Book ~ "Barnacle Love" (2008) Anthony De Sa

From Goodreads ~ At the heart of this collection of intimately linked stories is the relationship between a father and his son. A young fisherman washes up nearly dead on the shores of Newfoundland. It is Manuel Rebelo who has tried to escape the suffocating smallness of his Portuguese village and the crushing weight of his mother’s expectations to build a future for himself in a terra nova. Manuel struggles to shed the traditions of a village frozen in time and to silence the brutal voice of Maria Theresa da Conceicao Rebelo, but embracing the promise of his adopted land is not as simple as he had hoped.

Manuel’s son, Antonio, is born into Toronto’s little Portugal, a world of colourful houses and labyrinthine back alleys. In the Rebelo home, the Church looms large, men and women inhabit sharply divided space, pigs are slaughtered in the garage, and a family lives in the shadow cast by a father’s failures. Most days Antonio and his friends take to their bikes, pushing the boundaries of their neighbourhood street by street, but when they finally break through to the city beyond they confront dangers of a new sort.

With fantastic detail, larger-than-life characters and passionate empathy, Anthony De Sa invites readers into the lives of the Rebelos and finds there both the promise and the disappointment inherent in the choices made by the father and the expectations placed on the son.

It's the 1950s in Portugal.  As the oldest son, Manuel's mother has high hopes for him.  Manual wants to leave his small village and experience the world so he gets a job on a fishing boat which will take him off the coast of Newfoundland.  Despite the guilt that he feels about leaving his family and disappointing his mother, he settles in Canada and looks forward to the endless possibilities and making something of himself.

Fast forward and it's the 1970s and Manuel is now married, living in Toronto and has two children.  They "live" in the Palmerston/Queen Street W area  ... just east of my 'hood so I knew a lot of the landmarks mentioned.  Though they (and the rest of his family) are now living in Toronto, they still have the same traditions from home such as butchering pigs in garages and making their own wine.  None of Manuel's dreams have come true and he sees himself as a failure.  He wants to make sure that same doesn't happen to his children.  But the same pressures his mother put on him, he is putting on his son, Antonio.  It was sad to see that optimistic Manuel had turned into bitter Manuel.

This is the second book I've read by this author.  I had read Kicking the Sky (written in 2013) a couple years go, which took an experience from Barnacle Love and expanded on it. 

It's a sad depressing story.  I found the writing a bit draggy in places and it could have been tighter.  It a bit confusing at times as the author jumped back and forth in time a bit.  Manuel's story in the 1950s (the first part of the book) was written in third person perspective and Antonio's story in the 1970s is written in first person perspective from Antonio's point of view. I found this a bit confusing too until I figured out whose voice it was.

Except for Antonio, I didn't find the characters likeable.  Everyone let Manuel get away with being just a jerk for so long.  He had so much yet couldn't see it.  Like Antonio, I kept wondering why his mother hadn't left.

I wasn't crazy about the ending.

Book ~ "Kicking the Sky" (2013) Anthony De Sa

From Indigo ~ On a steamy summer day in 1977, Emanuel Jaques was shining shoes in downtown Toronto. Surrounded by the strip clubs, bars and body rub parlors of Yonge Street, Emanuel was lured away from his friends by a man who promised some easy money. Four days later the boy's body was discovered. He had been brutally raped and murdered, and Toronto the Good would never be the same. 

The murder of the Shoeshine Boy had particularly tragic resonance for the city''s Portuguese community. The loss of one of their own symbolized for many how far they were from realizing their immigrant dreams.

Kicking the Sky is told from the perspective of one of these children, Antonio Rebelo. Twelve-year-old Antonio prizes his life of freedom and adventure. He and his best friends, Manny and Ricky, spend their days on their bikes exploring the labyrinth of laneways that link their Portuguese neighborhood to the rest of the city. But as the details of Emanuel''s death expose Toronto''s seedier underbelly, the boys are pulled into an adult world of danger and cruelty, secrets and lies much closer to home. 

Kicking the Sky is a novel driven by dramatic events, taking hold of readers from its opening pages, intensifying its force towards an ending of huge emotional impact.

This story takes places in 1977 and revolves around the true story of Emanuel Jaques.  Emanuel was a 12-year-old Portuguese shoeshine boy working on Yonge Street who was lured to an apartment above a rub-and-tug to help move some camera equipment for some quick cash.  Over the span of twelve hours he was tortured and raped and eventually murdered.  I didn't move to Toronto until 1987 so didn't know about this tragedy until I started reading this book.  Gord was born and raised in Toronto and said it was a huge story at the time.

The fictional story revolves around childhood friends Antonio, Ricky and Manny.  They are first-generation Portuguese and live in the Palmerston/Queen Street W area  ... just east of my 'hood so I knew a lot of the landmarks mentioned in the book.  After the death of Emanuel, the Portuguese community becomes very protective.  Twenty-something James moves to a garage in the 'hood the boy starts hanging out with him though there is something about him that makes Antonio uneasy.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it ... it was an interesting story plus it's set in Toronto.  It's written in first person from 11-year-old  Antonio's perspective.  I really got a sense of what it was like to live in Toronto in the late 1970s.  Given the nature of the story, I wasn't expecting it to be a happy one but I was surprised at how dark it was.  The language at times is for a mature reader.

I liked the boys ... each had something wacky to deal with at home.  Antonio's parents have the turmoil of dealing with trying to make it in a new country.  Given that it was a close-knit Portuguese community, we got to know the various family members and neighbours along with their superstitions and beliefs.

I would recommend this book.