Manny : a Novel / by Isaac Rosen

When sixteen-year-old Josh Lipkin runs away from his abusive New York family, he teams up with Manny, a women twice his age, who is searching for her missing boyfriend

Rebellious 16-year-old Josh Lipkin, who runs away from his dysfunctional Manhattan family in 1983, narrates Rosen's debut novel, a coming-of-age tale with an eccentric cast of characters. Josh hates his bullying father, a liquor store owner who beats and derides him. His embittered, vodka-soaked mother, a TV addict, can't offer him guidance in his search for self and for the meaning of his Jewish identity. More than your typical awkward, bright, sex-obsessed teenager, Josh is a troubled loner who seeks human contact by attending strangers' funerals and by sneaking into nursing homes to befriend octogenarians. He finds a soul mate in a bohemian advertising copywriter almost twice his age: Tiffany Elizabeth ("Manny") Mann. Manny is searching too--for her boyfriend, Patrick, who has disappeared. Sleuthing in a befuddled way, the two travel to Patrick's hometown on Cape Cod, where Josh meets Francis Gallagher, a retired Boston cop turned PI. Gallagher, at first misunderstands Josh and Manny's relationship but later takes a fatherly interest in the youth. Rosen's depiction of a youngster emotionally scarred by physical abuse is well grounded. But his Harold and Maude-type tale of an unlikely friendship is unconvincing (Manny is a bore) and the search for Patrick is a nonsuspenseful wild goose chase. Josh's adolescent angst is interesting for a while, but even his sarcasm doesn't stop the narrative from descending into bathos.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

This first novel is narrated by Josh Lipkin, a 16-year-old awash in New York City who calls himself "the first Jewish runaway in the history of the New York, maybe the world." His father, who has failed in a variety of business endeavors, now owns a liquor store and is verbally and physically abusive to his only child. Josh's mother sees life through a vodka cloud and spends her time in front of a television set. Josh, a sensitive soul, sneaks into nursing homes pretending to be kin to lonely, elderly patients who eagerly await his visits. When he is no longer sure what he is going to do next or where he is going to live, Josh meets Manny, a funky, self-sufficient woman in her thirties who is searching for her boyfriend, Patrick. He travels with her to Cape Cod, Patrick's family home, and in the process learns how to cope with his life. Unfortunately, this well-told tale includes some rather deprecating images of Jewish life that detract from the vibrancy of the whole.?Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Md.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.