and Nick at school. They were all sons of workers on the farms around the area and three of the four boys were only fourteen. Ollie was seventeen but the group were all close friends, camping, hiking the nearby mountains and just hanging out. But that all changed when the US joined the war effort. With Suki being of Japanese descent, he and his family were made to relocate to an internment camp at Manzanar. Ollie enlisted in the army, prepared to do his duty for his country, while Nick had to disappear after his father told the police it was Nick who committed a crime. Nick’s betrayal by his father hurt him badly, but Steven was prepared to help him stay safe.
As the years passed and life continued, Steven turned eighteen the day war ended. After Steven picked up Suki and his family from the internment camp and took them to the nearest bus stop, it was time for him to make his own life. His first plan was to find Nick whom he knew lived in New York. What would happen when the two friends met once again? What would the future look like for the young man who had been a farmer’s son, and an outcast in his family life?
Boy Underground is another exceptional novel from Catherine Ryan Hyde. I only recently found this author, and in the few of hers I’ve read, not one has disappointed. She’s a wonderful writer, who certainly knows how to weave a story to captivate her readers. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, from the four main characters to the poignant ending. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
As the years passed and life continued, Steven turned eighteen the day war ended. After Steven picked up Suki and his family from the internment camp and took them to the nearest bus stop, it was time for him to make his own life. His first plan was to find Nick whom he knew lived in New York. What would happen when the two friends met once again? What would the future look like for the young man who had been a farmer’s son, and an outcast in his family life?
Boy Underground is another exceptional novel from Catherine Ryan Hyde. I only recently found this author, and in the few of hers I’ve read, not one has disappointed. She’s a wonderful writer, who certainly knows how to weave a story to captivate her readers. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, from the four main characters to the poignant ending. Highly recommended.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
December 21, 2021
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.
I needed an uplifting book and Catherine Ryan Hyde is always the answer! This time, the author takes us to California in the 1940's and the story of Steven Katz and his three teenage friends. Although the majority of the story centers around Steven and his interactions with the other people in the story, we are given glimpses into the sentiment of people at this time in the days following Pearl Harbor and the rounding up of the Japanese population.
I absolutely loved this story and I couldn't put it down. I loved Steven and Nick and the resolution of their story was quite a surprise. Certainly a favorite of 2021!
Goodreads review published 04/12/21
Publication Date 07/12/21
I needed an uplifting book and Catherine Ryan Hyde is always the answer! This time, the author takes us to California in the 1940's and the story of Steven Katz and his three teenage friends. Although the majority of the story centers around Steven and his interactions with the other people in the story, we are given glimpses into the sentiment of people at this time in the days following Pearl Harbor and the rounding up of the Japanese population.
I absolutely loved this story and I couldn't put it down. I loved Steven and Nick and the resolution of their story was quite a surprise. Certainly a favorite of 2021!
Goodreads review published 04/12/21
Publication Date 07/12/21
November 11, 2021
Steven Katz has just started high school in 1941, he meets three teenage boys Suki, Ollie and Nick and they become best friends. Steven’s father owns a large farm, he feels the odd one out in his family and his older brother Terrence is his mother’s favorite. The boys go on a camping trip, when they return the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbour and his parents are unhappy his friendship choices. American enters the war, and the Yamanto family are sent to an internment camp in California called Manzanar and older Ollie joins up.
Steven returns to school, nothing is said about all the empty desks and everyone acts like nothing has changed in town. This makes Steven mad, his friend Nick’s accused of a crime he didn’t commit, Steven’s the only person who can help him and he hides him in his parent’s root cellar. Nick and Steven are teenagers, and are very confused by their feelings towards each other. Nick leaves, Steven waits to hear from his friend and his relationship with his parents continues to deteriorate.
Steven leaves the farm when he turns eighteen, he sets off to find Nick and he does. Steven discovers that life doesn’t always go as planned, he takes a big risk leaving home, he has to find his own place in the world, and work out his true feelings. The one thing that never changes is the bond between the friends, they continue to keep in touch over the years and as the decades go by.
Boy Underground is a story about friendship, social injustice, growing up during a war, young men going off to fight, making the ultimate sacrifice, and it’s a coming of age story. Catherine Ryan Hyde has a way of making you connect emotionally with the characters in her books, and she has done this once again. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, it's very moving and five stars from me.
https://karrenreadsbooks.blogspot.com/
Steven returns to school, nothing is said about all the empty desks and everyone acts like nothing has changed in town. This makes Steven mad, his friend Nick’s accused of a crime he didn’t commit, Steven’s the only person who can help him and he hides him in his parent’s root cellar. Nick and Steven are teenagers, and are very confused by their feelings towards each other. Nick leaves, Steven waits to hear from his friend and his relationship with his parents continues to deteriorate.
Steven leaves the farm when he turns eighteen, he sets off to find Nick and he does. Steven discovers that life doesn’t always go as planned, he takes a big risk leaving home, he has to find his own place in the world, and work out his true feelings. The one thing that never changes is the bond between the friends, they continue to keep in touch over the years and as the decades go by.
Boy Underground is a story about friendship, social injustice, growing up during a war, young men going off to fight, making the ultimate sacrifice, and it’s a coming of age story. Catherine Ryan Hyde has a way of making you connect emotionally with the characters in her books, and she has done this once again. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, it's very moving and five stars from me.
https://karrenreadsbooks.blogspot.com/
January 9, 2022
Oh my gosh you guys 😭, I’m actually crying as I write this review. ITS A SOLID 5+++++ read and so worthy of a book club sitting with lots of wine and boxes (yes boxes) of tissue because I’m telling you there is no way this can be read without tears.
The narrator Dan Butler deserves a 10 he will just reel you in and it feels as though you’ve actually went through whatever the character is going through that’s how good he is. He owned the story as though he’d lived it himself and I just loved it.
I keep on wishing I had suggested a buddy read on this one.
It’s not an angst read per se but still emotional , I don’t know how to classify it but it’s really an enjoyable read and the ending is just amazing ♥️♥️♥️.
The writing is superb, plot amazing, character development so heartbreakingly beautiful.
THIS IS A MUST READ OR LISTEN 🎧 !!
To be young gay and naive in a small town during the war …….Enough said 😘
The narrator Dan Butler deserves a 10 he will just reel you in and it feels as though you’ve actually went through whatever the character is going through that’s how good he is. He owned the story as though he’d lived it himself and I just loved it.
I keep on wishing I had suggested a buddy read on this one.
