W.J. Reeves

Paperback Fast moving story from a minimum wage worker with change in pocket to full tenure professor.. what a delightful page turning, attention capturing read.. leaves you wondering is it possible and then gives you hope it indeed is…

An intellectually adventurous young man chafes against the constraints of modern life in Reeves’ coming-of-age novel.

Young Bill doesn’t seem destined for greatness. His father is an alcoholic who’s been committed to an asylum; he looks after his aging, cancer-stricken mother (who also has MS) while working at a factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana, overseen by a testy and temperamental foreman. When he returns home each night, he lingers outside to delay the ordeal of having to help his mom onto the toilet and clean her soiled sheets. His one joy is studying literature at an extension of Indiana University, where he gains a reputation for being “well informed and witty” and acquires one friend, a fellow student named Susie. After leaving the factory, Bill takes on odd jobs, including a brief stint loading and unloading containers for Petunia’s Packing. As he works, he reflects on his early life: He left the basketball team after he failed to grow above six foot two, and his father lost his position as head of the high school business department by drinking at work. At one point Bill is obliged to leave his mother for several days and drive to Ontario to clean out some cabins that are owned by the family. When he returns, he finds his mother’s lifeless body sprawled on the kitchen floor. Her death comes as something of a relief, but when his two dogs die not long after, he weeps for their loss. Still grappling with the slow death of his dreams (“a once comfortable middle class financial life…broken down and shattered”), he continues to apply himself at school. Intrinsically motivated by a delight in literature, he “aces” a correspondence course on Dickens, graduates magna cum laude, and is soon on his way to a doctorate.

Although the premise doesn’t sound promising at first, the great strength of Reeves’ novel is its dazzling, experimental prose style; he writes with a ragged, lyrical fervor reminiscent of Jack Kerouac. Sentences roll steadily onward, frequently eschewing conventional spelling and punctuation, slipping into archaisms and poetic cadences that evoke Defoe and Blake: “For years the mothers ailment had drained the family coffers. But that had been slow, even tho ever downward, this latest blow had come hammer fast.” Reeves’ uniquely fantastical vision makes 1962 Indiana (with its “blistered road” and “crummy factories”) resemble the world of Mervyn Peake’s mid-century fantasy trilogy Gormenghast. He dubs Fort Wayne “the city of dreadful night,” a nod to James Thomson’s visionary poem. There are echoes of Holden Caulfield in Bill’s disdain for the hypocrites and fools who fill his life; memorably, he silently rages at those who eulogize his mother at her memorial but never called or visited while she was living. The protagonist is, admirably, always eager to challenge himself: He seeks out essays on 14th-century poetry at the local library, animated by a thirst for knowledge despite struggling with some of the concepts and language. (Reeves adds, with a Salinger-esque flourish, “Hed like to do the good wife [of Bath] who was probably something.”) With his unflappable resolve in the face of relentless drudgery, Bill becomes a hero in the vein of Samuel Beckett’s Unnameable: “He’d made it through the initial day of toil…. He would not be defeated.”

A wonderfully inventive prose-poem, thrilling in its ambition.

College shopping? Want to REALLY know what you're going to pay $250K for for four years at a private college? This isn't fiction and Reeves grabs the donkey by the tail in an anecdotal expose from 50 years of classroom experience.

This is recommended reading even if your targeting a career in STEM. Otherwise a four college degree may just turn out to be an expensive path to a hat toss at graduation. After reading this expose it may give you pause to think twice about mortgaging your life for information that is by and large available online, or leading to a degree in "nothing". As an alternative, consider giving junior an early financial boost with a special deposit in a retirement account instead of a debt noose around his/her or your neck. However you decide, unfortunately it came out too late for me.

The author's droll sense of humor is expressed through the observations and experiences of his protagongist Richie Bucceroni. Bucceroni leads the reader through seamy Brooklyn neighborhoods populated by sundry gang members, oversexed academia, and various other unsavory characters.

The story moves quickly and is fun to read. It is a page turner as the reader is anxious to met the latest character or see how our hero manages to extricate himself from his continual escapades, some of which are very scary, and I found, often nerve racking.

Who is the betrayer? I figured it out. Will you?

I am looking forward to the sequel.

5 out of 5 starsa good read, brings back the 1950s and a rural canada Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2011 Format: Kindle Verified Purchase a good read, brings back the 1950s and a rural canada. Each story tells an interesting tale and they add up to a short novel.

i liked it.

Writing in a style that would make Dashiell Hammett feel right at home, Reeves demonstrates his artistry by making that approach fresh, contemporary and entertaining - even for someone who hasn't the slightest clue who Dashiell Hammett is. Attempting to be witty can be dangerous for an author but Reeves pulls it off so well you may be anticipating the next zinger as much as the next twist of the plot. Even with the hyperbole, the insider peeks at the life of a college professor provide an unusual but natural setting for this non-stop thriller. I couldn't put it down.

Betrayal in Brooklyn is as hard boiled as they come and Bucceroni is as noire as any detective. Good stuff here from the back alleys of NYC roughest borough, written by a man who may just have seen it all from Ave A to Ave Z. I look forward to part II already.

5 out of 5 starsManitoulin Memories Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2011 Format: Kindle Manitoulin Memories is outstanding. If you are of a certain age it will speak to you powerfully on a number of levels. If you spent your summers as a kid at the family cabin at the lake, it will speak to you powerfully on a number of levels. But even if you are not that old or privileged, these stories will touch your heart.

4 out of 5 starsIts a good book i look the storie line it was little ... Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2017 Its a good book i look the storie line it was little to long for my liking but i love the story line just incase u dont like to read a book with faul continent i recomemend not to read but beside that its really good book and story ... candy and richie was really good together i like he help her to get out of the bad place and everything she was who she was and till inside him just him coming from his dad did but overcome himself after what happen to his family i love it have little of everything make read more to know what happen something its hard to put it down and make thing about how what really going and imagine urban u and everything around give alot of details and how everything it was happening how she did everything to survive in that world before she got help and became someone better but sometimes you past stick along and its hard to go away ..

4 out of 5 starsIts a Breaking Bad story but the student is the drug maker

Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2015

Format: Paperback

A gritty novel thats a rough around the edges. Its a Breaking Bad story but the student is the drug maker, Candy. Shes going back to her chem lab after hours to make drugs and her chem professor caught on. A widower, of course. He tries to save her by... kidnapping her and putting her into rehab. Which I dont think is a real thing, I dont think some random man can force you into a facility against your will. Which was a minor but irking detail. She gets clean, he helps her, all is well in the world. Until the last part, which was awesome.

The writing is tight, the characters sharp, the descriptions of NYC is of a Law and Order gritty/crime ridden city. Very entertaining.