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Title details for Desert Blues by Bill Albert - Wait list

Desert Blues

by Bill Albert
ebook

An orphaned teenager moves in with his cocktail-waitress aunt in 1950s Palm Springs, in a novel with “its full share of hilarious, and touching, moments” (Booklist).
 
“Swinging from poignant drama to edgy satire to farce, Albert’s moving and funny first novel pairs an awkward orphaned adolescent immersed in 1950s rock ’n’ roll and an unconventional ‘kept’ woman. In 1957, confused, taciturn and fat 15-year-old Harold Abelstein, survivor of a car crash that killed his parents, goes to live with his Aunt Enid, a Palm Springs, Calif., cocktail waitress whose flowery perfumes, loud talk and constant pinching and touching make him uncomfortable. Enid’s rent and car are provided gratis by her part-time lover, incredibly self-absorbed Archie Blatt, a St. Louis garment manufacturer who pops in a few times a year to escape his invalid wife and teenage daughters. Though resenting her dependence, Enid faces a bigger problem when her manipulative, self-pitying father, Abe, who walked out on the family 25 years ago, suddenly reappears, shabby, reeking of whiskey and terminally ill. Tensions snap as Abe grows ever sicker and then Archie shows up, forcing four disparate souls to fitfully coexist under one roof. With a fine ear for dialogue, Albert perfectly captures a time and place—and the emotional chafing between family members who can't help but care for one another, despite themselves.” —Publishers Weekly
 

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Publisher: Open Road Media

Kindle Book

  • Release date: June 10, 2014

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9781497633155
  • File size: 430 KB
  • Release date: June 10, 2014

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9781497633155
  • File size: 988 KB
  • Release date: June 10, 2014
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Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

Fiction Literature Humor (Fiction)

Languages

English

An orphaned teenager moves in with his cocktail-waitress aunt in 1950s Palm Springs, in a novel with “its full share of hilarious, and touching, moments” (Booklist).
 
“Swinging from poignant drama to edgy satire to farce, Albert’s moving and funny first novel pairs an awkward orphaned adolescent immersed in 1950s rock ’n’ roll and an unconventional ‘kept’ woman. In 1957, confused, taciturn and fat 15-year-old Harold Abelstein, survivor of a car crash that killed his parents, goes to live with his Aunt Enid, a Palm Springs, Calif., cocktail waitress whose flowery perfumes, loud talk and constant pinching and touching make him uncomfortable. Enid’s rent and car are provided gratis by her part-time lover, incredibly self-absorbed Archie Blatt, a St. Louis garment manufacturer who pops in a few times a year to escape his invalid wife and teenage daughters. Though resenting her dependence, Enid faces a bigger problem when her manipulative, self-pitying father, Abe, who walked out on the family 25 years ago, suddenly reappears, shabby, reeking of whiskey and terminally ill. Tensions snap as Abe grows ever sicker and then Archie shows up, forcing four disparate souls to fitfully coexist under one roof. With a fine ear for dialogue, Albert perfectly captures a time and place—and the emotional chafing between family members who can't help but care for one another, despite themselves.” —Publishers Weekly
 

Expand title description text
Fiction Literature Humor (Fiction)