It’s not an angst read per se but still emotional , I don’t know how to classify it but it’s really an enjoyable read and the ending is just amazing ♥️♥️♥️.
The writing is superb, plot amazing, character development so heartbreakingly beautiful.
THIS IS A MUST READ OR LISTEN 🎧 !!
To be young gay and naive in a small town during the war …….Enough said 😘
December 8, 2021
Boy Underground takes place from 1941 to 1945 but the war plays only a peripheral role in this book. The story centres around Steven Katz who is 14 when the story begins. He lives on a farm in California with his mother, father and older brother. He has difficulty fitting in and doesn't have many friends until he meets up with Suki, Ollie and Nick.
I became totally involved in this story, the characters and the events that shaped Steven's life. He comes across as much older than his years as he reflects on many facets of life with great maturity. His parents are very distant and offer him little support plus his mother sounds like a terrible cook, worse than me! The story, told by Steven in 2019 at the age of 94, is extremely well written and was a pleasure to read. Highly recommended. 4.5 Stars!!
I wish to thank Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Available December 7, 2021
I became totally involved in this story, the characters and the events that shaped Steven's life. He comes across as much older than his years as he reflects on many facets of life with great maturity. His parents are very distant and offer him little support plus his mother sounds like a terrible cook, worse than me! The story, told by Steven in 2019 at the age of 94, is extremely well written and was a pleasure to read. Highly recommended. 4.5 Stars!!
I wish to thank Lake Union Publishing via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Available December 7, 2021
November 30, 2021
3.5 Stars
I often call author Catherine Ryan Hyde's books palate cleansers because they are usually very emotive and reliably good. My usual reading genres are biographies and historical fiction, so it's nice to change it up once in awhile. Whenever I see her books available, I automatically choose them to read.
This offering takes place in California during the commencement of WWII as Pearl Harbor is attacked on December 7, 1941. The main character is Steven Katz, a young teen who is discovering himself. His father is a landowner who employs workers to farm his lands. Steven is unhappy at home. He dislikes all the meals his mother provides, isn't close to his older brother Terrance, and also is detached from his father. His mother seems to "wear the pants" in the family and has a laser focus on what's going on, with a lot of opinions to go with it. The sense is that the only redeeming value Steven has on home is a roof over his head and tasteless food on the table.
Steven has recently shed a set of family approved friends and found three others in Nick, Suki and Ollie at school. He finds acceptance in their eyes without words and they embark on a mountain climb adventure which coincides with the Pearl Harbor attack. There are many ramifications from the resultant war that ensues like internment camps for Japanese living in the US and siblings and friends enlisting in the service. Matters are complicated further when one friend gets blamed for a crime he didn't commit. Steven's self-discovery of his romantic preference is handled subtly.
I found the theme of the false charge on one of Steven's friends tiresome and weak, and it did not hold my interest as it rippled throughout the book. I'm glad I stuck it out, as I was surprised with a measured, unexpected and heartwarming ending.
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
I often call author Catherine Ryan Hyde's books palate cleansers because they are usually very emotive and reliably good. My usual reading genres are biographies and historical fiction, so it's nice to change it up once in awhile. Whenever I see her books available, I automatically choose them to read.
This offering takes place in California during the commencement of WWII as Pearl Harbor is attacked on December 7, 1941. The main character is Steven Katz, a young teen who is discovering himself. His father is a landowner who employs workers to farm his lands. Steven is unhappy at home. He dislikes all the meals his mother provides, isn't close to his older brother Terrance, and also is detached from his father. His mother seems to "wear the pants" in the family and has a laser focus on what's going on, with a lot of opinions to go with it. The sense is that the only redeeming value Steven has on home is a roof over his head and tasteless food on the table.
Steven has recently shed a set of family approved friends and found three others in Nick, Suki and Ollie at school. He finds acceptance in their eyes without words and they embark on a mountain climb adventure which coincides with the Pearl Harbor attack. There are many ramifications from the resultant war that ensues like internment camps for Japanese living in the US and siblings and friends enlisting in the service. Matters are complicated further when one friend gets blamed for a crime he didn't commit. Steven's self-discovery of his romantic preference is handled subtly.
I found the theme of the false charge on one of Steven's friends tiresome and weak, and it did not hold my interest as it rippled throughout the book. I'm glad I stuck it out, as I was surprised with a measured, unexpected and heartwarming ending.
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
May 25, 2021
The story of four young teenage boys growing up in a small town in California in the 1940’s.
I really enjoyed this book, the wonderful storyline, the description of the era and the memorable characters.
I was totally hooked from the first page until the last page.
This is only the second book I have read by this author and I was delighted to learn that she has written many more books for me to read and enjoy.
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book, the wonderful storyline, the description of the era and the memorable characters.
I was totally hooked from the first page until the last page.
This is only the second book I have read by this author and I was delighted to learn that she has written many more books for me to read and enjoy.
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 12, 2021
3.5 🌠 🌠 🌠
This book was gifted to me and though YA, coming of age are not subjects I gravitate to, I enjoyed reading this way more than I thought I might and would definitely recommend this to anyone struggling to find their own voice and path in life or looking for a lighter read which tackles the tough circumstances and choices we all encounter in life. I agree with the description life affirming but there is depth and accountability in getting there and Catherine Ryan Hyde knows how to tell a good story. It was gratifying company for me at just the right time (in more ways than you can know) which is why I choose to round up my rating with a new determination to get to those other titles by her languishing on my Kindle.
This book was gifted to me and though YA, coming of age are not subjects I gravitate to, I enjoyed reading this way more than I thought I might and would definitely recommend this to anyone struggling to find their own voice and path in life or looking for a lighter read which tackles the tough circumstances and choices we all encounter in life. I agree with the description life affirming but there is depth and accountability in getting there and Catherine Ryan Hyde knows how to tell a good story. It was gratifying company for me at just the right time (in more ways than you can know) which is why I choose to round up my rating with a new determination to get to those other titles by her languishing on my Kindle.
May 28, 2022
I expected someone to talk to us about how we were to look at the [Japanese internment], or how best to get through it. Not having a storehouse of faith in the adults around me, I wouldn't have been surprised if one had told us what we were expected to think on the subject, even if their voices were totally, boneheadedly wrong.
The only thing I had not been prepared for was nothing. A complete vacuum of words. It was as if those boys and girls had never existed.
I guess what they said about it was exactly what they wanted us to think. Nothing. We were being asked to think nothing of it. We were being asked to rewrite history and act as if we had never known them.
I had no idea what to expect from this when I started it, but I'm very pleased with what I got.
