Sins of the Fathers: a novel of three guys, one tribe, of friendship, courage, and cola, of innocence lost or stolen but never, ever surrendered -- Chris Lynch
Drew: Our narrator. Likes to go and watch the Hancock Tower, hoping for a decapitation. Rabid Bruins fan.
Skitz: Nutball. Pretty much everyone but his two best friends have given up on him. Altar boy, loves ringing the bells during Mass. Never wears warm clothes, even in February.
Hector: Received the Altar Boy of the Year award. Huge muscles. A stand-up guy, but prone to fits of violence. Has been getting quieter and quieter.
We were supposed to be singing. We were getting ready for our Confirmation which was going to happen later in the year, around Easter time. So they were using up two of our Wednesday afternoons every month learning all the really important stuff that would make us permanent indelible Catholicos for the rest of our natural lives and beyond, and right now we were supposed to be singing this song, but no kidding, how could you?
Sons of God
Hear His Holy Word
Gather round the
Table of the Lord,
Eat His body,
Drink His blood
And we'll sing a
Song of love...All right?
"Am I wrong, or does this song make us sound like a tribe of ghouls?"
I was asking Skitz and Hector, but I was asking too loudly. I caught Father's attention. It wasn't something you'd really want to catch.
Monsignor Blarney: Big Boss of the school. Red-faced, bad temper. Has it in for Skitz.
Father Shenanigan: Big mustache. Scary. Has it in for Skitz. Visits Hector's family a lot.
Father Mullarkey: The New Guy. A Jesuit who spend time working as a carny. Dresses like a biker, loves 60s and 70s music. Drinks.
Everyone joked about priests being fender benders. It didn't have to mean anything, just talk. You never heard a story direct, from the guy himself who learned about it the hard way, but instead you got it from the guy who heard about it from the guy who heard about it from a pretty good friend of the guy so you never felt completely like believing it or not believing it. Felt like saying it, though.
I've already read this book twice. I read it immediately when I received it, but then put off writing it up for so long that I needed to read it again.
Drew is another amazing Lynch creation -- his voice is believable, likable and real. In his gut and his heart, he knows what is happening to Hector, but he is so firm in his denial that he never actually voices it -- NEVER, not even just to himself.
I did occasionally find his narrative hard to follow -- Drew loves his commas a whole lot. (I say Drew, not Chris Lynch, because his style changes so much from book to book. I really do think of his books as belonging to the characters more than to the author.)
I'd like to read the same story from Skitz's perspective.
Though it isn't perfect -- the pieces work better than the whole -- it struck much more of a chord in me than Stained did, though I seem to still be one of the only people on the planet who hated that one. I was reminded a bit of Cormier, in that the adults are either Bad, Useless or Too Weak-Willed to Help. The ending -- which was brilliant -- was much more upbeat than a Cormier ending, though.
Regardless of my problems with it, I do think Sins of the Fathers would be an excellent book discussion book. Not just because of the issues raised, but because Chris Lynch doesn't spell everything out. There's a whole lot to talk about here.
So, someone else read it, please. I want to chat.