Here you can read online Ernest Hebert - Mad boys full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 1993, publisher: University Press of New England, genre: Detective and thriller. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:
Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.
We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Mad boys" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.
A bold departure from his previous novels, Mad Boys is a sardonic road story masterfully blending gothic and picaresque elements in a lively social commentary.
Ernest Hebert: author's other books
Who wrote Mad boys? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.
Mad boys — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work
Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Mad boys" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.
University Press of New England, Hanover, NH 03755 1993 by Ernest Hebert All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 CIP data appear at the end of the book
Page v
Contents
Acknowledgments
vii
Author's Note
ix
Prologue
1
Baptized
4
Web
17
Mother/Father
28
Burglars
39
The Autodidact
54
River Rats
63
Dali Street
75
Catacombs of Manhattan
88
Kidnapped
103
Run Rabbit Die
111
Grand Isle
120
Highway of Babel and Thirst
126
Between Here and There
135
Buffalo Soldier Ranch
150
Xi
165
Phi
175
Third World Theater
187
The Exposition of the Uncanny
203
Page vii
Acknowledgments
I'd like to thank Audrey Lyle, Dayton Duncan, Annie Proulx, and Jim Schley for critiquing earlier crude drafts of this work, with special thanks to Terry Pindell, who read two drafts and made several key suggestions that helped get this project rolling. Michael Lowenthal deserves tremendous credit for his editing job of Mad Boys. I couldn't have done it without you, Mike. To Medora Hebert, Lael Hebert, Nicole Hebert, Barbara Cunningham, Kathy Harp, Lou Renza, Cleopatra Mathis, Cynthia Huntingtom, Tom Sleigh, William Spengemenn, Nat Sobel, and Ted Timreck: bless you all for keeping up my spirits. I'd like to thank Dartmouth College for sabbatical time and for some money to help cover the travel expenses for the research on this project. To Mary Jane McCord: a special thanks for your kindness and hospitality on the road.
Page ix
Author's Note
I grew up in Keene, New Hampshire, with two brothers, no sisters. Lived in a neighborhood with no girls my age. Went to a Catholic school where boys were segregated from girls. In short, I grew up with boys. They had a tremendous effect upon my life, so this book is dedicated to the boys who enriched my childhood and especially to: the memories of Dick Doherty and Michael Patnode, who left us too soon; my brothers, Omer and Paul; and my "best" friends, Gordon McCollester, Bill Sullivan, Dennis Patnode, and John Westcott, who taught me the A-Y-G language.
The character Royal Durocher in Mad Boys is named after Royal Desrosier, a boy I idolized when I was a kid. The real Royal, who was kind and warm, is nothing like the fictional Royal. The characters of Mary Jane and Marla are named after my Texas cousins; the real Mary Jane McCord and Marla Norman are not to be confused with their fictional namesakes in personality, or in any other way.
The inspiration for Mad Boys came from photograph I saw of a boy who had been raped and murdered. I thought: this is the Huck Finn of our time; what if he got away?
Page 1
Prologue
Journal Entry 627: On the TV a bearded man speaks of the child within, distracting me from writing my essay on Virtual Realism. There is not much room in a van for two, and the TV definitely takes up room. I gave the van an exciting name, the Green Hornet, in hopes of keeping up the boy's interest. He went along with the name for a while, but lately he's been calling our home on wheels the mother ship. I'm afraid he has mother on the mind, but at the moment he sleeps at my feet on the mattress. I have installed the TV to keep him occupied and to provide myself with company. Sometimes I do not need the TV; sometimes the boy is company enough. He's bright and inquisitive, but there are moments when a man needs someone his own age to talk to, to listen to. The TV neither speaks nor listens, but it does alleviate loneliness by exciting the emotion of belonging and by simulating engagement with another. The TV is a virtual companion. Which returns me to my ruminations regarding Virtual Realism.
Look at similar books to Mad boys. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.
Discussion, reviews of the book Mad boys and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.