First, this is not romance. It's a coming of age story, yes, but set against the backdrop of Pearl Harbor and the internment of the Japanese immigrants and citizens. There's racism of varying sorts and there's homophobia of the mostly subtle sort.
These are just fourteen-year old boys trying to make sense of the insensible and trying to navigate a world that's falling apart around them, even if it's a world they never quite fit into to begin with. Where the grown ups not only don't have the answers but often cause the problems. Where to speak up is to be targeted and possibly worse. But it's not a depressing book. Steven sees the good in people, even when no one else does, but he's not blinded by optimism. He's an interesting POV character, always trying to do what's right and moral despite the appalling lack of examples around him. His friends Nick, Suki and Ollie, come along just before the mayhem hits, but they adopt him into their circle and become fast friends, right when they'll need each other most. It reminded me a lot of Stand By Me actually in some aspects.
This story doesn't offer easy answers or solutions. Sometimes, there just are no answers or solutions. Sometimes, as Mr. Cho says, you just have let life be unresolved and accept it as it is. But when you can do something, do it. This story also doesn't leave us in a lurch. The final chapters bring a lot of hope and healing to our characters, but it's never once sappy.
I'm not sure I'm doing this justice. I don't really know how to write about what I'm feeling.
I'm just glad it was on Prime and I could read it, which I wouldn't have known if it hadn't been an Audible daily deal recently. (But listen to the sample first; I was not impressed by the narrator.)
September 24, 2021
A beautifully written coming of age story set during World War II in rural California. World War II is not the central focus, but is more of a backdrop for the story which is more about friendship, family, and prejudice. Steven Katz, son of a prosperous landowner, has made friends with three boys who all share a very different background than Steven: Ollie, Nick, and Suki (Itsuki). Steven is put in some very difficult situations that no one his age should ever have to deal with. And while the focus is on Steven, all three of the other boys have huge problems facing them as well.
This was both a heartbreaking and heartwarming story. The book kept me riveted. I truly enjoy this author's books and I feel this is one of the very best, and she has written many.
Thanks to Lake Union Publishing through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on December 7, 2021.
This was both a heartbreaking and heartwarming story. The book kept me riveted. I truly enjoy this author's books and I feel this is one of the very best, and she has written many.
Thanks to Lake Union Publishing through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on December 7, 2021.
November 27, 2021
“Some things are impossible for us to change, and any time we try to do something impossible, it’s going to wear us out. It saps our life force. Our energy. Maybe you hate a thing more than anything. But it’s what is. To accept it means to see that it is that way, and that it won’t be another way no matter how much you hate it.”
Boy Underground is a novel by best-selling American author, Catherine Ryan Hyde. In the fall of 1941, fourteen-year-old Steven Katz starts high school and makes some new friends. Suki (Itsuki) is slim, beautiful and funny, with Japanese parents. Ollie (Oliver) is little, but stylish and smart. Nick (Nicholas) is tall and well-built, and Steven is instantly smitten. He just hopes they’ll overlook his stupid questions and let him hang out with them.
By early December, they are ready for a hike into the Sierra Nevada mountains. Steven’s mother Beth, who is more concerned with social standing than her son’s happiness, queries why he’s no longer with his (socially acceptable) friends-since-kindergarten: he doesn’t tell her their increasing xenophobic, homophobic comments have put him off. His father, Marvin is an authoritarian land-owner who approves of anything that will make a man of his younger son.
The four friends enjoy their hike, but when they return, the world has changed. A far-off event and a local one have an enormous impact on their lives. Anti-Japanese sentiment in the wake of Pearl Harbour puts Suki and his family under threat of detention is an internment camp while America’s participation in the war puts seventeen-year-old Ollie under threat of the draft.
Closer to home, Nick’s drunken father has beat a man into a coma, then uses his son’s close likeness to shift the blame onto him, the threat of reform school making Nick a fugitive from the law. Which is how, several weeks later, Steven’s quota of nearby friends reduces by two thirds, to the boy he is hiding underground.
At school, no-one talks about their missing Japanese classmates: “A complete vacuum of words. It was as if those boys and girls had never existed. I guess what they said about it was exactly what they wanted us to think. Nothing. We were being asked to think nothing of it. We were being asked to rewrite history and act as if we had never known them.” Steven’s continuing friendship with a Japanese boy has been noted in town with disapproval (save one important exception), but he refuses to deny his friend, even if it results in his ostracism.
Ollie’s early enlistment worries his friends: their concern is vindicated. Keeping Nick safe and well in the root cellar isn’t easy, but Steven is prepared to make any sacrifice to help his friend, and his efforts to prove Nick innocent are not in vain. In his encounter with Nick’s father, the guilt and fear he sees somewhat enlighten Steven about what seem inexplicably cruel actions.
Ryan Hyde saddles this young protagonist with several heavy burdens, but while his unsupportive family fails to understand him, his friends do not: correspondence from his absent friends gives him courage; his connection with Nick grows stronger every day; and when Nick finally departs, good advice comes from an unexpected quarter.
Ryan Hyde’s characters never fail to steal into the reader’s heart and there may be moments when tissues are required. As always, she gives them wise words and insightful observations: at fourteen, Steven already understands “If you have shortcomings, I fully believe it’s better to look them in the eye. Pretending otherwise gets you nowhere.” Ryan Hyde gives the reader another wonderfully moving and uplifting read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing.
Boy Underground is a novel by best-selling American author, Catherine Ryan Hyde. In the fall of 1941, fourteen-year-old Steven Katz starts high school and makes some new friends. Suki (Itsuki) is slim, beautiful and funny, with Japanese parents. Ollie (Oliver) is little, but stylish and smart. Nick (Nicholas) is tall and well-built, and Steven is instantly smitten. He just hopes they’ll overlook his stupid questions and let him hang out with them.
By early December, they are ready for a hike into the Sierra Nevada mountains. Steven’s mother Beth, who is more concerned with social standing than her son’s happiness, queries why he’s no longer with his (socially acceptable) friends-since-kindergarten: he doesn’t tell her their increasing xenophobic, homophobic comments have put him off. His father, Marvin is an authoritarian land-owner who approves of anything that will make a man of his younger son.
The four friends enjoy their hike, but when they return, the world has changed. A far-off event and a local one have an enormous impact on their lives. Anti-Japanese sentiment in the wake of Pearl Harbour puts Suki and his family under threat of detention is an internment camp while America’s participation in the war puts seventeen-year-old Ollie under threat of the draft.
