My good man

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My good man

Title :

My good man / Eric Gansworth.

Title:

My good man

Author:

Gansworth, Eric, 1965-

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

411 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

ISBN:

9781646141838

Production / Publication Information:

Montclair : Levine Querido, 2022.

Summary:

When a mysterious assault lands the brother of his mother's late boyfriend in the hospital, Brian, a twenty-something Indigenous reporter, must pick up the threads of a life he's abandoned, returning to the Tuscarora reservation to discover the truth.

Language:

English

Genre:

Bildungsromans.

Novels.

Geographic Term:

Tuscarora Nation Reservation (N.Y.) -- Fiction.

Subject Term:

Journalists -- Fiction.

Tuscarora Indians -- Fiction.

Indigenous peoples -- New York (State) -- Fiction.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN FICTION GANSWORTH	31330009266408	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Amesbury Public Library	YA FIC GANSWORTH	32114002748664	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	TEEN GANSWORTH	32117002154544	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	Y/FIC/GANSWORTH	31480011620488	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Georgetown Peabody Library	YA FIC GANSWORTH	32120001405610	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groton Public Library	YA GANSWORTH	37003701981046	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	Y GAN	30470002050697	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	YA/GANSWORTH E	31479007146128	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lawrence Public Library	FIC GAN YA	31549004962378	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Littleton - Reuben Hoar Library	YA F GANSWORTH	39965002438827	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	YA GANSWORTH	32128004135910	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Rockport Public Library	YA FIC GANSWORTH	32129002539459	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tewksbury Public Library	TEEN FICTION GANSWORTH	32132003351395	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library	YA F GANSWORTH	31990005159525	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Wilmington Memorial Library	TEEN GANSWORTH	32136003656562	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

BEST OF THE YEAR

Kirkus * Boston Globe

A literary tour-de-force sure to turn the coming-of-age genre on its head from Printz honoree Eric Gansworth

Brian, a 20-something reporter on the Niagara Cascade's City Desk, is navigating life as the only Indigenous writer in the newsroom, being lumped into reporting on stereotypical stories that homogenize his community, the nearby Tuscarora reservation. But when a mysterious roadside assault lands Tim, the brother of Brian's mother's late boyfriend in the hospital, Brian must pick up the threads of a life that he's abandoned.

The narrative takes us through Brian's childhood and slice of life stories on the reservation, in Gansworth's signature blend of crystal sharp, heartfelt literary realist prose. But perhaps more importantly, it takes us through Brian's attempt to balance himself between Haudenosaunee and American life, between the version of his story that would prize the individual over all else and the version of himself that depends on the entire community's survival.

P R A I S E

★""Heartfelt. Lush. Perceptive. Gansworth candidly offers a complex look at Brian's efforts to cultivate his own sense of self while navigating two seemingly separate identities: his life growing up in Tuscarora and his life after leaving the reservation."

--Publishers Weekly (starred)

★ "A masterwork of historical fiction. Rich, luxuriant, densely layered prose immerses readers in heartbreaking scenes and poignant dialogue as complex characters explore the confines and joys of male friendship. Riveting, timeless, and indispensable."

--Kirkus (starred)

★ "A novel about strong medicines and powerful treaties."

--BCCB (starred)

"A sprawling work, part commentary and chorus, part excavation of generational trauma, circling back and starting over as his protagonist stumbles toward adulthood. Gansworth drops gems of sharp dialogue as his story lurches toward big truths."

--Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A triumph of storytelling."

