"Warm Yuletide family drama"
In 1952 seventeen and a half years old Pete is going home
to spend Christmas with his parents, in realty mom as dad
is never there for him, until he ships out to Korea as a
sailor. Before leaving for the small war, Pete wishes he
could help his beloved mom with money that she does not
have, but still uses to decorate the Brooklyn apartment
just for him. He also wants to come to grips with his two
failed relationships before shipping to the war zone.
Recently his girlfriend Kathleen sent him a Dear John
letter while he was at boot camp and he never has had
anything to do with his brusque father Billy. Pete quickly realizes that Kathleen has met someone else
so he knows that relationship is over. Billy continues to
act like his son is an inconvenient stranger until Pete
decides to go into the lion's lair. On Christmas Eve, he
shocks himself as much as his dad when he visits his
father's only hangout, the neighborhood bar Rattigan's,
for the first time. There he begins to see a different
side to the always tired and snippy factory worker who
sired him as they drink the night away together. This reprint of a 1970s warm Yuletide family drama remains
current perhaps because our leaders still send our working
class (and disadvantaged) youths to war. Though at times
a bit schmaltzy the story line provides a powerful look at
Brooklyn during the early 1950s, but does so through the
interrelationships or lack of between Pete and his
parents. Fans will hope that Pete gets THE GIFT he so
much desires in life that his father calls him "son". Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 6, 2005
SummaryA powerful short novel that's vintage Hamill--an
evocative, emotionally involving tale of fathers and sons,
loss and yearning, forgiveness and approbation--is
restored to print.
Brooklyn, 1952. It is Christmastime and a young sailor
named Pete is home on leave, temporarily liberated from
the specter of war in Korea. He's back in the old
neighborhood, discovering firsthand that the girl he left
behind evidently meant what she said in the Dear John
letter she sent him. He's back in the dreary Seventh
Avenue apartment that his mother can ill afford to
decorate for the holidays. And he's back facing off with
Billy, the gruff Irish factory worker who is his father,
yet seems forever a stranger--until, on Christmas Eve,
Pete pays his first visit to Rattigan's, the local bar
where his father hangs out, the place where Billy seems
most fully alive.
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