Closer to home, Nick’s drunken father has beat a man into a coma, then uses his son’s close likeness to shift the blame onto him, the threat of reform school making Nick a fugitive from the law. Which is how, several weeks later, Steven’s quota of nearby friends reduces by two thirds, to the boy he is hiding underground.
At school, no-one talks about their missing Japanese classmates: “A complete vacuum of words. It was as if those boys and girls had never existed. I guess what they said about it was exactly what they wanted us to think. Nothing. We were being asked to think nothing of it. We were being asked to rewrite history and act as if we had never known them.” Steven’s continuing friendship with a Japanese boy has been noted in town with disapproval (save one important exception), but he refuses to deny his friend, even if it results in his ostracism.
Ollie’s early enlistment worries his friends: their concern is vindicated. Keeping Nick safe and well in the root cellar isn’t easy, but Steven is prepared to make any sacrifice to help his friend, and his efforts to prove Nick innocent are not in vain. In his encounter with Nick’s father, the guilt and fear he sees somewhat enlighten Steven about what seem inexplicably cruel actions.
Ryan Hyde saddles this young protagonist with several heavy burdens, but while his unsupportive family fails to understand him, his friends do not: correspondence from his absent friends gives him courage; his connection with Nick grows stronger every day; and when Nick finally departs, good advice comes from an unexpected quarter.
Ryan Hyde’s characters never fail to steal into the reader’s heart and there may be moments when tissues are required. As always, she gives them wise words and insightful observations: at fourteen, Steven already understands “If you have shortcomings, I fully believe it’s better to look them in the eye. Pretending otherwise gets you nowhere.” Ryan Hyde gives the reader another wonderfully moving and uplifting read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing.
January 13, 2024
4.75 stars, happily rounding up to 5 stars. My first such rating of the year, I believe, and I'm pretty sure this book will end up in my Top 5 Reads of 2024.
What made this story stand out was its heart, and how much it moved mine. I cared about the main character and his friends right from the beginning, and found them to be believable, and too many authors take their time getting either of those things to happen. To be sure, there are a few anachronisms in this book set during World War II, but nothing that made me cringe or that took me out of the story. This story of a 14-year-old boy finding his way and coming of age in a war-torn world felt true, and it felt right, and it felt (nearly) perfect. Many thanks to the author for such a bittersweet but soul-filling story. Strongly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
What made this story stand out was its heart, and how much it moved mine. I cared about the main character and his friends right from the beginning, and found them to be believable, and too many authors take their time getting either of those things to happen. To be sure, there are a few anachronisms in this book set during World War II, but nothing that made me cringe or that took me out of the story. This story of a 14-year-old boy finding his way and coming of age in a war-torn world felt true, and it felt right, and it felt (nearly) perfect. Many thanks to the author for such a bittersweet but soul-filling story. Strongly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
August 29, 2021
Boy Underground is the fifth novel I have read by the talented Catherine Ryan Hyde. The plot of each book seems to have an element of fate. This seems especially true in Ms. Hyde’s newest project in which a 14-year-old boy meets a Japanese boy, who introduces him to another boy, who changes his whole life.
Steven Katz goes to his school’s baseball tryout because his dad made him. He doesn’t want to be there and thinks he may just lie and say that he didn’t make the team. He watches as a Japanese kid, Itsuki Yamamoto steps up to the plate. He looks cocky, like he’s about to pound the ball all over the field. Nope. He flails at the pitch. Once. Twice. Three times. It turns out that he’s there for the same reason Steven is. It’s a perfect start to a lasting friendship. “Suki” introduces Steven to his other pals, Ollie and Nick. Ollie is 17, and Nick is the same age as Suki and Steven but much bigger. He could pass for 17.
When the three friends announce that they’re going camping in the mountains, they invite Steven to go along. His mother says no. His father thinks that his mother coddles their son and says yes. The trip turns out to be a bonding experience. I mean, who wouldn’t want to hike up a mountain in December, dive into a freezing cold pool of water, and then cram into a tiny tent shivering all night with three guys he hardly knows? Hmm. Steven didn’t exactly hate any of it, especially the part where he was close to Nick, except that he was petrified, because, you know.
Why? Steven has already begun realize that he is more attracted to guys than to girls, and he is also aware that this is not acceptable in his town. It is especially not acceptable in his well-to-do, very conservative, uptight family where appearance matter more than anything else. If you’re someone who might be scared off by the fact that Steven is gay, don’t be. He is also a normal, sometimes awkward teenager who does not get along with his parents,or with his older brother, for that matter. He is trying to figure out how and why the world works the way it does. He proves to be a caring human being who occasionally messes up because he doesn’t have enough experience yet to know everything, but he acknowledges that. He has a lot of heart.
The year is 1941. The boys return home to some terrible news: Pearl Harbor was attacked. After another camping trip, it’s like deja vu. Some personal bad news for another of the friends. This forces one of the boys into hiding, and Steven goes the extra mile to assist his friends through their struggles. At fourteen, he is discovering who he is, he’s questioning authority and why the world is the way it is, and he wants to do what he can to make things better. He doesn’t judge his new buddies for where they live, where their dads work, or what color or nationality they are.
The war is on, and we see from the point of view of the families of a small California town – whites, Japanese, Chinese, and Jewish – wealthy and poor – how the war affects them. Life does go on, but it changes people too. More terrible news for the friends. And some in their families and their town, prejudices are deepened, like the battle wounds suffered by those have gone to war. For others, hearts are opened wider to accept those who are not like them.
I had just a few minor quibbles about this book. I felt that the parents, particularly Steven’s mother, were a bit too stereotyped, or was she a “typical” 1940s upper-class mother? She is a real shrew who is too concerned about social status – and a lousy cook too. She does not approve of Steven’s new friends, does not even want to meet them. I also felt that the while the concept of the “underground” is good, it is unrealistic that no one discovered it. However, those things in no way affected the impact this story had on me. It is beautifully written. I was deeply touched quite a few times, and there are a number of emotional scenes. There is so much love and loyalty among them, a real bond. The four friends are wonderful characters, as is the elderly Gordon Cho, whose wisdom I truly appreciated. Steven’s journey takes him through 1945.
The epilogue was a real pleasure to read. It picks up when Steven is 94! I would love to see another novel filling in the gap of all those years. Maybe someday, CRH?
As I read this book, I grew curious to know more about Manzamar War Relocation Center and found this link:
https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/histor.... This period was a black mark on our nation’s history, and it is important that we remember.
I sincerely wish to thank NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and the author for providing me with this NetGalley First Reads ARC of Boy Underground in exchange for my unbiased review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.
