- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (Jan 8 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312375247
- ISBN-13: 978-0312375249
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,764,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In this very funny but slight second novel, Hardy imbues the familiar cool-dude-suddenly-saddled-with-a-little-dude-he-didn't-know-existed plot with enough giggle-worthy humor about 30-something quasibohemian life to make it more than a Nick Hornby also-ran. Jimmy Keeper is divorced from Cynthia, a pastry chef with a penchant for secrecy; he runs an antiques salvage business in Providence, R.I., and lives in a tiny house with girlfriend Leah, a self-assured architect. But after Cynthia falls gravely ill and summons him to the hospital, Keeper's carefully constructed, somewhat man-boyish life is destined for disruption. It turns out that he and Cynthia have a three-year-old son, Leo, the secret product of a final pre-Leah fling. In due course, the boy lands in Keeper's care, and Leah flees. Will Keeper be able to successfully take care of Leo? Will Leah be able to love Keeper despite the addition of a child not her own? Because Keeper is a companionable narrator (he's a dude's dude who likes beer, sex and playing cards, and yet is aware of his propensity for emotional stupidity), the quest for these answers is a fun if predictable jaunt.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
“Keeper and Kid is a marvel. I dare you. Open this book and try to put it down.” ---Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Room
Eight years ago, James Keeper fell in love with his upstairs neighbor in Boston, a sassy pastry chef with gray eyes and a fierce attitude. They got married, found a dog, and shopped for cilantro. But conflicting schedules and a real estate deal gone bad took its toll on the twenty-somethings in love. One divorce later, the hand-me-down chairs were separated, the potato masher custody settled, and Keeper moved to Providence to work with his best friend selling antiques at a quirky shop called Love and Death.
A new job, a new love, and a new life now in place, Keeper is in a comfortable situation. Business is steady, Leah (the new love) is intriguing and passionate, and Keeper’s friends always turn up for Sunday evening Card Night.
But one phone call from his former mother-in-law changes everything. And so days later, Keeper comes away with a son he never knew he had, and life all of a sudden takes on a new meaning.
Leo, the precocious three-year-old who sports Keeper’s square chin, is more than a handful---he eats only round foods, refuses to bathe, thinks he’s a bear, and refers to Leah as “that man.” For a guy who never thought he’d be a parent, Keeper is thrown headfirst into fatherhood---and has no idea what to do. As Keeper and Leo adjust to the shock of each other and their suddenly very different lives, Keeper begins to let the people in his life in, in turns strange and heartwarming, funny and painful. But some, like Leah, aren’t so eager for change.
In this humorous and poignant novel, Edward Hardy explores the depths of modern love, parenthood, and compromise. Keeper and Kid is the story of how a normal guy receives an unexpected gift and in turn must learn to ask more of others and himself. A coming-of-age story for the guy who thought he had already grown up, Keeper and Kid is a sharp and witty account of what we do for love.
Advance Praise for Keeper and Kid
“A fine, fetching novel with a good heart. Keeper is nimble and affecting, a tribute to the author’s endless comic inventiveness.”---Stewart O’Nan, author of The Good Wife
“At once immensely engaging and about the things that matter most: how we love, how we move on, how the past moves with us. Lovely, wise, and surprising.”---Elizabeth Graver, author of The Honey Thief
“Ed Hardy’s voice in Keeper and Kid grabs you and won’t let you go until the very last page. Full of local color, bittersweet characters, and a story we can all relate to---the day your past arrives on the doorstep of your present life.”---Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Room
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
this book's a keeper, Jan 13 2008
By P. Cody - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Keeper and Kid: A Novel (Hardcover)
james keeper, 36, is gliding through life, working with his best friend at their antiques and salvage store. then two bombs hit: james' ex-wife cynthia dies, and--suprise!--james inherits a three-year-old boy named leo, a child james fathered but did not know existed. hardy shows the sheer exhaustion and relentlessness of being a dad. his girlfrind, leah, at one point simply can't deal and leaves. (does she return? read the book.) keeper and kid is surprising on a number of levels-its sinuous, snappy prose is more layered than one would at first expect, and its emotional power creeps up on you. By the end of the story one is powerfully affected by this off-beat, deeply moving love story.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, It Really IS a Keeper, Feb 10 2008
By Daniel W. Hays - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Keeper and Kid: A Novel (Hardcover)
A look at Edward Hardy's literary resume so far would lead you to make certain assumptions about his writing. His short stories have appeared almost exclusively in "literary" journals - titles such as Ploughshares, The Quarterly, and The Massachusetts Review. Reading Hardy's latest novel, however, seems to belie that impression."Keeper and Kid" is funny. It isn't merely "amusing," it is downright funny. Admittedly, Hardy's sense of humor is what is generally called "quirky," and his touch is more Oates than McManus. But it's hard to resist a novel that opens: "If dogs, rats, and pigs can all sense a looming earthquake and make plans, how come all I can manage is a quick stare at the phone just before it rings?"
This is a novel about an ordinary thing. A thing, in fact, that has become way too common a literary device. Divorced James Keeper is happily conducting his new life in a new place with a new love. Then he gets "the call." And, yes, before he knows it, he is raising the three-year-old son he "didn't know he had."
Before you decide to move on because you've read that, seen that, maybe even done that, give Hardy a fighting chance. He uses that device to kick-start a life that the first-person-narrator didn't even know needed help. He creates characters so eccentric and endearing you'll be sorry to see the last of them when you have finished page 294. Including, somehow, the little boy. Such literary children are almost always annoying beyond description (the only way they can be made more annoying is to put them on film - which might just happen with this book). Here, young Leo is somehow simultaneously endearing and maddening.
In the end, please forgive the pun, "Keeper and Kid" is a keeper. It will find a home on your bookshelf in the section with other books about the human heart.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Parenting for moms and dads, Jun 9 2008
By Beth E. Settje - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Keeper and Kid: A Novel (Hardcover)
I probably would have found this book anyway, but it was next in line for the book club, so I had to read it! Plus the author agreed to come and I needed to be sure to not look foolish when we talked about the book. Keeper is so realistic it is at times frightening. The author does a very good job at capturing the essence of parenting, and then puts situations in the extreme to make his point. It is easy for the reader to relate to many of Keeper's emotions (increduality at the situation of becoming a parent; frustration at how to parent properly, or at all for that matter; anger for the disruption Leo, the kid, seems to cause; amazement and joy for all the wonderful quirky elements parenting can bring to one's life). Many elements of the story do provide solid closure, yet there are enough open ended aspects should a sequel be written.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
