A Friend of Kissinger (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780299185206)

In this lively coming-of-age novel, young Danny Meyer lays bare a landscape of illness and despair but emerges triumphant, with a new awareness of the limitations of security and the lessons of eternity. Danny's bubble-like existence in paradisal Madison is broken when his father, a concert pianist and professor, is stricken with illness and must give up his professorship. The family is forced to move to Milwaukee to live at the brink of poverty while his father gets sicker, his artistic mother struggles as bread-winner, and his brother becomes delusional. Here, Danny finds himself in the uncertain position of having to accept the responsibilities of manhood while still struggling with adolescence.

In a world that keeps shifting, Danny befriends the son of a gangster and, through his brushes with that compelling world of crime, finds his way to a new confidence. Realistically portrayed, A Friend of Kissinger, captures an authentic sense of place that is one part arty, heartland Main Street and one part shady, small-time gangsterland.

Author: David Milofsky
ISBN-10: 0299185206
ISBN-13: 9780299185206
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Language: English
Published: 02/07/2003
Pages: 232
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.02lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.28w x 0.76d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2003 pg. 261
Booklist 05/01/2003 pg. 1581