5 stars
Steven Katz goes to his school’s baseball tryout because his dad made him. He doesn’t want to be there and thinks he may just lie and say that he didn’t make the team. He watches as a Japanese kid, Itsuki Yamamoto steps up to the plate. He looks cocky, like he’s about to pound the ball all over the field. Nope. He flails at the pitch. Once. Twice. Three times. It turns out that he’s there for the same reason Steven is. It’s a perfect start to a lasting friendship. “Suki” introduces Steven to his other pals, Ollie and Nick. Ollie is 17, and Nick is the same age as Suki and Steven but much bigger. He could pass for 17.
When the three friends announce that they’re going camping in the mountains, they invite Steven to go along. His mother says no. His father thinks that his mother coddles their son and says yes. The trip turns out to be a bonding experience. I mean, who wouldn’t want to hike up a mountain in December, dive into a freezing cold pool of water, and then cram into a tiny tent shivering all night with three guys he hardly knows? Hmm. Steven didn’t exactly hate any of it, especially the part where he was close to Nick, except that he was petrified, because, you know.
Why? Steven has already begun realize that he is more attracted to guys than to girls, and he is also aware that this is not acceptable in his town. It is especially not acceptable in his well-to-do, very conservative, uptight family where appearance matter more than anything else. If you’re someone who might be scared off by the fact that Steven is gay, don’t be. He is also a normal, sometimes awkward teenager who does not get along with his parents,or with his older brother, for that matter. He is trying to figure out how and why the world works the way it does. He proves to be a caring human being who occasionally messes up because he doesn’t have enough experience yet to know everything, but he acknowledges that. He has a lot of heart.
The year is 1941. The boys return home to some terrible news: Pearl Harbor was attacked. After another camping trip, it’s like deja vu. Some personal bad news for another of the friends. This forces one of the boys into hiding, and Steven goes the extra mile to assist his friends through their struggles. At fourteen, he is discovering who he is, he’s questioning authority and why the world is the way it is, and he wants to do what he can to make things better. He doesn’t judge his new buddies for where they live, where their dads work, or what color or nationality they are.
The war is on, and we see from the point of view of the families of a small California town – whites, Japanese, Chinese, and Jewish – wealthy and poor – how the war affects them. Life does go on, but it changes people too. More terrible news for the friends. And some in their families and their town, prejudices are deepened, like the battle wounds suffered by those have gone to war. For others, hearts are opened wider to accept those who are not like them.
I had just a few minor quibbles about this book. I felt that the parents, particularly Steven’s mother, were a bit too stereotyped, or was she a “typical” 1940s upper-class mother? She is a real shrew who is too concerned about social status – and a lousy cook too. She does not approve of Steven’s new friends, does not even want to meet them. I also felt that the while the concept of the “underground” is good, it is unrealistic that no one discovered it. However, those things in no way affected the impact this story had on me. It is beautifully written. I was deeply touched quite a few times, and there are a number of emotional scenes. There is so much love and loyalty among them, a real bond. The four friends are wonderful characters, as is the elderly Gordon Cho, whose wisdom I truly appreciated. Steven’s journey takes him through 1945.
The epilogue was a real pleasure to read. It picks up when Steven is 94! I would love to see another novel filling in the gap of all those years. Maybe someday, CRH?
As I read this book, I grew curious to know more about Manzamar War Relocation Center and found this link:
https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/histor.... This period was a black mark on our nation’s history, and it is important that we remember.
I sincerely wish to thank NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and the author for providing me with this NetGalley First Reads ARC of Boy Underground in exchange for my unbiased review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.
5 stars
December 22, 2025
I adored the writing and characters, they both made the story feel so real to me. I listened to the audiobook and that experience felt as though I was watching a movie. I have never read or watched this kind of perspective of WWII, but I’m glad I did. Heartbreaking but hopeful.
December 3, 2024
Probably one of CRH's best books and one of her most severely under-read. (I won't say underrated because those of us who have had the joy of reading this book seem to be rating it accordingly!)
I will perhaps never get over the way CRH writes characters, particularly younger characters. She does an incredible job at capturing the emotions that are hard to describe. Her writing is so poignant and profoundly human. Every time I read one of her books, I am reminded how incredible people can be. That is a task that gets harder and harder in this day and age. That's why I love reading her work so much.
There is a lot of tenderness in this book. A lot of sorrow and grief through the lens of Steven, a young man who is living in a bleak stretch of history during WWII and things just seem to keep falling apart. But the overall tone of "Boy Underground" is hope and perseverance and love.
The pages turned effortlessly for me every time I sat down to read. I just had to continue on this journey with Steven, Suki, Ollie, and Nick. Four teenage boys in a rough world that is unkind to all of them in different ways, but their bonds keep them going.
What a lovely book. That's really the takeaway I get after turning that final page and closing on the ending. What a lovely, lovely book.
I will perhaps never get over the way CRH writes characters, particularly younger characters. She does an incredible job at capturing the emotions that are hard to describe. Her writing is so poignant and profoundly human. Every time I read one of her books, I am reminded how incredible people can be. That is a task that gets harder and harder in this day and age. That's why I love reading her work so much.
There is a lot of tenderness in this book. A lot of sorrow and grief through the lens of Steven, a young man who is living in a bleak stretch of history during WWII and things just seem to keep falling apart. But the overall tone of "Boy Underground" is hope and perseverance and love.
The pages turned effortlessly for me every time I sat down to read. I just had to continue on this journey with Steven, Suki, Ollie, and Nick. Four teenage boys in a rough world that is unkind to all of them in different ways, but their bonds keep them going.
What a lovely book. That's really the takeaway I get after turning that final page and closing on the ending. What a lovely, lovely book.
December 7, 2021
Boy Underground is a moving coming of age story set in Central California. I got this ARC ages ago, but something made me keep putting it off - even though I’ve adored pretty much everything this author has written - possibly my general dislike of World War 2 stories? With publication imminent, however, it was time to get to it - and I don’t know what I was worried about: it’s an emotional but ultimately heart-warming tale about love, friendship and overcoming small-town small-mindedness, featuring another memorably kind teenager - as most of her recent books have. It’s not a war book at all, although America’s treatment of its ethnic Japanese citizens during the conflict is a big part of the plot.
Steven Katz is fourteen and coming to terms with the knowledge that he is gay, a dangerous secret to have in a small town, when he gets to know a new group of boys at his school, Nick, Ollie and Itsuki. Steven is the son of a wealthy landowner while the others are farm workers’ sons, but they accept him as he is and are soon firm friends. When the boys go on a camping trip is early December 1942, they are unaware that the devastating attack on Pearl Harbour is about to change their lives forever.
