Small Mercies

January 26, 2015
Joyce’s debut gives us a close portrait of a working-class Irish-Italian American family on Staten Island marked by the tragedy of 9/11. The Amendolas—matriarch Gail, a newly retired teacher, her husband, Michael, a former firefighter, and their grown children Peter and Franky—are still adjusting to life after the loss of their youngest son, Bobby, who was in his late 20s when the towers fell. The novel’s events take place nine years later, in the week leading up to Bobby Jr.’s birthday. Tina, Bobby’s widow and Gail’s close confidant in grief, reveals that she’s started seeing someone. This admission rocks Gail to her core, and she spends the week ruminating on how best to tell the rest of the family before they all get together at the party. Peter, the most ambitious son, has put Staten Island behind him, rising to partner at a top law firm. In contrast, Franky can’t move on, “a drunken, ruined memorial to his dead brother,” his anger often getting the best of him. Though Joyce writes with sensitivity about his grief-stricken characters, each one is familiar and somewhat stereotypical, resulting in a story more banal than gripping. But there’s comfort in this kind of predictable fare, and it’s clear that Joyce, a native of Staten Island, has deep affection for his characters and the pride they feel in their local rituals. Agent: Claudia Ballard, WME Entertainment.

January 1, 2015
An emotionally rich debut novel about family dynamics in the wake of tragedy. If Staten Island were Asbury Park, this former lawyer-turned-novelist could be its literary Springsteen. He was born and raised in the borough, which one of his characters calls "the servants' quarters of the city," and he has a deep affinity for the ethnic assimilations, class struggles, marital discontents and larger ambitions of those who share his roots. Though the novel flirts with sentimentality and occasionally succumbs to cliche, depth of character trumps plot melodrama here. In the seven days leading to the birthday of Bobby Jr., the son of a firefighter who was a casualty of 9/11, every member of the family has flashbacks and reminiscences that suggest the variety of knots the plot must untangle. Bobby Sr. became a firefighter like his father, Michael, who strongly resisted becoming a butcher like his own immigrant father, thus depriving his family of some security. Gail continues to resent her husband and mourn her son 10 years after his death. She has little relationship with her oldest son, Peter, the one who escaped the borough to become a successful lawyer and marry a WASP but who will find his life crumbling through the most conventional of complications. Middle son Franky is the family's black sheep, an alcoholic who's never been the same since his brother died. And Bobby's widow, Tina, with whom Gail is very close, has finally become involved with another man, introduced to her by Peter, and she wants to bring him to Bobby Jr.'s birthday party. Will Franky cause a drunken scene? Will Gail be civil? Will Peter reconcile with his family? The novel unpacks a lot of emotional baggage (even without the 9/11 references), but readers will get to know these characters and care about them to the very last page.

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January 1, 2015
This assured debut novel is an insightful psychological tale of family and of love and loss. Some 10 years after 9/11, the Irish Italian Amendola family is still grieving the loss of their youngest son, Bobby, who was a firefighter. Over the course of a week leading up to Bobby's son's birthday party, the Staten Island family members each still struggle with the complicated task of moving on and past their grief. Tina, Bobby's widow, has met a new man; Bobby's brother Peter, the wealthy corporate lawyer who now resides in Manhattan, has put his family and career at risk after embarking on an affair with a colleague; and brother Franky can't hold a job or his liquor. Meanwhile, Gail, the matriarch, yearns for closure and for connection, while former firefighter Michael, the patriarch, deals with guilt and missed opportunities. Joyce gets the quotidian details of this family's life exactly right: the ever-present aromas of pasta and meatballs; the high-school athletic trophies still on display. He also pens a love letter to the forgotten borough of Staten Island, evoking its deep community ties with heartfelt emotion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2014

Ten years after firefighter Bobby Amendola lost his life, members of his Italian Irish American family on Staten Island continue to struggle with their grief. Now they gather for Bobby Jr.'s birthday party, with the immediate family trying to accept that Bobby's widow, Tina, has a new man in her life. Big in-house enthusiasm, with blurbs (e.g., Stewart O'Nan, Emma Straub) and foreign sales (e.g., Germany, Brazil) pouring in.

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