Whistle Punk Falls
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Description
Description
During the Spring of 2009 in the hard-knocks timber town of Aberdeen, Washington, seventeen-year-old wallflower Jeremy Sweet, his friends, and their families discover that befriending someone with mental illness is a labyrinthine journey. That friend is Malachi “Loud” McCrowley. Native American, homeless, and haunted by the mysterious logging death of his white father, Loud claims he communicates with the ghosts of Kurt Cobain and other tragically misunderstood misfits of Aberdeen.
Jeremy was drawn to Loud because of their similar tastes in punk music and progressive ideas. But Loud’s claims about the ghosts have Jeremy on edge; he also has his opinions on Loud’s relationship with intrepid tomboy-turned-heartthrob, Aurora Lee Loftner, Jeremy’s unrequited love interest.
Along their quixotic and hormone-fueled effort to intervene in Loud’s dizzying decline, Jeremy and Aurora form unexpected alliances with their parents and Loud’s estranged Native American mom and together, they reframe what it means to help someone.
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“McMichael delivers a haunting and fiercely empathetic debut about friendship, family, and the fragile ways we try to save each other.”
Thomas Kohnstamm – Author of Supersonic
“The hot drama of the youth, Loud’s disintegration, Jeremy’s jealousy…Shaun paints the most perfect and awful of teenage situations and communicates them as somatic experiences. His lyricism and literary verve result in Margaret-Atwood-quality sentences that demand multiple readings out of pleasure and awe.”
Eli Hastings-Psychotherapist, Author of Clearly Now the Rain
“Shaun Anthony McMichael is the patron saint of the alienated and disaffected youth in Washington’s post-apunkalyptic grunge scene. His characters commune with Kurt Cobain’s ghost while simultaneously embodying that same rebellious spirit. McMichael’s prose is simultaneously lyrical and irreverent. Whistle Punk Falls resonates deeply–an unforgettable reading experience.”
Daren Dean-Professor, Author of The Black Harvest
“Whistle Punk Falls spins a hard-luck tale and a reminder of a Northwest beyond the sights of Seattle’s high-tech winners, returning us instead to the left behinds of this rain-drenched corner of the continent.”
Doug Thorpe-Professor, Author of Rapture in the Deep.
“Brilliant, lyrical, brutally authentic. The prose achieves poetic heights of poignancy. A remarkable achievement.”
Jim Thomsen-Editor, Book Reviewer
“A great time capsule of the last year of the tumultuous aughts, Whistle Punk Falls makes you want to relive your adolescence.”
Dennis Staples-Author of This Town Sleeps.
“The resiliency of McMichaels’ characters, the webs of friendship they weave, and the family bonds they struggle to rebuild provide the book’s defiant promise of renewal.”
Harry Kirchner-Editor at Counter Point Press
“A moving and beautiful story. A great achievement.”
Gregory Wolfe-Publisher, Editor at SLANT
“So much in the story mirrors the economic and social frustrations of many an American abode that the demise of social connections, niceties of caring about others, and struggles to stay alive under insane conditions and expectations make Whistle Punk Falls more than just another story of teen angst or apocalyptic survival…Filled with enlightening moments and fiery social and psychological realization, Whistle Punk Falls is a study in contrasts and experience. It deserves high profile in any library, to be recommended to young adult and adult readers interested in how relationships fracture and are rebuilt in small towns across America.”
Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
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