Ryan Hyde has a knack for creating thought-provoking scenarios and challenges for her characters. The story is told by the much older Steven, now in his 90s, so we get flashes of what he thinks now. I’ll confess I found the frequent heavy foreshadowing to be unnecessary and rather distracting. The main plot is about his feelings for Nick, wrongfully accused of a serious crime actually committed by his own father, so forced to hide out in Steven’s family’s root cellar. Steven’s innocent yearning for Nick was beautifully conveyed and I was not sure at all how it would play out. His relationship with his awful family - and the way he comes to terms with and is able to reject and walk away from their prejudice - felt very real. It’s sad to think that even in these supposedly more enlightened times, not much has changed. 4.5 rounded up for the delightful epilogue.
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
Boy Underground is published on December 7th (it’s probably not a coincidence that this date will be the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbour, but it is a coincidence that it would also have been my mother’s 79th birthday!)
Steven Katz is fourteen and coming to terms with the knowledge that he is gay, a dangerous secret to have in a small town, when he gets to know a new group of boys at his school, Nick, Ollie and Itsuki. Steven is the son of a wealthy landowner while the others are farm workers’ sons, but they accept him as he is and are soon firm friends. When the boys go on a camping trip is early December 1942, they are unaware that the devastating attack on Pearl Harbour is about to change their lives forever.
Ryan Hyde has a knack for creating thought-provoking scenarios and challenges for her characters. The story is told by the much older Steven, now in his 90s, so we get flashes of what he thinks now. I’ll confess I found the frequent heavy foreshadowing to be unnecessary and rather distracting. The main plot is about his feelings for Nick, wrongfully accused of a serious crime actually committed by his own father, so forced to hide out in Steven’s family’s root cellar. Steven’s innocent yearning for Nick was beautifully conveyed and I was not sure at all how it would play out. His relationship with his awful family - and the way he comes to terms with and is able to reject and walk away from their prejudice - felt very real. It’s sad to think that even in these supposedly more enlightened times, not much has changed. 4.5 rounded up for the delightful epilogue.
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
Boy Underground is published on December 7th (it’s probably not a coincidence that this date will be the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbour, but it is a coincidence that it would also have been my mother’s 79th birthday!)
April 25, 2022
Nope. Doesn't work as WWII historical fiction nor as lgbt. There are plot holes, and non-1941 voices of a 14-year-old, and a wrong ending, and (sadly) more.
This was the first book I've read from this author. I saw serious awards for her many other books, and even Rainbow awards, so I was optimistic.
Warning - spoilers ahead - since I need to cite my low star rating.
Good points: the idea of the book (hence the jacket cover reads well)
My problems:
- This sounded like a much older character telling this story. This is supposed to be a 14 year old 9th grader in 1941, but the character sounds like a 17+ year old 12th grader from 2021.
- The boy underground is a BIG fellow 14 year old, Nick, hiding out for 6 months in a root cellar on a stray farm building while food is relayed to him nightly by Steven. How did this possibly go on this long without either Nick being found or Steven being discovered on his nightly excursion??
- How did police and EVERYONE in town NOT see the Steadman guy driving around in Nick's Dad's truck and thus have serious questions?
- How was Steven not allowed to be with any non-white friends, yet somehow went on an overnight camping trip with Nick, Ollie, and Suki (Japanese)? Who dropped Steven off on the camping trip to get his ride? Nick's parents were already concerned, so this was a very unacceptable plot hole.
- I liked how the boys like looking up at the constellation of Orion, which would have been visible in December. But soon after the early camping trip, a remark was made about how the full moon was washing out the stars, and that the moon was not up yet on the camping trip. Sorry - the moon would have risen EARLIER on the camping trip. Anyone pre-reading this story that knows stars/moon would have caught this too easily.
- Steven's Mom completely messes up the prescription understanding from the Dr? And the Dr. simply wrote a flu prescription for this 14 year old boy just per a story he told of a farm worker??!
- The very elderly Chinese man in town seems to speak perfect English and philosophizes way too well.
- What happened to ANY relationship development?!?! By page 47 we hear Nick remark that there are two boys he is truly in love with. Then NOTHING happens!
- Actually, something does happen, and it is the REVERSE of what anyone reading this would have wanted.
- The POV of the book was a first person, that went into a past-tense reflective voice that was extremely weird. Why were summary statements being handed out early in the book when that was easily seen to occur later?
This book started off at a max 4* quickly. I could just feel it. It did NOT have any depth of the WWII historical fiction that I like. And the crazy-quick chemistry of Steven toward other boys in 1941, plus his 2020's vernacular also constrained my score.
By about 3/4 through, my max score slid to a 3 (rounding a 3.5 downward). But then the ending arrived. Wow - now we are in 2* land.
Waste of my time reading this book. 1.5*
This was the first book I've read from this author. I saw serious awards for her many other books, and even Rainbow awards, so I was optimistic.
Warning - spoilers ahead - since I need to cite my low star rating.
Good points: the idea of the book (hence the jacket cover reads well)
My problems:
- This sounded like a much older character telling this story. This is supposed to be a 14 year old 9th grader in 1941, but the character sounds like a 17+ year old 12th grader from 2021.
- The boy underground is a BIG fellow 14 year old, Nick, hiding out for 6 months in a root cellar on a stray farm building while food is relayed to him nightly by Steven. How did this possibly go on this long without either Nick being found or Steven being discovered on his nightly excursion??
- How did police and EVERYONE in town NOT see the Steadman guy driving around in Nick's Dad's truck and thus have serious questions?
- How was Steven not allowed to be with any non-white friends, yet somehow went on an overnight camping trip with Nick, Ollie, and Suki (Japanese)? Who dropped Steven off on the camping trip to get his ride? Nick's parents were already concerned, so this was a very unacceptable plot hole.
- I liked how the boys like looking up at the constellation of Orion, which would have been visible in December. But soon after the early camping trip, a remark was made about how the full moon was washing out the stars, and that the moon was not up yet on the camping trip. Sorry - the moon would have risen EARLIER on the camping trip. Anyone pre-reading this story that knows stars/moon would have caught this too easily.
- Steven's Mom completely messes up the prescription understanding from the Dr? And the Dr. simply wrote a flu prescription for this 14 year old boy just per a story he told of a farm worker??!
- The very elderly Chinese man in town seems to speak perfect English and philosophizes way too well.