--Buffalo News

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Onondaga, Eel Clan author Gansworth (Apple) traces the life of a Haudenosaunee 25-year-old from early childhood to adulthood in this heartfelt epic. The novel opens in 1992 with reporter Brian Waterson, the only Native person on the Niagara Cascade staff, struggling to persuade his editors to let him report on topics other than life on the Tuscarora reservation where he grew up. When the brother of his mother's white boyfriend is hospitalized after a violent incident, Brian is drawn back to his childhood home. Thus begins a rewind to 1970, and--via six distinct parts--a forward chronology that delves further into Brian's relationship with his family, his community, and himself. As the years pass, Brian navigates racism, toxic masculinity, and an increasing disconnect with his heritage. The author's sketch-like, high-contrast artwork, featured throughout and rendered in b&w, uses Native imagery to impart eerie atmosphere, while rhythmic poem interstitials lend additional lyricism to the lush text. In this perceptive tome, Gansworth candidly offers a complex look at Brian's efforts to cultivate his own sense of self while navigating two seemingly separate identities: his life growing up in Tuscarora and his life after leaving the reservation. Ages 14--up. (Nov.)

Horn Book Review

Border-crossing is a major theme of Gansworth's (Onondaga Nation) complex novel, set on the Tuscarora Reservation. The novel itself also traverses a border: not between the U.S. and Canada but between YA and adult fiction, given its length and density, its twenty-five-year-old main character, and its mature sexual and violent themes. Extended flashbacks, however, focus on protagonist Brian's (Haudenosaunee) experience growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Native and non-Native people alike have always looked down on him for being poor and for being a part of a family of medicine people. Now, as he's learning from the assignments he gets from his biased newspaper editor boss: "Your job is to explore the way you're different." In the early-1990s framing narrative, Brian must find out why his close friend -- a man who is almost an uncle, though not related by blood -- was beaten and left by the side of the road, a mystery connected to a handful of people who live on the reservation. This is fundamentally a story of balancing between cultures and about friendship between men. Fans of the author's work will notice characters, settings, and themes in common with his award-winning earlier YA titles (most recently Apple: Skin to the Core, rev. 11/20). Gansworth's black-and-white paintings, based on album cover art for the 1970s and 1980s classic rock band Rush, open each section with symbolic impact; an appended note discusses their role in the story and in the author's life. Lara K. AaseJanuary/February 2023 p.81 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

A Native son comes of age, tackling race, class, and masculinity. It's 1992, and 25-year-old Brian is the only Indigenous journalist on staff at the Niagara Cascade, a small city newspaper. After failing to successfully pitch an article on the Love Canal toxic waste dump, Brian is told to stick to his beat by writing stories about life on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation where he grew up. Pressured to report on crimes committed by Indigenous people, Brian hears via the police blotter about a man who was severely assaulted on Moon Road, the center of the Rez. Through Eee-ogg, or gossip, Brian learns that the victim was Tim, a White man who is the brother of Gihh-rhaggs, his mom's old boyfriend. No one on the Rez could understand Brian's relationship with Tim. Spanning over two decades, the novel flashes back to Brian as a boy navigating a fraught adolescence in a house without heat, electricity, or gas. Enhanced with art by Gansworth (Onondaga, Eel Clan) as well as poetry and Brian's newspaper articles, this masterwork of historical fiction asks whether peaceably straddling the realms of White and Indigenous people is possible. Rich, luxuriant, densely layered prose immerses readers in heartbreaking scenes and poignant dialogue as complex characters explore the confines and joys of male friendship. Riveting, timeless, and indispensable. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 14-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Twenty-something Brian Waterson, the token Haudenosaunee reporter for the Niagara Cascade, routinely endures microaggressions from his editor whenever he suggests stories more nuanced than police-blotter details. When Tim Sampson, a white acquaintance from Brian's past, is brutally beaten, Brian's attempts to help Tim pull Brian back into his Rez past and his original career path as a healer. In episodic chapters (some published earlier as short stories), Brian recounts his life: growing up on the Rez, where food and money were scarce; adjusting to father figures that come and go from his life; and feeling like a perpetual outsider. Also embedded in the narrative are poems that reference treaties depicted on wampum belts (describing two boats, Indigenous and European, traveling a river on separate paths); frequent nods to Canadian rock band Rush; and black-and-white artwork invoking Rush album covers. While the enormous cast of characters makes for a somewhat confusing beginning, those who stick with this will be rewarded with a rich exploration of father-son dynamics. Adult readers will also find Gansworth's latest compelling.