Kickflip Boys

March 1, 2018
Permissive parenting clashes with adolescent rebellion amid the skateboarding subculture.As the two skateboard-obsessed sons become increasingly disruptive to family harmony and the narrative proceeds from school discipline issues to pot-smoking defiance and legal skirmishes over trespassing and graffiti, it would seem that this is building toward a horrific climax. Thankfully for Thompson (A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley, 2013, etc.) and his family, the sons stepped back from the precipice toward the end of high school, straightened out, and found some sort of independent maturity. So what initially seemed like a cautionary tale turns out to be a rite-of-passage story. The lacerating power of some of the chapters comes from the author's recognition that he has perhaps "become their enabler," that he didn't recognize where all this was leading until it was almost too late, and that his own teenage experiences with skateboarding and marijuana hadn't prepared him for this brave new world. "If my 1970s skating had been a pastel-colored tableau, smooth like 1970s AM radio," he writes, "the boys skated like a gray-hued mash-up of grunge, punk, and rap, all angsty and illegal." Thompson also confesses to the insecurities of a writer whose career has stalled, who numbs himself with alcohol and has to hide the Xanax after his son tells him that it has become "the new heroin" among their crowd. Could this loving family have handled things differently? Definitely. Could they have handled things better? That's more difficult to answer. The author admits that his wife worried that this book would "memorialize our incompetence," while he countered that it would "celebrate our persistence." It also shows that Thompson recognizes promising material when he sees it (and lives it) and knows how to heighten the drama for narrative momentum.A highly candid memoir of parenthood that often fascinates and occasionally frustrates as the author tries to come to terms with the causes that have produced these particular effects.

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April 1, 2018
As Thompson watched his older son take the plunge on his skateboard into the skate park, he was witnessing the beginning of a new era for his family: the skater years. From their preteen flirtations with the skater lifestyle to their more challenging teen years facing issues like drugs, trespassing, and academic struggles, Thompson chronicles his two boys' wholehearted entry into skateboarding and his insights on his own teenage exploits and role as a father in this winsome memoir. Thompson does his best to understand and encourage his sons in their passion, devouring their YouTube videos and even coordinating a 19-state skateboarding tour across the country. But as the boys push the boundaries further, making urban Seattle into their skateboarding playground and fighting against any displays of authority, the fissures in their family dynamics widen into deeper threats. From the obstacles unique to skaters, like the mountains of shoes they discard seemingly within moments of their purchase, to the more universal trials faced by teenagers and their parents, Thompson displays both pointed humor and heartfelt reflection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)