Red Weather: A Novel

By Pauls Toutonghi and ROBERT S TAYLOR

Book Overview

The setting is Milwaukee, Wisconsin-if not America's heart, then at least its liver-home to an array of breweries and abandoned factories and down-on-their-luck Eastern European immigrants. The year is 1989. Revolutions are sweeping through the nations of the Eastern Bloc. Communism is unraveling. And nobody feels this unraveling more piquantly than Yuri Balodis-a fifteen-year-old first-generation American living with his Latvian-immigrant parents in Milwaukee's Third Ward. It's a turbulent time. And when Yuri falls in love with Hannah Graham-the daring daughter of a prominent local socialist-chaos ensues. Within weeks, Yuri is ensnared by both Hannah and socialism. He joins the staff of theSocialist Worker. He starts quoting Lenin and Marx indiscriminately. His parents, of course, are horrified and deeply saddened. They try to educate him, to show him why, in their opinion, communism has ruined so many lives. But Yuri is stubborn. And his ideological betrayal will have more serious consequences than breaking his parents' hearts. Red Weatheris by turns funny and bittersweet, tinged with a rueful comic sense that will instantly remind you of the absurd complications of love. Pauls Toutonghi's stunning debut novel is at once reminiscent of Michael Chabon'sThe Mysteries of Pittsburghand Khaled Hosseini'sThe Kite Runner.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307336751
• ISBN13: 9780307336750
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.3" x 1.0" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

DELICIOUS!

Wow! Each paragraph brings unexpected & unforced giggles that seem to just creep up! Paul's insight into people, their motivations, aspirations & daring is refreshing, to say the least. As a Latvian-American familiar with Latvian pagan tradition, I am just amazed at his delicacy of spirit & understanding of the sources of this tradition's solace and power - e.g. sitting in a tree. What a broad vision of the human spirit! Savor each word! Nebrauc tik dikti, tie nav tavi kumelini!

WOW!! What a wonderful book

I loved this book. It took me longer than usual to read it, about two weeks. I just wanted to savour it and not end it. I loved the "cast" in the book and found my heart racing at the anxiety of the narrator! The capturing of the 2nd generation aspect was DEAD ON (2nd generation Persian_italian here). WOW WOW WOW!!! Pauls, come to CA so I can lavish you with praise. My new favorite author. Just ordered another of his works.

A beautiful and touching book

I am excited to share my opinion about this new novel, and new writer who I discovered a few weeks ago, after hearing his novel reviewed on NPR. I loved this book. The narration was touching and light-hearted. Maybe not as funny as I would have liked in places, but it definitely kept me hooked and moving forward. I loved the scenes with the father. Red Weather has truly captured -- at least in my opinion -- the essence of the father-son relationship. It was a book that reminded me of my own dad (recently passed away). I could hear his voice in the father's voice, and that was tremendously moving to me. When I logged on, I noticed that one reviewer, in particular, took objection to a couple things here and there in the book. It seems funny to me to take objection to small factual mistakes in a novel; everything in a novel is subjective, right? Did these characters actually exist? Of course not. Why would you imagine that everything they say would be perfectly accurate? It's the heart of the details that matter! And Toutonghi's attention to detail is wonderful. I did a little bit of simple research and noticed that he got his MFA in poetry -- not fiction -- from Cornell University. So: his work is hardly the derivative product of an MFA program. A funny book! I really loved it.

Buy it now.

I thought this book was captivating. I have reccommended it to anyone and everyone I know. It is such a stunning first novel by Toutonghi-- it is hard to beleive that this is his debut novel. I couldn't put it down. Buy this book.