Name the Baby

by Mark Cirino

After the shocking suicide of his girlfriend, a twenty-one-year-old struggles to figure out the mysteries of life and love. This extraordinarily intense novel follows a young man during a three-day odyssey that begins with a night of self-abuse in New York City. Fueled by whiskey and his own internal demons, he goes to a blues bar where a bouncer assaults and ejects him, and then on to a club where he dances with a beautiful girl he names Goldheart. Burdened with guilt, sadness, and rage, he returns to his family in New Jersey where he is forced to face uncomfortable truths about his relationships with them and his past. During this journey, he reflects with refreshing originality on his own life, the ways of the world, failed relationships, music, Shakespeare, dogs, cemeteries, and psychedelic drugs.

Name the Baby is a deeply moving novel in which the reader gets swept along by the intoxicating rhythm of its language and becomes a confidant of the narrator's most personal thoughts, observations, and confessions. Full of haunting surprises, unexpected warmth, and brutal honesty, it is an outstanding debut from a writer whose remarkably fresh and original voice leaves a lasting impression.

Genres: Fiction, Novels

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 1997

Reviews

[Genevieve Dingle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in a very intimate authentic voice, this is the story of a young man's sudden coming of age in the few days after finding his girlfriend dead. Intense and refreshing

[S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting writing style. Quite a difficult read at times due to the first person narrative and long choppy sentences. The character is not the most likeable but by the end of the book you do have some sympathy towards his flaws.

[Hari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in first person informal, the main character of this book starts out by telling the reader that his girlfriend has just died. Killed herself. Yeah. So, he up and goes to the bar that night with his best friend, Jack Daniels and, among other things, tell the reader a little something he's learned about life along the way.
The next morning, he decides to head to New Jersey, from NYC to visit his parents. He sucks down his mother's best pea soup and explains a little about his life in an Italian family. He also gets closer to his high school sister - and even takes a trip with her.
The aftermath from the suicide of his girlfriend gives our narrator a detailed look on life and a whirlwind tour of his past in order to face his future. Written more like a memoir than a novel, this book is worth a read.

[Oriyah N · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book because I liked the cover, and it was a number of years before I actually got around to reading it, by which point the cover no longer appealed.

Although there were a few good lines, I felt this book was one of the most pointless pieces of drivel I've ever read in my life. My general optimistic attitude couldn't even muster enough momentum to have any sort of expectation that the book would improve throughout, which is a good thing, because I'd have been sorely disappointed anyway. It's unclear to me how this book managed to get a 4 star rating. Oy.

[bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

my old creative writing professor. it was a very readable book, a bit depressing on the subject matter.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The only difference between death and love, one supposedly lasts forever, the other makes you think of classical music."

[Manveen Khera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern day 'Catcher in the Rye.'