SMALL MERCIES: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
SMALL MERCIES
BY EDDIE JOYCE
  

ABOUT THE BOOK:
A startling and tender portrait of one family’s struggle to make peace with their son’s death

An ingeniously layered narrative, told over the course of one week, Eddie Joyce’s debut novel masterfully depicts an Italian-Irish American family on Staten Island and their complicated emotional history. Ten years after the loss of Bobby—the Amendola family’s youngest son—everyone is still struggling to recover from the firefighter’s unexpected death. Bobby’s mother, Gail; his widow, Tina; his older brothers Peter, the corporate lawyer, and Franky, the misfit; and his father, Michael, have all dealt with their grief in different ways. But as the family gathers together for Bobby Jr.’s birthday party, they must each find a way to accept a new man in Tina’s life while reconciling their feelings for their lost loved one.

In unflinching but lyrical prose, Joyce shows us one mother’s struggle to keep her family together and preserve the memory of her son. Following Gail as she moves from the corner offices of white-shoe Manhattan law firms to the blue-collar gin mills of the outer boroughs, Small Mercies reveals a different New York, one that exists in the hearts and minds of its inhabitants.

Presented through multiple points of view, Small Mercies explores the conflicts and deep attachments that exist within families. Heart-wrenching and profoundly relatable, Joyce’s debut is a love letter to Staten Island and a deeply affecting portrait of an American family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

EDDIE JOYCE was born and raised on Staten Island. A graduate of Harvard University and Georgetown Law Center, he practiced law in Manhattan for ten years. When his twin daughters were born in 2009, he left the legal profession to stay home and help raise them while pursuing his dream of being a writer. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three daughters.

PRAISE FOR SMALL MERCIES:
“An intimate family portrait.”—The New York Times

“Eddie Joyce’s terrific first novel is so American that the story might as well have taken place at the base of the Statue of Liberty.”—Richard Russo

“An inside look at one Staten Island family’s struggle with grief . . . [A] poignant, deeply affecting tale.” —Martha Stewart Living, a Book Club selection

“[A] terrific debut novel. . . . Joyce layers . . . different characters’ perspectives nimbly and skillfully, infusing his portrait of a messy, complicated, loving family with heartfelt emotion.”—Sara Vilkomerson, Entertainment Weekly, A-

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
SMALL MERCIES by Eddie Joyce is an emotionally gripping tale about an Italian-Irish family who lives on Staten Island, New York, and how each member of this multigenerational family deals with the loss of one of their own following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. SMALL MERCIES, however, is not a story centered on that awful event but rather the part it played in a family's life...their grief, reactions, and recovery in the years that followed.

The Amendola family is headed up by parents Gail and Michael, with Gail being the matriarch who has tried to keep her family together after the loss of their youngest son, Bobby. He was working on that horrific day as a NY firefighter, and died going into the towers to rescue people. Bobby left behind wife Tina and two young children. Gail has remained close to Tina but as time goes by, Tina has met a new man and wants to try and put her life back together again with him. She is afraid, however, of how the family will take this. She doesn't want to lose them. The upcoming family birthday party for Bobby, Jr. will be a true test, or a disaster!

Michael and Gail have two other sons, Peter and Franky. The eldest, Peter, is a successful lawyer who is the only one to leave Staten Island to live in Manhattan, with his wife Lindsay and their children. But Peter is now afraid of losing everything and everyone for a terrible mistake he has made. Readers also meet Franky, who uses alcohol to deal with the loss of the brother he so adored, and is continually an embarrassment to his family and himself. Always in trouble, nobody can be sure if Franky can make it to Bobby Jr.'s birthday party coming up, without causing a scene... especially when Tina wants the family to meet the new man in her life.

Author Eddie Joyce's use of flashbacks to clarify the narrative, as well as using the point of view from different characters to tell the story, all add to the page-turning Amendola family saga in SMALL MERCIES. I found the story interesting especially because Joyce is obviously knowledgeable of the area as he made Staten Island more than just the setting, but almost another character. Describing the people and their close knit community gave even more credence to the events and actions that took place. Easy to read as well as one that may stay with you for a while.

GIVEAWAY

 
  I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS WONDERFUL

BOOK, SMALL MERCIES TO 

GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY WINNER!

  

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