A Song for the Asking Steve Gannon | ISBN : 0-553-10164-1

A Song for the Asking

Author: Steve Gannon

Publisher: Random House South Africa

Publication Date: 01 December, 1997

ISBN: 9780553101645

Pages: 368

Subjects: General, Family and relationships

Available as: , Trade Cloth, 978-0-553-10164-5 E-Book - EPUB, 978-0-615-43270-0

Description:

No stranger has the capacity to truly hurt you; that terrible power is held only in the hands of those you love. Rarely does a first novel come along that is both compassionate and unflinching in its portrayal of a family shattered by tragedy. In this intense and poignant debut, Steve Gannon tells a story that is impossible to put down--and impossible to forget. Detective Daniel Kane is the self-proclaimed king of his castle--his California beachfront home--and a loving despot to his subjects: his wife, Catheryn, and his four children, Tommy, Travis, Allison, and Nate. With a relentless perfectionism and razor-edge cynicism born of years on the LAPD, Kane is determined to recast his children in his own image, steeling them to face a harsh and violent world. Although Catheryn struggles to soften the rigors of his exacting love, over the course of a single, shattering summer, Kane's expectations will bring tragedy to each of his children, plunging the entire family into an abyss of heartbreak that will test the limits of its strength. Yet, in a devastating moment that changes all of the Kanes forever, it is Travis alone who will find the courage to defy his father and, ultimately, to redeem him. Told against a finely drawn backdrop ranging from the High Sierra to the beaches of Malibu and the gritty streets of Los Angeles, A Song for the Asking is an electrifying first novel--deeply moving, compelling, and filled with candor, compassion, and humor--signaling the emergence of a remarkable new talent.

PW Publishers Weekly

Review Source: Publishers Weekly

Review Date: 1996-11-11

The classic psychological roles assumed by the children and spouses of alcoholics surface in this affecting, if maudlin, debut novel about a family held hostage to a parent's alcoholism, and about the son who must stand up to his father's tyranny in order to make them whole. Futilely defended by Catheryn, his gifted cellist mom, Travis Kane, a 16-year-old piano prodigy, is a distant second to his older brother and a football hero, Tommy, in the battle to win the affection of theirs hard-drinking father, macho LAPD Detective Dan. Over the summer preceding Tommy's departure for college, the situation deteriorates as the obsessive-compulsive detective tries to play superhero on the job and‘in an atmosphere charged with animosity over the Rodney King incident‘finds himself in hot water over accusations that he used excessive force. The family endure one melodramatic crisis after another, precipitated by Dan's rapidly degenerating behavior. One particularly unlikely event occurs when Tommy's nine-year-old brother, Nate, shoots dead a young punk who is raping his 15-year-old sister, Allison. Incredibly, the younger siblings not only conspire to keep the rape secret but agree to let Allison shoulder the blame for the shooting. Also troubling is the absence of insight into Dan's childhood and the abruptness of the act of disobedience that leads to the final tragedy. Although this novel makes a sincere effort to render the insidious impact of alcoholism, Dan's final plea for forgiveness will impress readers as only the last in a series of notes struck off-key and with too much stridency. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved