Harry Dunkoff is a teenager growing up in the 90s. He hates school, and he doesn't want to get a job. He drinks and does drugs. He lies and steals. From Memphis to Key West to Boston, he makes one dumb move after another.
I received the book as a free giveaway. The book doesn’t really have a climax. Nothing really happens and it just ends. I kept reading thinking something has to happen……and nothing
Harry Dunkoff is 16 years old and runs away from home. This is a chronicle of his misadventures. It’s an episodic book that I enjoyed immensely.
Wade creates entertaining quirky characters and settings that are easy to visualise—most writers can't do that!
Sam Wade’s influences come through loud and clear. Harry moving from one disaster to another reminded me of Nathaniel West’s A Cool Million. His stay at a homeless colony on an island in Florida resembled Lost Memory of Skin but without the wordiness. I’m never keen on narrators who are wannabe writers, a la Arturo Bandini, but it didn’t bug me too much here.
The novel is set in the 90s. I wonder if a teenager could travel across the US taking drugs and picking up casual work these days? Taking drugs I guess yes.