- What happened to ANY relationship development?!?! By page 47 we hear Nick remark that there are two boys he is truly in love with. Then NOTHING happens!
- Actually, something does happen, and it is the REVERSE of what anyone reading this would have wanted.
- The POV of the book was a first person, that went into a past-tense reflective voice that was extremely weird. Why were summary statements being handed out early in the book when that was easily seen to occur later?
This book started off at a max 4* quickly. I could just feel it. It did NOT have any depth of the WWII historical fiction that I like. And the crazy-quick chemistry of Steven toward other boys in 1941, plus his 2020's vernacular also constrained my score.
By about 3/4 through, my max score slid to a 3 (rounding a 3.5 downward). But then the ending arrived. Wow - now we are in 2* land.
Waste of my time reading this book. 1.5*
January 9, 2022
Catherine Ryan Hyde has published more than 30 books and Boy Underground is her latest offering. In this book she does a particularly good job of replicating how it must have felt to be a young person when the world is at war and life is altering rapidly for the worse. Not only that but she made it possible for her readers to walk a mile in the shoes of four young people, several of whom were marginalized.
The story begins with an elderly man, Steven Katz, looking back to the time in his life when he was fourteen. It was 1941 and he had befriended a group of new friends. Readers followed the teenaged Steven and his new friends through the war years, learning of their individual difficulties and the lasting relationships they developed during these years.
Steven, Suki, Ollie and Nick were the four boys at the centre of Boy Underground and they each had their own rod to carry. Steven, our narrator, struggled with his sexuality and though he was not ashamed of his feelings for other boys, homosexuality was neither understood nor accepted in the small-town in which they lived and as a result he ended up estranged from his family. Suki was born in America to Japanese parents but he and his family were rounded up and relocated to Manzanar concentration camp following the attack on Pearl Harbour. The family remained there until their release at the end of the war. Ollie, was older than the other friends and being seventeen he was afraid of being called up to fight in the war on his next birthday. Instead, with his parents permission, he decided to take matters into his own hands and enlisted. Last but certainly not least, Nick, a boy who was completely betrayed by his father. His Dad had seriously injured another man in a bar fight yet he told police Nick was the perpetrator of the crime. To avoid arrest and being sent to reform school for four years Steven helped Nick go into hiding. During this time Nick and Steven developed an extremely close and loving relationship - not in the physical sense - but in the sense that Steven became a saviour for Nick.
This was a book about genuine friendships. Friendships where acceptance of each other was not questioned despite societal attitudes and strong repercussions. As is often the case in Catherine Ryan Hyde's novels the young people had great moral and ethical compasses despite the examples set by some of the important adults in their lives. It was a story of love and lessons from youth to carry and remember throughout a long life.
My thanks to the author, Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review which it was my pleasure to provide.
The story begins with an elderly man, Steven Katz, looking back to the time in his life when he was fourteen. It was 1941 and he had befriended a group of new friends. Readers followed the teenaged Steven and his new friends through the war years, learning of their individual difficulties and the lasting relationships they developed during these years.
Steven, Suki, Ollie and Nick were the four boys at the centre of Boy Underground and they each had their own rod to carry. Steven, our narrator, struggled with his sexuality and though he was not ashamed of his feelings for other boys, homosexuality was neither understood nor accepted in the small-town in which they lived and as a result he ended up estranged from his family. Suki was born in America to Japanese parents but he and his family were rounded up and relocated to Manzanar concentration camp following the attack on Pearl Harbour. The family remained there until their release at the end of the war. Ollie, was older than the other friends and being seventeen he was afraid of being called up to fight in the war on his next birthday. Instead, with his parents permission, he decided to take matters into his own hands and enlisted. Last but certainly not least, Nick, a boy who was completely betrayed by his father. His Dad had seriously injured another man in a bar fight yet he told police Nick was the perpetrator of the crime. To avoid arrest and being sent to reform school for four years Steven helped Nick go into hiding. During this time Nick and Steven developed an extremely close and loving relationship - not in the physical sense - but in the sense that Steven became a saviour for Nick.
This was a book about genuine friendships. Friendships where acceptance of each other was not questioned despite societal attitudes and strong repercussions. As is often the case in Catherine Ryan Hyde's novels the young people had great moral and ethical compasses despite the examples set by some of the important adults in their lives. It was a story of love and lessons from youth to carry and remember throughout a long life.
My thanks to the author, Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review which it was my pleasure to provide.
March 16, 2022
5-Stars
Catherine Ryan Hyde’s beautifully insightful novel about four teenage boys in the 1940s, Boy Underground, is by far the finest novel I’ve read in a very long time.
It definitely belongs at the top of every serious reader’s “Must Read” list.
As Boy Underground begins, Steven Katz, now a very old man, reflects back over time as he narratives the story of his teen years in rural California during World War II.
Much to the consternation of both Steven’s older brother and his parents, Steven has befriended Itsuki (Suki) Yamamoto; Oliver (Ollie) Franklin; and Nicolas (Nick) Mattaliano, three Japanese American boys in his high school. To make matters worse, Steven’s father is a prosperous farm owner who employs seasonal Japanese field workers, and the other three teens are sons of such laborers.
On Dec 7, 1941, as Pearl Harbor was being attached by Japanese forces, the four young men were camping in nearby mountains completely unaware of what was happening in the Pacific.
That unawareness doesn’t last long, however, as they discover that while they had been camping, Nick’s father had brutally beaten another man in a bar room brawl, and then bribed a witness to say that it actually had been Nick who committed the assault.
Of course, Steven and the others knew this was untrue because Nick had been in the mountains with them at the time.
The four had once pledged to always have each other’s backs, so Nick turned to Steven for help. Steven hid Nick in a root cellar on his family’s farm, and acted as Nick’s protector and lifeline to the outside world.
On February 19, 1942, FDR signed Executive Order 9066. That document ordered all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast into relocation centers further inland. In the next 6 months, over 100,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were moved to assembly centers. They were then evacuated to and confined in isolated, fenced, and guarded relocation centers, known as internment camps.
Thus began one of the most shameful periods in American history.
Late one night, after learning of the possibly of such a camp being constructed nearby, Steven and Suki returned to the mountains to see for themselves what was happening. On the way they were nearly discovered by hikers who would not have been sympathetic to finding a white boy and a Japanese boy hiking together.
From the top of the mountain they first glimpsed every detail of Manzanar, the camp that would soon hold Suki and his entire family behind barbed wire fences and armed guard towers until the War ended. In the process forcing the Yamamoto family to surrender all of their personal belongings including their grandmother's beloved dog.
