- Audio Cassette
- Publisher: Harper; Abridged edition (Jan 6 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0694522910
- ISBN-13: 978-0694522910
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 12.2 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (305 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,000,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Oprah Book Club® Selection, March 2000: Not since S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders) has a female novelist penned such a tough and titillating portrait of lower-class, crime-ridden manhood. Set in "beautiful, ruined" western Pennsylvania, amid Eat n' Parks and Lick n' Putts, Tawni O'Dell's Back Roads follows Harley Altmyer as he walks a raging, self-conscious line between crime and innocence. Why is he being held by the authorities, and what's he so mad about? In the recent past, it's his mother, who murdered his father and went to jail for life. In the far past, it's Dad himself: an abusive, hopeless man. In the present, it's the responsibility for his three younger sisters, which makes him fantasize about smashing their faces in until they "spit up bloody macaroni and cheese."
But Harley still has a conscience--barely. He doesn't strike his sisters; he's been trying to protect them. The oldest is sassy Amber, 16, who's having sex on the living-room couch with townies who abuse her; next is frighteningly stoic 12-year-old Misty, with eyes "a glazed brown like a medicine bottle"; the youngest is adorable Jody, who at 6 pens to-do lists with items such as "PRAY FOR DADDYS SOWL." Overburdened with the practicalities of life, and the ever-mounting losses, Harley has started seeing his own words floating in the air in front of his face. "CLOSURE. TRUTH. MOST GUYS."
This first novel opens well. O'Dell does an impeccable job of making Harley both brutal and forgivable. Here, for instance, he retreats to his basement room: "I lay there until dawn, thinking about Dad, and feeling the same useless frustration I had felt the first time I had seen him piss on a sparkling white drift of pure new snow."
But that delicacy is soon lost, and Back Roads risks becoming an overabundant affair, pitched high, with a roller-coaster trajectory. Harley's anger metamorphoses into an almost bloodthirsty lust for his sexy, middle-aged neighbor, which stirs up myriad forbidden family secrets. Misty, it turns out, has been hiding something. Amber revolts. And even Jody's scribbles turn malevolent. While the writing is good throughout, the tension and plotting assume an unpleasant adolescent posture--bodice-ripping passion and mordant gloom combined. Nonetheless, O'Dell's assured and touching portrait of her protagonist emerges unscathed. You will likely remember luckless, fated Harley Altmyer long after his tsunamic tale has receded. And no matter what the judge decides, you will understand why this impoverished, angry young man was probably the most innocent one of all. --Jean Lenihan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Nineteen-year-old Harley is left to rear his three younger sisters after their mother is imprisoned for murdering their abusive father in this searing, hardscrabble Party of Five set in Pennsylvania mining country. Doubly resentful because his best friend is off at college, Harley spends his days slogging as a Shop Rite bagger and appliance-shop delivery person, coming home to cold cereal dinners prepared by six-year-old Jody. Harley is bitter about having to take over for his motherA"she still had us kids but we didn't have her"Aand he can't shake the feeling that she prefers prison to their home life; a mystery lingers around his father's death. Meanwhile, 16-year-old Amber is sleeping her way through the town's teenage boys and flaunting her body in front of Harley; middle sister Misty, once her father's favorite and his hunting companion, practices shooting. Desperate for relief, Harley finds solace in rough but exhilarating encounters with married Callie Mercer, little Jody's best friend's mother, losing his virginity to her on a muddy creek bank and reveling in her sophisticated, sensitive words. But memories are stirring in his subconscious, and erotic dreams of the Virgin Mary metamorphose into nightmarish sexual visions. In his sessions with a court-appointed therapist, Harley edges closer to understanding his family's twisted dynamic, but it is only when the horrors of the present begin to catch up with those of the past that a series of shattering truths are revealed. By then it is too late for Harley to save everyone he loves, but in sacrificing himself, however hopelessly, he introduces a note of grace. O'Dell's scorching tale touches on all the tropes of dysfunctional families, but her characters fight free of stereotypes, taking on an angry, authentic glow. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Of the best page-turner books i've ever read...,
By Parnian Arjmand (Tehran,Iran) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Back Roads: Oprah's Book Club #32 (Hardcover)
Back roads,written by o'dell is not just a novel,but a true picture of the life which a great many teenagers have to face.With a mom in jail and a murdered dad and three other sisters,Harley has to play the role of both the bread-winner and the house-keeper beside having to face the mental needs of his sisters and himself. The book is sad,but enjoyable,a new work,not like the other happy ending novels written for the pleasure of the reader,its the truth.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Overdone and gross,
By Rachel (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Back Roads (Hardcover)
I recently read this book, and I was dissapointed. I saw that is was part of Oprah's book club, so i took a chance and decided to read it. What i got was a book overflowing with over-the-top dirty and disturbing content. Normally, I find one or two disturbing twists exciting, but there are so many in this book that after you finish it you feel nauseous. The character was not likeable, the ending was terrible, and the book is innapropiete for people under 18. I would only recommend it as a book to scare you... and not the good healthy kind.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not for young readers...,
By A Customer
This review is from: Back Roads (Mass Market Paperback)
I have worked with Emotionally Disturbed teenagers as an English teacher for 10 years. In that time, I have heard stories of abuse that are so disturbing I thought nothing could shock me. This book shocked me. I didn't know what I was getting into when I picked it up. The back and cover are very misleading. I feel, after reading this, that I know now exactly what Holden Caufield was trying to protect kids from. Many times during reading this book I thought of putting it down and not finishing it. It was written in such a way, though, that I felt compelled to finish it. In fact, I read the last 100 pages in one sitting. I am warning the faint of heart, the weak of stomach, the prudes out there who don't want to hear about things that make people uncomfortable: Don't buy this book. For the rest of you, be open-minded, read it, and think about ways to make this world a better, safer place for those who need it most.
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