Brutal Youth: A Novel
Page 42
Davidek felt sorry looking over at his mother. All she wanted was to be loved—she just had so little to give in return. So now she was trying her best to make conversation, but a parent can’t leave a child alone for so long and expect the occasional nicety to count for much. Those bonds break away much more quickly and permanently than most people would like to believe.
He wanted to tell her everything. He just couldn’t.
But Stein had it much worse. His mother had caused more agony for her boy than anyone Davidek could imagine, and look at what Stein had sacrificed to try to save her—even after she was gone. Maybe you can’t blame people for the pain that makes them who they are. Maybe that was just one more bullet you had to step in front of for someone you were supposed to love—even if you didn’t want to. Even if it hurt. Maybe that was love.
“Answer me when I talk to you, Peter…,” June Davidek said, her fake friendliness edging away with every bump in the bridge span. “Can you at least tell me what the hell was going on back at that school that had you all worked up?”
The minivan reached a red light at the end of the bridge, and Davidek thought about unhooking his seat belt and turning to put his arms around his mom. Instead, he shook his head and looked out the window.
“It was nothing,” he said. “Just kid stuff.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is a book about friendships, and it wouldn’t have happened without some extraordinary ones in my own life: Anil Kurian passed an early draft to my editor, Brendan Deneen, who liked it well enough to spend a few years of his life fighting for its publication. Without him, no one else would have believed in it.
Helen Estabrook introduced me to Graham Moore, who recommended me to his formidable reps at ICM, Jennifer Joel and Clay Ezell, and with them came Roxane Edouard, the warrior agent fighting to get this book translated into other languages.
The people who made this stack of paper look so amazing include art director Rob Grom, who turned an innocent school uniform into a simmering metaphor of adolescent rage, and production editor Kenneth J. Silver, copy editor Eliani Torres, and proofreader Steve Roman—who saved me from many stupit mistakes. Thanks, guyz.
Thomas Dunne gave this project his blessing, and Nicole Sohl, the associate editor, expertly shepherded the book toward its final form. In publicity and marketing, John Karle, Marie Estrada, and Kerry McMahon have been tireless flag-wavers and drumbeaters.
A few colleagues at Entertainment Weekly gave me the platform of a lifetime to introduce Brutal Youth for the first time: Tina Jordan, Stephan Lee, Steve Korn, and Jeff Giles. And an army of friends and relatives shared this book far and wide on Facebook and Twitter.
Nobody gets anywhere without a vouch, and I want to thank the storytellers who read this novel and provided the blurbs you see on the jacket. They have spent their lives building reputations with readers, and generously shared that with me. Jason Reitman was the first to pen a blurb, a true friend who also offered sanctuary when I needed to lay low and rewrite.
A note on music: Stein’s father is a They Might Be Giants fan, which is where he heard that term Rabid Child. Credit where due. Another lyric that stuck in my head came from a 1994 Elvis Costello song called “Favorite Hour”: “Now there’s a tragic waste of brutal youth…” It summed up my early years rather perfectly, and has haunted me ever since. I owe Declan MacManus for the inspiration.
Many civilians read the book in draft form, and a handful spent hours helping me make it better: Susanna Eng-Ziskin, Erica Canales, Thea Okonak, Dan Snierson, and my brother, Greg Breznican (who came up with the shorthand description “Fight Club meets The Breakfast Club.”) Just before we started printing, my old schoolmate James Elkins noticed a scene where I had Stein’s scars on the wrong side of his face. That kind of Indiana-Jones-grabs-the-hat rescue merits a shout-out.
Another early reader was John Carosella, my former teacher, my present teacher. When I was fourteen and wrote a freshman essay about wanting to be a writer, he started encouraging me and has never stopped. He is not Mr. Zimmer, but is one of that rare breed of teacher who finds pieces of garbage among his students and says, “This is worth something; I can fix this.” He fixed me. And I’m just one of many.
Finally, here’s to the librarians of the world … you radical, militant bastards. My wife, Jill, is one of you, and when she started working on her masters in library science, I started working on this novel. You are the keepers, protectors, and sharers of stories, and stories are how we find each other in an existence that is tragically short of call numbers.
All I’ve ever wanted is to give Jill a book for her shelf that was written just for her.
Here it is, kiddo.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANTHONY BREZNICAN was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1998. He has worked as a reporter for The Arizona Republic, the Associated Press, and USA Today, and is currently a senior staff writer for Entertainment Weekly.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
BRUTAL YOUTH. Copyright © 2014 by Anthony Breznican. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Rob Grom
Cover photograph of school uniform blazer © Tore Johannesen / Getty Images
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data for the print edition is available upon request:
978-1-250-01935-6 (hardcover)
978-1-250-01936-3 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781250019363
First Edition: June 2014