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Caroline Gerardo
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The Lucky Boy Kindle Edition

by Caroline Gerardo (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
See all formats and editions
A dark coming of age novel. 'Transgressional' Literary fiction by poet Caroline Gerardo.
Seth McGrath goes through hell to raise ten thousand dollars to find a girl. He is the son of a neurosurgeon and a pill popping debutante. His parents abuse the child who has ADD. Impatient they send him away to be raised by his Grandmother.

Once away from the abuse at home the child opens up to the world. Grandmother introduces spiritual connections to the boy. Her Catholic lifestyle gives structure to the teenager. When Grandmother suddenly dies, Seth is sent back to a disillusioned life in Radnor, a suburb of Philadelphia.
What does he do? He runs away, choosing a life of crime.
A hypnotic story that will charm you through his wild journey across America. Seth will sell drugs, arrange bum fights for hire, steal frivolous items and harm those around himself, all in the name of love.

How can Seth get away with terrible crimes and become a CEO of Corporate America?

In 1972 noone knew what ADD was, or is he just crazy?

Can a psycho to become a CEO in this chilling tale?
Written in contemporary literary beats. Twenty-first Century style of writing that will keep you up reading. Mature Young Adults only, as the dirty charms of this novel are literary but describes crimes, violence, and antisocial behavior.

Genre you ask? "a suburban dystopian character driven bildungsroman"

This novel is rated R, it is suitable for teenagers over 16 years old. Catagory: trangresssional fiction
Previous page
  1. Print length
    366 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    December 28, 2011
  5. File size
    1450 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Author

This is a fictional story of a boy with dysfunctional parents and his failure to connect with the world.
This story is laced with a few real events in my life:
1.       I lived in Radnor, PA as a child. The dogwood trees,
building of tree forts, and knowing bird calls were a part of my coming of age.
2.       A boy my family met in Philadelphia while we visited our
Grandmother did stalk my sister and follow us to California.
3.       A pivotal moment in my teen years was the death of a friend who
was electrocuted in a swimming pool. This story is not at all about him.
Near tragedy straightens Seth out from his path to hell,  his rescue, and salvation
represent an image that hangs in my mind all my life.
This brings me to ask questions of my readers:
What events that happen to us shape our  character?
Does Seth have a mental disorder or ADHD or can he control his destiny?
Do you believe we make our own luck?

From the Inside Flap



Seth spends his days spying on the boys who make forts, creating slingshots and observing bugs. His father beats him, his mother will not speak his name. They send him away from their beautiful home to be raised by his paternal Grandmother in inner city Philadelphia. Grandmother helps him deal with his lack of self-control by teaching him about Catholic traditions, work ethic and spirituality.

Grandmother dies of a stroke in front of Seth, and this emotional loss leaves the boy in ashes. He seeks answers and friendship, but rather than making the right choices, Seth finds evil friends. Seth is both master and victim of his own craziness. He decides that if he just has enough money he can fix everything. Seth sells pharmaceuticals, injures a teammate on the swim team, and starts a business of arranging illegal street fights. Seth loses his moral center in the fights, crimes and the lack of love in his life. This puts in motion the adolescent on a runaway journey across the United States.

This is literary coming of age story that is both about salvation and self-formation. The narrative is postmodern, dystopian and disillusioned. There are moments of tender beauty and dark loneliness.
An anti-hero changes into a man who seeks his fortune rather than a life of crime. Seth's core begs to find answers to life's big questions.

The Rules:

Stay in the circle until someone is unconscious.
Catholic children do not play with Protestants.
Play outside between the cars until dark.
Don't dash & dine a restaurant where you are known.
Do what you are told when you are told.
Step on a crack, and break 'Grandmother's' back.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0064FOCZO
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mustard Seed Press; II edition (December 28, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 28, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1450 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 366 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Caroline Gerardo

Caroline Gerardo

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Caroline AKA Caroline Gerardo Barbeau or C.G. as friends call her was born in Cincinnati Ohio.

