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Seeing to Infinity

4/30/2014

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In Chapter 3, eight-year-old Jason recalls something his teenage friend Bobby told him during the first season on the boardwalk. Since then, Bobby has mysteriously disappeared.

“You look out as far as you can, and you see to infinity,” [Bobby] said, pointing at the horizon. “As far as you can see to the left and right: Infinity.” We stared at the horizon. “Boardwalk people—all day long we can see to infinity. Who else does that? Nobody. Except for sailors. And maybe cowboys, depending.”

And now, as I lay in bed, I wondered: Was Bobby gazing at infinity on the shore of another ocean? Was he waiting tables in Miami? Standing in line to visit the Gypsy King? “Jason, man, when you get older I'll teach you about girls,” he'd promised me.

Jason goes on to wonder who's going to teach him about girls now that Bobby has gone. And it turns out that, on that subject, Jason has a whole lot to learn . . .
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The Honorary Gypsy at School

4/29/2014

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In Chapter 2 of Mr. Boardwalk:
After his first summer on the Atlantic City boardwalk, when his friend Bobby declared him an honorary gypsy, seven-year-old Jason has to return to school in the Philadelphia suburbs. In his description later, the boy uses the same epithet his father had used to justify quitting a good accounting job to open a pretzel stand:

I didn’t like the kids at school. On the first day, the teacher had made us stand in front of the class and talk about our summers. The other kids didn’t believe me when I told them about the boardwalk. They didn’t believe I was an honorary gypsy or that I could make a marionette dance. They smirked and chuckled like goddamned idiots.

Miss McCue stood up. “My, my,” she said. “We certainly have one imaginative young man in our class, don’t we?”

Imaginative?

“Jason, you may take your seat now.” Indignant, I tromped down the aisle to my desk, ignoring my fellow students’ stares and giggles.
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Bobby and the Bearded Lady

4/28/2014

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An excerpt from Chapter 1 of Mr. Boardwalk, when the seven-year-old Jason Benson first experiences life in Atlantic City:

“The Bearded Lady’s a big fat fake.”
            On a balmy afternoon under a cotton candy sky, Million Dollar Pier smelled like seaweed and French fries. The only money among the three of us was what Bobby had gotten from Mom and Dad, and from Norman and Betty, in exchange for keeping an eye on Lita and me for the afternoon; and Bobby had no intention of blowing his babysitting pay on a freak show. “I got a date tonight with an Irene’s Fudge girl,” he said. “I’m holding on to my money, and so should you. That Bearded Lady’s phony.”
            The barker in front of the Bearded Lady’s tent must have heard Bobby. The hulky redheaded man stopped mid-pitch—“Step right up, ladies and gent…” He glared at us. Bobby, sixteen and streetwise from years on the boardwalk and in gypsy camps in Florida, stuck his tongue out at the man. The three of us turned to go back to the boardwalk.
            “What’s a Bearded Lady?” asked Lita. She was only five—two years younger than I. She had mud-colored, curly hair, like mine, but hers was long, cascading in ringlets past her shoulders. And, like me, she was reed-thin and suntanned. Some people thought we were siblings, even though we’d met only a week earlier.
            The barker hollered, “Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Come see the Incredible Bearded Lady! Only a quarter—one thin quat-ah!” Lita stopped; she dug in her heels, grabbed our wrists and tugged us back toward the tent.
            “It’s dumb, it’s fake!” Bobby said. He stooped and looked Lita in the eye. She pouted. Suddenly Bobby’s face lit up. “All right, you want to see the Bearded Lady? Follow me. Be cool.”

And so the two little kids follow Bobby the gypsy. And then... (Paperback coming June 3! If you can't wait, get the Kindle e-book available now.)
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The American Male: Will He Ever Grow Up?

4/25/2014

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One of the things we love about Mr. Boardwalk is that it’s not an ordinary coming-of-age tale. The protagonist, Jason Benson, has to grow up not once but twice. In the inner story we follow him from age seven to eighteen as he falls in love with boardwalk life in Atlantic City. In the outer story, he’s nearing forty and still hasn't come to terms with the disastrous way his boardwalk days ended. Like so many other American males, he thinks he’s mature but discovers otherwise. This is an excellent read for guys still struggling to reach emotional adulthood (that's, like, 97% of us) and for the women who so often sigh and roll their eyes.
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Praise for Mr. B.

4/22/2014

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A quick summary of praise collected so far for Mr. Boardwalk (we love this! many thanks to the early reviewers):

"Let's face it: reviewers of Kindle books are way too liberal in giving 5 stars. If they liked it, they just click on 5 stars. How do I convince you that this book deserves the rating? My husband requested that I download this book because a Facebook friend had written it. I downloaded a sample, and way before I completed it, I ordered the book. The descriptions are rich and wonderful. I'm a voracious reader, and often I will skip some of the descriptions to get to plot points more quickly. But not this time. I found myself rereading some of the descriptions so I could be sure I was getting every last little morsel of detail. No word felt extraneous, none was wasted. I wanted to savor each and every part. I found the style somewhat reminiscent of John Irving, perhaps even E.L. Doctorow. I wanted to write a review from the beginning, but I wanted to make sure the author could sustain the voice of the novel and bring off the story line before doing so. So I waited. I spent the afternoon yesterday reading the rest of the book, and I can say without reservation that this book accomplished all it set out to. I loved it. I hope the book gets the readership and the review exposure that it so deserves."
    Jean B., Amazon reviewer


“The Atlantic City of the past was a place oozing with a strange and elusive magic. In his tender and taut novel, Mr. Boardwalk, Louis Greenstein captures, as well as anyone has, the mighty and magnetic pull of this place, how it grabbed people when they were young and wouldn’t let go.”
    Bryant Simon, author of Boardwalk of Dreams: Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America


“Vividly evoking the carnival energy of the Atlantic City boardwalk in the 1970s, Louis Greenstein captures the longing for places and people who linger in memory. Mr. Boardwalk is a sensitive portrayal of loss, regret, and the difficult yet healing task of coming to terms with your past.”

    Alan Drew, author of Gardens of Water

“Like a world-class juggler, Louis Greenstein’s Mr. Boardwalk pulls off the impressive feat of handling several things at once: His debut novel is a heartfelt bildungsroman, a story of a man coming to terms with his complicated youth, and a vivid novel of place. The depiction of 1970s era Atlantic City is particularly well crafted, marking Greenstein as a writer with a keen eye for the ocean-side resort in the years just before casinos came calling. Although I grew up in Georgia and never visited the Jersey shore before the new millennium began, this novel makes me feel as if I was there, circa 1975, eating a soft pretzel on the boardwalk.”

    Joe Samuel Starnes, author of Fall Line and Calling
 
“Louis Greenstein’s debut novel, Mr. Boardwalk, captures an essential Philadelphia experience—going down the shore. Day trips and long weekends in Atlantic City are a large part of the city’s identity, and while this novel will conjure up any local’s finest memories of walking along the boards with a funnel cake, Greenstein goes beyond the summer phenomenon and delves deep into an essential turning point in Atlantic City’s history.”

    Joshua Isard, Small Press Reviews

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    "A heartfelt bildungsroman, a story of a man coming to terms with his complicated youth, and a vivid novel of place" 
    — Joe Samuel Starnes

    "Mr. Boardwalk is easily the best book I have read in years.... Very, very highly recommended." —Sand Pilarski in The Piker Press
    "Mr. Boardwalk is a must read and brings back so many great memories. You’ll love it." —Jerry Blavat, "The Geator with the Heator"

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