One of the Boys 

By Daniel Magariel

176 pages

Released March 14, 2017 by Scribner

It was in one of several to-read stacks in my office. I selected it to take with me on the trip to Myrtle Beach because (1) it was thin, (2) it had a bright orange cover, and (3) it had an endorsement by George Saunders (a writer I greatly admire) above the title: “Brilliant, urgent, darkly funny, heartbreaking – a tour de force.”

The Story: After a divorce and acrimonious custody battle, a man and his two sons leave Kansas for Albuquerque, where they will start a new life. The boys enroll in school and join the basketball team, while the father works from their apartment. As the weeks go by, the father’s behavior becomes suspect. As the months pass, things go from bad to worse.

One of the Boys is a good book. Compelling, insightful, and well written. It is about love and abuse, ambition and addiction, and dependence and desperation. If that sounds depressing, it is. I was in a low mood when I read it, and it didn’t cheer me up. But it did get me thinking.

Critical Reception 

* “Magariel’s debut is sure, stinging, and deeply etched, like the outlines of a tattoo. Belongs on the short shelf of great books about child abuse.” (Kirkus Review)

* “Magariel’s gripping and heartfelt debut is a blunt reminder that the boldest assertion of manhood is not violence stemming from fear. It is tenderness stemming from compassion.” (New York Times)

* “Because it homes in on instances of abuse to the exclusion of all else, it risks feeling like a deposition rather than a story. Whenever the father appears, he is doing another thing that would scar a child for life. Virtually every adult is a seedy, frightening derelict to whom the boys are exposed through the father’s neglect.” (The Guardian)