Bronxland by Paul Thaler

Paul Wolfenthal is a peculiar thirteen-year-old kid grappling with the absurdities of his young Bronx life, circa 1960. He visits the dead, hears voices in his head, despises Richard Nixon, is infatuated with his Marilyn Monroe look-alike math teacher, and is a choice victim for the neighborhood’s sadistic bully. And then Paul really starts running into trouble.

Paul is, in fact, a kid in search of heroes, alive and otherwise, and finds them in John Kennedy and Harry Houdini, both of whom cross into his life. But these are strange and even dangerous times. Hovering in the shadows are “the demons” that haunt Paul’s young childhood dreams, only to come alive and shatter his world. One steals away a neighborhood child. And then his president.

Set against the turbulent history of the times, Bronxland tugs on a kaleidoscope of emotions as an uproarious and heartrending coming-of-age tale. It is also the story of a place, a Bronx long gone yet still vivid in the collective memory of those who once called these streets their home. A place of the heart known to each of us, with our own story to tell of growing up, of trying to make sense of our life, with everything that comes along.

Welcome to Bronxland.