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The Boy Who Ran Away to Sea
A childhood in the 1950s and ‘60s among grifters, show girls, and mob enforcers who embraced the boy and made him who he is.
“These stories make for one of the most important and moving American bildungsromans of all time.” —William Boyle, The Southwest Review
Roy tells it the way he sees it, shuttled between Chicago to Key West and Tampa, Havana and Jackson MS, usually with his mother Kitty, often in the company of lip-sticked women and fast men. Roy is the muse of Gifford’s hardboiled style, a precocious child, watching the grown-ups try hard to save themselves, only to screw up again and again. He takes it all in, every waft of perfume and cigar smoke, every missed opportunity to do the right thing. And then there are the good things too. A fishing trip with Uncle Buck, a mother’s love, advice from Rudy, Roy’s father: “Roy means king. Be the king of your own country. Don’t depend on anyone to do your thinking for you.” The stories in The Boy Who Ran Away to Sea are together a love letter and a tribute to the childhood experiences that ground a life.
In the Author’s note, Gifford writes, "I have often been asked if I were interested in writing my memoirs or an autobiography. Given that the Roy stories come as close as I care to come regarding certain circumstances, I remain comfortable with their verisimilitude. They all dwell within the boundary of fiction. As I have explained elsewhere, these are stories, I made them up. Roy ages from about five years old to late adolescence. After that, with the exception of a sighting in Veracruz, I have no idea what happened to him.”
“These stories make for one of the most important and moving American bildungsromans of all time.” —William Boyle, The Southwest Review
Roy tells it the way he sees it, shuttled between Chicago to Key West and Tampa, Havana and Jackson MS, usually with his mother Kitty, often in the company of lip-sticked women and fast men. Roy is the muse of Gifford’s hardboiled style, a precocious child, watching the grown-ups try hard to save themselves, only to screw up again and again. He takes it all in, every waft of perfume and cigar smoke, every missed opportunity to do the right thing. And then there are the good things too. A fishing trip with Uncle Buck, a mother’s love, advice from Rudy, Roy’s father: “Roy means king. Be the king of your own country. Don’t depend on anyone to do your thinking for you.” The stories in The Boy Who Ran Away to Sea are together a love letter and a tribute to the childhood experiences that ground a life.
In the Author’s note, Gifford writes, "I have often been asked if I were interested in writing my memoirs or an autobiography. Given that the Roy stories come as close as I care to come regarding certain circumstances, I remain comfortable with their verisimilitude. They all dwell within the boundary of fiction. As I have explained elsewhere, these are stories, I made them up. Roy ages from about five years old to late adolescence. After that, with the exception of a sighting in Veracruz, I have no idea what happened to him.”
- GenresShort StoriesAmerican
320 pages, Paperback
Published March 3, 2022
2 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Barry Gifford
144 books205 followersBarry Gifford is an American author, poet, and screenwriter known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes and film noir- and Beat Generation-influenced literary madness.
He is described by Patrick Beach as being "like if John Updike had an evil twin that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and wrote funny..."He is best known for his series of novels about Sailor and Lula, two sex-driven, star-crossed protagonists on the road. The first of the series, Wild at Heart, was adapted by director David Lynch for the 1990 film of the same title. Gifford went on to write the screenplay for Lost Highway with Lynch. Much of Gifford's work is nonfiction.
He is described by Patrick Beach as being "like if John Updike had an evil twin that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and wrote funny..."He is best known for his series of novels about Sailor and Lula, two sex-driven, star-crossed protagonists on the road. The first of the series, Wild at Heart, was adapted by director David Lynch for the 1990 film of the same title. Gifford went on to write the screenplay for Lost Highway with Lynch. Much of Gifford's work is nonfiction.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 14, 2022
I first came across Gifford after a recommendation for the Roy stories, and read The Cuban Club: Stories, and really enjoyed it.
This though, I found even better, perhaps because Roy is, in many but not all of the stories, older.
I can’t think of another writer who does anything similar to these very short stories, most of them are less than 2,000 words. They are not in chronological order, which at first seems illogical, but what actually happens is that in a short space of time, the whole picture of Roy builds up. A highlight of this book is the illustration or cartoon sketch at the end of each piece on its key character.
Many books concern the childhood experience, but what makes this stand out is Roy’s hard-boiled straight talking as he observes adults around him wreck their lives (to various degrees), then try desperately to save themselves.
Though each story tells only of a fleeting moment in the Chicago-born boy’s life, it’s not long before there is a clear image of a young person with a determined curiosity and a passion for exploration.
This from Gifford..
This though, I found even better, perhaps because Roy is, in many but not all of the stories, older.
I can’t think of another writer who does anything similar to these very short stories, most of them are less than 2,000 words. They are not in chronological order, which at first seems illogical, but what actually happens is that in a short space of time, the whole picture of Roy builds up. A highlight of this book is the illustration or cartoon sketch at the end of each piece on its key character.
Many books concern the childhood experience, but what makes this stand out is Roy’s hard-boiled straight talking as he observes adults around him wreck their lives (to various degrees), then try desperately to save themselves.
Though each story tells only of a fleeting moment in the Chicago-born boy’s life, it’s not long before there is a clear image of a young person with a determined curiosity and a passion for exploration.
This from Gifford..
I have often been asked if I were interested in writing my memoirs or an autobiography. Given that the Roy stories come as close as I care to come regarding certain circumstances, I remain comfortable with their verisimilitude. They all dwell within the boundary of fiction. As I have explained elsewhere, these are stories, I made them up. Roy ages from about five years old to late adolescence. After that, with the exception of a sighting in Veracruz, I have no idea what happened to him.
June 7, 2022
Gifford is great. I must have read more than twenty of his books now, but his Roy stories are the best. The only problem is that there's a lot of overlap between the various Roy collections (this, Cuban Club, Roy Stories), but the thing is that the stories are so endearing that I don't mind reading them for a second or third time.
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August 2, 2024Gifford is one of the best when it comes to exploring intersections of crime and class. His prose is highly readable, and it’s very impressive how much story he can pack into short scenes of flash fiction. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorite fiction writers.
May 29, 2022
Quite eclectic.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews