Sons

"Sons" explores the role of memory in experiencing evil and despair and finding redemption and the possibility of hope.

Sons explores the role of memory in experiencing evil and despair and finding redemption and the possibility of hope through the eyes of the narrator, Tom, a graduate student and amanuensis to Stephen Novatis, an acclaimed writer and teacher. Novatis takes a fourth wife, exacerbating feelings of resentment and abandonment by his three sons, each by a different marriage. Like their father, all three sons are driven by sexual obsessions. The middle son is torn by his wife's greed, while the younger son is tortured by stirrings of religious belief. The eldest son, a social worker, reaches out to violent anti-social youngsters in reaction to the paternal love he believes he was denied. Thus, lust, greed, and religious faith make an inflammatory mixture as the novel reaches its climax. "Jonathan Kleinbard has created a kaleidoscopic world of nuanced viewpoints shifting toward unexpected but inevitable events. Most impressive is his ability to project the kind of vulnerability, in each character, that can lead to either perception or self-destruction." -Betsy Hearne internationally known scholar, critic and author of novels, stories and poetry for children and young adults. "The sons.Their erotic and tragic lives form the basis of this extraordinary.novel and touch the heart with biblical intensity. Kleinbard. is a literary realist who sings on the page: his voice is accurate, affectionate and full of interesting shades and harmonies." -Lee Oser, author of the novel, Out of What Chaos; poet, critic and scholar. ."Sons is a poignant and gripping tale, beautifully narrated by the novelist's young assistant, who, by memorializing their story, becomes the novelist's truest heir. JonathanKleinbard.has reanimated the dust of his experiences in this vivid, wise, and deeply moving novel of love and disappointment, loyalty and betrayal, life and art, and the quest for redemption. Bravo " -Leon R. Kass, author of a number of critical studies in the Humanities and bioethics, including, Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity. "A great man's passage toward eternity leaves smaller lives bobbing in the wake like corks who imagine their oscillations to be deliberate acts of courage, kindness, passion and revenge.Kleinbard's masterful.novel.reveals, by turns witty and heart-rending, the effect a famous Chicago writer has had on the people around him, especially his immensely conflicted sons." -Ken Kalfus, author of the short listed National Book Award novel, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, and The Commissariat of tenementenment, and two short stories collections.