Back on the farm, as the war escalated, feelings deepened between Steven and Nick, and their fear of being “different” began to fall away. Soon after they declared their love for one another, Nick unexpectedly disappeared. From that point on Steven’s life was devoted to finding Nick.
Along the way Steven encountered many people who greatly influenced his life, and learned many important life lessons. Perhaps the most important and the most difficult lesson to comprehend was that each of us has to learn to accept life as it is, and realize that some things will always remain unknown.
Boy Underground is both emotionally disturbing and uplifting. It’s portrayal of family, rejection, discrimination, betrayal, loss, grief, and, yes, even love, leaves the reader with a great deal of self reflection.
Despite the fact that the events described in Boy Underground occurred over 75 years ago, the messages it contains are just as relevant today in this time of a pandemic and an unresolved, escalating war in Ukraine.
Until we can all understand that we’re all human beings and our similarities are much greater than our differences, the world will continue to be plagued with the worst forms of intolerance such as homophobia, xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism, and live with the horrific tragedy of war.
You owe it to yourself to read Catherine Ryan Hyde’s unforgettable Boy Underground.
Catherine Ryan Hyde’s beautifully insightful novel about four teenage boys in the 1940s, Boy Underground, is by far the finest novel I’ve read in a very long time.
It definitely belongs at the top of every serious reader’s “Must Read” list.
As Boy Underground begins, Steven Katz, now a very old man, reflects back over time as he narratives the story of his teen years in rural California during World War II.
Much to the consternation of both Steven’s older brother and his parents, Steven has befriended Itsuki (Suki) Yamamoto; Oliver (Ollie) Franklin; and Nicolas (Nick) Mattaliano, three Japanese American boys in his high school. To make matters worse, Steven’s father is a prosperous farm owner who employs seasonal Japanese field workers, and the other three teens are sons of such laborers.
On Dec 7, 1941, as Pearl Harbor was being attached by Japanese forces, the four young men were camping in nearby mountains completely unaware of what was happening in the Pacific.
That unawareness doesn’t last long, however, as they discover that while they had been camping, Nick’s father had brutally beaten another man in a bar room brawl, and then bribed a witness to say that it actually had been Nick who committed the assault.
Of course, Steven and the others knew this was untrue because Nick had been in the mountains with them at the time.
The four had once pledged to always have each other’s backs, so Nick turned to Steven for help. Steven hid Nick in a root cellar on his family’s farm, and acted as Nick’s protector and lifeline to the outside world.
On February 19, 1942, FDR signed Executive Order 9066. That document ordered all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast into relocation centers further inland. In the next 6 months, over 100,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were moved to assembly centers. They were then evacuated to and confined in isolated, fenced, and guarded relocation centers, known as internment camps.
Thus began one of the most shameful periods in American history.Late one night, after learning of the possibly of such a camp being constructed nearby, Steven and Suki returned to the mountains to see for themselves what was happening. On the way they were nearly discovered by hikers who would not have been sympathetic to finding a white boy and a Japanese boy hiking together.
From the top of the mountain they first glimpsed every detail of Manzanar, the camp that would soon hold Suki and his entire family behind barbed wire fences and armed guard towers until the War ended. In the process forcing the Yamamoto family to surrender all of their personal belongings including their grandmother's beloved dog.
Back on the farm, as the war escalated, feelings deepened between Steven and Nick, and their fear of being “different” began to fall away. Soon after they declared their love for one another, Nick unexpectedly disappeared. From that point on Steven’s life was devoted to finding Nick.
Along the way Steven encountered many people who greatly influenced his life, and learned many important life lessons. Perhaps the most important and the most difficult lesson to comprehend was that each of us has to learn to accept life as it is, and realize that some things will always remain unknown.
Boy Underground is both emotionally disturbing and uplifting. It’s portrayal of family, rejection, discrimination, betrayal, loss, grief, and, yes, even love, leaves the reader with a great deal of self reflection.
Despite the fact that the events described in Boy Underground occurred over 75 years ago, the messages it contains are just as relevant today in this time of a pandemic and an unresolved, escalating war in Ukraine.
Until we can all understand that we’re all human beings and our similarities are much greater than our differences, the world will continue to be plagued with the worst forms of intolerance such as homophobia, xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism, and live with the horrific tragedy of war.
You owe it to yourself to read Catherine Ryan Hyde’s unforgettable Boy Underground.
February 20, 2022
It’s hard growing up, even harder when you are a fourteen year old boy finding he is gay in a society that thought this was an aberration.
The time of this story, is a bit before the advent of WW 2. We are transported to a simpler time where hard work was expected and life seemed hard but regulated.
The main character Steven Katz has just aligned himself with a new group of friends, including a Japanese boy Suki, a boy, Nick he is attracted to and Ollie. They have hard lives but it is Nick and Steven who seem to be burdened with cold, unloving families. They are drawn to each other, looking for love that is so absent in their lives.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor and the actions of Nick’s father throw this small group of friends into turmoil as one goes off to war, one to Manzanar, and the third to be hidden in a root cellar.
This is truly a story of love, the need for companionship, the longing for closeness, and the learning that life offers choices but also delivers pain.
It is most basically a story of friendship. What does constitute a friend? It is a person who makes you whole, and who encourages you to embrace all that is given to you.
I enjoyed this tale mainly because the main character was such a steadfast young man. The topic of Nick's homosexuality is handled with grace and compassion for the times this boy lived in.
My thanks to Catherine Ryan Hyde, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this story which was published on December 7, 2021.
The time of this story, is a bit before the advent of WW 2. We are transported to a simpler time where hard work was expected and life seemed hard but regulated.
The main character Steven Katz has just aligned himself with a new group of friends, including a Japanese boy Suki, a boy, Nick he is attracted to and Ollie. They have hard lives but it is Nick and Steven who seem to be burdened with cold, unloving families. They are drawn to each other, looking for love that is so absent in their lives.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor and the actions of Nick’s father throw this small group of friends into turmoil as one goes off to war, one to Manzanar, and the third to be hidden in a root cellar.
This is truly a story of love, the need for companionship, the longing for closeness, and the learning that life offers choices but also delivers pain.
It is most basically a story of friendship. What does constitute a friend? It is a person who makes you whole, and who encourages you to embrace all that is given to you.
I enjoyed this tale mainly because the main character was such a steadfast young man. The topic of Nick's homosexuality is handled with grace and compassion for the times this boy lived in.
My thanks to Catherine Ryan Hyde, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this story which was published on December 7, 2021.
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