MOTHER OF BROOKLYN: WILLIAM BOYLE'S SAINT OF THE NARROWS STREET

William Boyle is one of the most exciting up and coming authors out there. He chronicles a Brooklyn of the recent past and the hold it has on it;s denizens who often have their brushes with crime. He delivers his most ambitious take with his approach. in Saint Of Narrows Street.

It begins in 1986, centering on Rissa Franzone, mother to a newborn, Fab, stuck in a loveless marriage to Sav, a sometime criminal who is growing more abusive. One night, Sav comes home late when Risa's sister, Guila is visiting, He gets belligerent, waving a gun, threatening them both. Rissa nails himin the head with an ashtray and he falls, knocking his head again on the edge of the table, the blowing killing him. Panicked, not knowing how the law will deal with hem, they reach out to Chooch, Sav's pal who harbors a crush on Rissa. He agrees to help them bury Sav on the upstate property he owns. Since Sav never had a sterling reputation and he stole a gambler's stash that night, most believe he skipped town.

The three more or less get away with it, but a few from the neighborhood with some knowledge connected to what happened that night press their luck with them. Boyle jumps across time, capturing the day or two when these things come to a head. The first in in 91' when Sav's even sketchier brother, Roberto, comes back into town with threats and innuendo that lead to tragedy. in 98', around Guila's wedding, Father Tim, a priest with gambling debts who is sad, comic, and threatening all at once, attempts to blackmail them with something he picked up at the AA meeting he runs. Also, Fab, now entering his teens, goes on a caper with a friend that ends bad. everything comes to ahead in 2006, as Fab grows more troubled in his late teens. His search for his "missing" father will touch everyone who has survived so far.

In these vignettes, Boyle builds the spreading of the secret. Not only are there the threats from Roberto and Father Tim, paranoia and guilt builds on them She retreats into Catholicism which exacerbates the guilt. She knows the consequences will come, it's just a question of when and how.. One feels guilt has created a wall between Chooch and her to have a true relationship.

The author also looks at being a parent. The main goal for Rissa, Chooch, and Gula is to keep Fab safe. Rissa alos struggles to steer him away from becoming like his father. Unable to be open with him, she loses his trust. There is a great exchange between her and Guila if you can mold someone.

The book gives a close to two decade view of neighborhood mostly stuck in time before gentrification seeps in He captured the homes and apartments crammed with the decor from generations and aroma of thousands of home cooked meals. The aptly named Criss-Cross bar holds a camaraderie of loneliness. Much of the plot points hinge on family and bar flied. These Gravesend dwellers can't seem to find the exit out.

In The Saint Of Narrows Street, William Boyle paints living edward Hopper images in our minds to meditate on the relationship between community and individual sins. Each picture and character builds to a bigger picture the bands between family, friends and ways of an old neighborhood. It makes asks if those binding ties pull us up or more often. hold us down.