About the Book: A coming of age novel about a boy overcoming divorce and cultural dislocation. When Father and Mother, a highflying young American lawyer and his party-hard bride, fall prey to the self-destructive lure of alcohol and sexual liberation, Will and his sisters pay the price in divorce and kidnappings that take them back and forth between the rain forest hideaways of coastal Latin America and the placid suburbs of Long Island. Will identifies with the oppressed workers laboring in his father's fast food restaurant and longs for American freedom. Father remarries the daughter of a local aristocrat, and Will is sent off to the hothouse world of a New England boarding school. Swimming in a sea of Fair Isle sweaters and LL Bean boots, Will discovers a core of resilience in himself that allows him to survive, thrive, and ultimately embrace the flawed and varied worlds he inhabits. Will reconnects with Mother, sinking into a New York City world of Irish bars and one night stands he cannot save her from. With a little help from friends, and a high school Shakespeare class taught by the school's closeted gay athletic trainer, Will begins to see the possibility of finding his true path. Latitudes charts the birth pangs of a quest for self and soul - from a tropical childhood to a coming of age on the road.
Read the Excerpt!
This time of uncertainty came to an end before it could gel into something, a pattern, a new beginning or different stamp to the days. It was one day in late August, an ordinary moment that would not have remained in his memory, much as the days that preceded it. In Will’s mind he and his sisters, their new neighborhood friends, seemed born full-blown in the backyard in the midst of some forgotten game. He was immersed again, as in the swimming pool on Margarita Island, in his inner thoughts even with the swirl of kids and dogs and the sun passing through the bright blue sky, as two cars pulled up on the street, low-slung, long and dark, their red brake lights warning to stop and look. Out stepped four or five men in pale trench coats. As they walked up the driveway, Alexa gasped.
“Father,” she said. Will had recognized him at almost the same moment.
“Father,” he repeated and broke into a run as Father smiled and held out his arms. The other men stopped in their tracks. Father hugged the four children. It was unusual, but exciting that he’d come all this way to rejoin them. The other men from the two cars must have been his friends.
“How about an ice cream?” he asked. This seemed unusual and exciting also. They had never known him to offer treats, but maybe this was his way of breaking the ice, start in on a new footing.
“Sure,” Will said, and Alexa agreed, eager as he was, speaking for all three girls. They all four sat in the backseat of the back car. Father sat in the front while another man drove. As the cars sped away, the babysitter emerged from the house and saw a knot of neighborhood children walking down the sidewalk, but not Will or his sisters. Breathing hard, panic struck. She ran back inside and grabbed the telephone.
“Father,” she said. Will had recognized him at almost the same moment.
“Father,” he repeated and broke into a run as Father smiled and held out his arms. The other men stopped in their tracks. Father hugged the four children. It was unusual, but exciting that he’d come all this way to rejoin them. The other men from the two cars must have been his friends.
“How about an ice cream?” he asked. This seemed unusual and exciting also. They had never known him to offer treats, but maybe this was his way of breaking the ice, start in on a new footing.
“Sure,” Will said, and Alexa agreed, eager as he was, speaking for all three girls. They all four sat in the backseat of the back car. Father sat in the front while another man drove. As the cars sped away, the babysitter emerged from the house and saw a knot of neighborhood children walking down the sidewalk, but not Will or his sisters. Breathing hard, panic struck. She ran back inside and grabbed the telephone.
The author did a superb job creating a set of characters with complex personalities. The plot develops through Chapters alternating life in the USA and Venezuela. Our main character, Will, suffers with the initial separation of his parents and subsequently with the separation from one of his sisters in a half successful kidnapping (his father acting to steal his kids from the mother), followed by another kidnapping (mother stealing kids from the father) in an intense soap opera very well described by the author.
All elements for an excellent book are presented here, including peer relation, showing how Will come to age in a magnificence description of development of survival skills and control of emotions.
I recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader who loves a well written novel with a very up to date subject.
This book was written by Anthony Caplan and it was published by Hope Mountain Press in May of 2012. I received a complimentary electronic version of this book for reviewing and I was not requested to provide a positive review. Opinions expressed here are my own.
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Latitudes: A Story of Coming Home Tour Schedule
September 4
Guest Posting at WV Stitcher
September 5
Guest Posting at Writing Daze
September 6
Guest Posting at Hollywood Daze
September 7
Guest Posting at The Book Bog-Hogan
September 10
Guest Posting at Bless Their Hearts
September 11
Book Giveaway at Bless Their Hearts
September 13
Book Spotlighted at Bluebell Books
September 14
Guest Posting at Maureen’s Musings
September 17
Guest Posting at Strands of Thought
September 18
Guest Posting at Splashes of Joy
September 20
Book Reviewed at Books, Books and More Books
Book Reviewed at Books and Movies Reviews
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