Comments on: Townie http://blogs.slj.com/adult4teen/2011/02/28/townie/ A School Library Journal Blog Mon, 20 May 2013 13:24:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: John Sexton http://blogs.slj.com/adult4teen/2011/02/28/townie/#comment-11341 John Sexton Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:41:49 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/adult4teen/?p=1396#comment-11341 As much as Townie is a coming of age story, it is also a story of a young man coming to terms with complex issues regarding his father that signal a passage of greater maturity. Consequently, some teens interest may wane as Andre builds his relationship with his father. That he finds - and saves - himself through writing is a part of rebuilding that relationship with his father, a short story writer. If unexpressed grief manifests as anger and rage, then perhaps reconcilliation manifests through writing. Each of the family members are richly portrayed, including his absent father. As a reader, I was so engaged with his siblings and mother that when I got the chance to talk to Dubus, I had to ask how they were all doing. As much as Townie is a coming of age story, it is also a story of a young man coming to terms with complex issues regarding his father that signal a passage of greater maturity. Consequently, some teens interest may wane as Andre builds his relationship with his father. That he finds – and saves – himself through writing is a part of rebuilding that relationship with his father, a short story writer. If unexpressed grief manifests as anger and rage, then perhaps reconcilliation manifests through writing.

Each of the family members are richly portrayed, including his absent father. As a reader, I was so engaged with his siblings and mother that when I got the chance to talk to Dubus, I had to ask how they were all doing.

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