The Keeper of the Ferris Wheel

By Jack McBride White

Book Overview

Struggling to cope with his brother's death in the Vietnam War, teenager Itchy Shovlin falls in love with thirty-year-old Robin Debussy, and together they join in the chaos swirling about a small New... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963603159
• ISBN13: 9780963603159
• Release Date: August 2017
• Publisher: Ashleigh-Reid, Publishers
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.7" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

It's a keeper!

An interesting story told in fresh prose. Will be enjoyed by those who lived through the Vietnam era and those who want to know what it was like in the way that only good fiction, and not factual data, can reveal. Memorable characters, realistic dialogue, the usual combined disarmingly with the unusual, and an intriguing dance between tension and humor. "Keeper" is definitely a keeper.

An attention grabbing story that I couldn't put down.

The Keeper is the story of a young man's coming of age during the Vietnam War. The language and images are vivid, passionate, and at times, heart-breaking. I was especially moved by the race scene, such that I felt my own heart pounding with every step. I highly recommend this novel to young people who want to capture and understand the spirit of a turbulent time and to aging baby boomers who lived through the trauma of Vietnam.

Funny, provocative must-read

With crisp dialogue and a fast-paced plot, White weaves a fascinating coming-of-age tale of a teenage boy in a New Jersey town during the Viet Nam era.Through characters that are fresh and deep White explores moral issues that are equally relevant to current times. The story is passionate and idealistic without getting bogged down in philosophy or taking itself too seriously. It's a funny, provocative page-turner from front to back -- a must-read.

Funny, exciting, wild story of the Vietnam-era home front.

A fast-paced book full of funny and bizarre images of a small Jersey shore town and the explosive tension among patriots, protestors, and those caught in the middle during the Vietnam war. The most memorable characters are a one-eyed, sexy (and tragic) heroine and her one-time lover, a sadistic, Machiavellian bohemian whose nihilistic sputterings are dead-on. The dialog is crisp, funny, and real. Its hyper-realism evokes the crazy days of the 60s and early 70s better than a lot of the overwrought, posturing books and films that have come out about the era. It's sincere, but doesn't take itself too seriously. I loved it!