African Americans - Fiction & Literature, Gay & Lesbian Fiction, Phases of Life - Fiction, Literary Styles & Movements - Fiction
Log in to track your reading progress.
Overview
In this acclaimed first novel -- winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Debut Fiction 2008, and finalist for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction -- the course of growing up in just-this-side-of-segregation 1970s Cincinnati, Ohio, seems predictable if uninspiring for Cliffy Douglas. That is, until the deadbeat father of this gifted 13-year-old black kid from the Findlater Gardens Projects appears out of nowhere. The real fun and trouble begin when Noah, a Jewish boy he meets in junior high school, takes him on a joyride to love and first lust.Editorials
Jim Bartley
It's the beginning of a love affair that pulls us deep inside their hormone-charged dance of discovery and desire. The sex is as tender and green as spring growth in an asparagus patch. Noah is Jewish and part of the friendship is a growing, reciprocal awareness of the shared tragedy in their ancestral histories. Harassed in the street by kids recycling their parents' intolerance, they are all the more determined not to let prejudice pull them apart. Xtra.caJim Piechota
Shawn Ruff has produced an impressive debut novel rife with themes of race, poverty, love, family, and a boyhood friendship that transcends traditional boundaries. Set in racially-turbulent Cincinnati in the 1970s, it features Cliffy Douglas, a 13-year-old African-American spelling-bee champion living in the Findlater Gardens Housing Projects... Finlater is unique, hard-hitting, and emotionally charged... simply put, this is brilliant writing. San Franisco Bay Area ReporterBeth Greenfield
4**** Hold this heavy, beautifully designed book in your hands and you might wonder what sort of mediocre writing all the artistry is trying to obscure. Forget it, though, because it turns out that the new publishing company's debut is a winner, thanks to the spare, deeply affecting writing of Ruff, a New York City short-story writer who has penned a unique and arresting novel about two boys in love. Time Out New YorkJim Bartley
It's the beginning of a love affair that pulls us deep inside their hormone-charged dance of discovery and desire. The sex is as tender and green as spring growth in an asparagus patch. Noah is Jewish and part of the friendship is a growing, reciprocal awareness of the shared tragedy in their ancestral histories. Harassed in the street by kids recycling their parents' intolerance, they are all the more determined not to let prejudice pull them apart. Xtra.caJim Piechota
Shawn Ruff has produced an impressive debut novel rife with themes of race, poverty, love, family, and a boyhood friendship that transcends traditional boundaries. Set in racially-turbulent Cincinnati in the 1970s, it features Cliffy Douglas, a 13-year-old African-American spelling-bee champion living in the Findlater Gardens Housing Projects... Finlater is unique, hard-hitting, and emotionally charged... simply put, this is brilliant writing. San Franisco Bay Area ReporterBeth Greenfield
4**** Hold this heavy, beautifully designed book in your hands and you might wonder what sort of mediocre writing all the artistry is trying to obscure. Forget it, though, because it turns out that the new publishing company's debut is a winner, thanks to the spare, deeply affecting writing of Ruff, a New York City short-story writer who has penned a unique and arresting novel about two boys in love. Time Out New YorkBeth Greenfield
4**** Hold this heavy, beautifully designed book in your hands and you might wonder what sort of mediocre writing all the artistry is trying to obscure. Forget it, though, because it turns out that the new publishing company's debut is a winner, thanks to the spare, deeply affecting writing of Ruff, a New York City short-story writer who has penned a unique and arresting novel about two boys in love.Jim Bartley
It's the beginning of a love affair that pulls us deep inside their hormone-charged dance of discovery and desire. The sex is as tender and green as spring growth in an asparagus patch. Noah is Jewish and part of the friendship is a growing, reciprocal awareness of the shared tragedy in their ancestral histories. Harassed in the street by kids recycling their parents' intolerance, they are all the more determined not to let prejudice pull them apart.Jim Piechota
Shawn Ruff has produced an impressive debut novel rife with themes of race, poverty, love, family, and a boyhood friendship that transcends traditional boundaries. Set in racially-turbulent Cincinnati in the 1970s, it features Cliffy Douglas, a 13-year-old African-American spelling-bee champion living in the Findlater Gardens Housing Projects... Finlater is unique, hard-hitting, and emotionally charged... simply put, this is brilliant writing.Book Details
Published
July 19, 2008
Publisher
Quote Editions, Inc
ISBN
9780981942018