She was raised in a large Catholic family, by a father with the wanderlust for the next physicist project and mother who was to become the support of the family as a school psychologist. Her parents moved five children to Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, Boston, Pennsylvania and finally California.

She received her Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude from Scripps College dual Major Art and Literature, and a Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University.

Caroline lives half time in Wyoming and California with her children.

Caroline has awards for her poetry and flash fiction.

She writes seven days a week and also enjoys photography, painting, gardening, gourmet cooking, and investing. Caroline's photographs and poetry have received national attention.

Toxic Assets is a fictional story about the lavish lifestyles of the banking industry of the past told from inside. It is in the financial thriller genre, but is also literary thriller. Imagine you could change the tide of Wall Street and the mortgage meltdown if you were there. Fraud, romance and murder drive the story with an amazing female heroine at the center.

The Lucky Boy is a dark coming of age novel. It is Caroline's recent publication. The Lucky Boy is a tale of a young man's journey from Pennsylvania to California. He is abused at home. The parents send him to live with his Grandmother. When Grandmother dies, Seth runs away and begins a life of crime. He arranges illegal fights for betting money, sells his mother's prescription drugs, and steals from those in his pathway. An event will pull him up by his boots to survive. The pace of the adventure story is fast. The Lucky Boy is Trangressive Fiction. Seth suffers from ADHD or ADD in a time when there was no diagnosis or treatment for the problem. This is literary fiction written in beats.

Short stories: Greed, Vanity, Lust, Granny Magic, Willow Green,

Ghostwriter of other novels.

A Few Recent Publications:

Midwestern Gothic Spring 2012, One Stop Poetry 2011, The Potomac 2011, Scapegoat Review October 2011, Sleet Magazine Spring 2011, Negativesucks Magazine May 2011, and Narrative Magazine 2011

Blogger on Blogit since 1999 as: the_loanlady

Websites:

http://carolinegerardo.com/

http://carolinegerardo.blogspot.com/

http://cgbarbeau.blogspot.com/

Caroline is active on twitter as http://twitter.com/cgbarbeau/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/carolinegerardo/

Journal: http://instagram.com/carolinegerardo/

Caroline is working on her next novel, Eco-Terrorist a thriller about water rights set in Wyoming and a poetry/digital interactive project about The Last Willow Flycatcher

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
4 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Raymond Embrack
4.0 out of 5 stars The Lucky Boy
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2012
Verified Purchase
The Lucky Boy is Seth, the novel covers his youth during the 1960s, his adolesence into the 1970s. He is far from lucky, a misfit born to sociopathically indifferent and cruel parents. In his teens he becomes both a high school athlete and a juvenile delinquent knee-deep in suburban drug dealing and voyeuristic violence. During his only experience of a normal childhood he meets The Girl who becomes his lost dream object. The rest is a road story about the trail of crimes, dangerous encounters with both sides of the law, and an unraveling mental state during his quest to find The Girl. Not giving away the outcome but it's worth the read. The writing is esoteric and beautiful and whatever this novel lacks it brings the depth for a deeper read.
3 people found this helpful
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Wendy
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2012
Verified Purchase
I just could not put this book down, i was totally engrossed in the story and I loved the Author's writing style. I just hoped the best for poor Seth..............I'm going to download another book now.

I recommend this book and want to know more about Seth.............

Great book and keep up the great writing.

Thanks Wendy
10 people found this helpful
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Dave Malone
5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling read
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2012
This novel is definitely a compelling read. Seth's journey is many things. Intriguing. At times, dark and depressing. At others, interesting, revelatory, and uplifting. Gerardo has a lovely writing style that is tight, terse; she doesn't waste words. From the onset, her teenage protagonist Seth is likeable--and you really feel for him in his circumstances with these unloving parents. This book is gripping and powerful. I highly recommend.
12 people found this helpful
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