Say That To My Face: Fiction

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book Say That To My Face: Fiction by David Prete, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David Prete ISBN: 9780393089974
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: September 17, 2003
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: David Prete
ISBN: 9780393089974
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: September 17, 2003
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

Yonkers, New York, finds its place on the literary map of America.

Transcending all the limitations of "ethnic literature" and mobster stereotyping, David Prete flawlessly (and seemingly effortlessly) nails Italian-American life to the page and elevates it to a new place in American writing.

Say That to My Face introduces us to Joey Frascone and his family and friends in the tense, violent, racially divided Yonkers of the Seventies and Eighties. His childhood segmented between four homes and his teenage dreams pulling him towards the challenge and excitement of New York City, Joey is a handsome kid whose intense and conflicting loyalties threaten to tear him apart. Whether responding to the crush of a motherless girl whose sister he adores; flirting with danger during the terrifying summer of mass-murderer "Son of Sam"; cheating his teammates of a victory to save a friend on the ballfield; watching his mother play softball against his father ("in her lovely red dress, she pretended to fix her crotch and spit out a wad of chewing tobacco... With one shake of her ass in the batter's box of a church parking lot, my mother dropped thirty years"); or struggling with the mind-blowing high of a lifetime while running drugs from Jamaica, Frascone wins the reader's steadfast allegiance as he tries to figure out where his own truest loyalties lie.

Capturing people in flux between their better and worse selves, David Prete is one outstanding storyteller. With hilarious, thrilling, and painful accuracy, he evokes the color and poignancy and humor of Italian-American speech and the characters who use it. Like barman Frank Gianguzzi, whose favorite term of affection is "coog," from the Italian "cugino," or cousin, or any of its variations: "coog-o, coogini, coogette, coogie coog, coog a'bell, coog a'brut." Or Benny Colangelo, the quintessential neighborhood guy, "emanating his future. A future of work, neighborhood, family, and the beautiful poetry of routine." Or Joey's butcher grandfather, scratching his grandson's back with his thick, heavy butcher's nails, as he yells, "Look at the prince here." Or his Uncle Gingy, whose motto — "the one thing you don't mess with is family"-doesn't seem to apply to how he treats his wife.

Having come of age among characters as memorable as any in Faulkner's Mississippi, Joey finds that even when he escapes Yonkers for the sophisticated city sparkling at the other side of the bridge, his past isn't forgotten: the past isn't even past.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Yonkers, New York, finds its place on the literary map of America.

Transcending all the limitations of "ethnic literature" and mobster stereotyping, David Prete flawlessly (and seemingly effortlessly) nails Italian-American life to the page and elevates it to a new place in American writing.

Say That to My Face introduces us to Joey Frascone and his family and friends in the tense, violent, racially divided Yonkers of the Seventies and Eighties. His childhood segmented between four homes and his teenage dreams pulling him towards the challenge and excitement of New York City, Joey is a handsome kid whose intense and conflicting loyalties threaten to tear him apart. Whether responding to the crush of a motherless girl whose sister he adores; flirting with danger during the terrifying summer of mass-murderer "Son of Sam"; cheating his teammates of a victory to save a friend on the ballfield; watching his mother play softball against his father ("in her lovely red dress, she pretended to fix her crotch and spit out a wad of chewing tobacco... With one shake of her ass in the batter's box of a church parking lot, my mother dropped thirty years"); or struggling with the mind-blowing high of a lifetime while running drugs from Jamaica, Frascone wins the reader's steadfast allegiance as he tries to figure out where his own truest loyalties lie.

Capturing people in flux between their better and worse selves, David Prete is one outstanding storyteller. With hilarious, thrilling, and painful accuracy, he evokes the color and poignancy and humor of Italian-American speech and the characters who use it. Like barman Frank Gianguzzi, whose favorite term of affection is "coog," from the Italian "cugino," or cousin, or any of its variations: "coog-o, coogini, coogette, coogie coog, coog a'bell, coog a'brut." Or Benny Colangelo, the quintessential neighborhood guy, "emanating his future. A future of work, neighborhood, family, and the beautiful poetry of routine." Or Joey's butcher grandfather, scratching his grandson's back with his thick, heavy butcher's nails, as he yells, "Look at the prince here." Or his Uncle Gingy, whose motto — "the one thing you don't mess with is family"-doesn't seem to apply to how he treats his wife.

Having come of age among characters as memorable as any in Faulkner's Mississippi, Joey finds that even when he escapes Yonkers for the sophisticated city sparkling at the other side of the bridge, his past isn't forgotten: the past isn't even past.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book The Burning Ground: Stories by David Prete
Cover of the book The Hundred Days (Vol. Book 19) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) by David Prete
Cover of the book When Sex Goes to School: Warring Views on Sex--and Sex Education--Since the Sixties by David Prete
Cover of the book Alfred C. Kinsey: A Life by David Prete
Cover of the book Guided Imagery Work with Kids: Essential Practices to Help Them Manage Stress, Reduce Anxiety & Build Self-Esteem by David Prete
Cover of the book Writing History in the Global Era by David Prete
Cover of the book Between Salt Water and Holy Water: A History of Southern Italy by David Prete
Cover of the book DNA Is Not Destiny: The Remarkable, Completely Misunderstood Relationship between You and Your Genes by David Prete
Cover of the book So You Think You Know Baseball?: A Fan's Guide to the Official Rules by David Prete
Cover of the book Paris to the Past: Traveling through French History by Train by David Prete
Cover of the book Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary by David Prete
Cover of the book After a Funeral: A Memoir by David Prete
Cover of the book The Invitation: A Novel by David Prete
Cover of the book Stunning Sentences (The Effective Writing Series) by David Prete
Cover of the book Selected Poems: 1950-2012 by David Prete
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy