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Summary
Summary
In the tradition of Big Fish , a poignant and eccentric novel about fathers, sons, and the power of stories to change the way we see the world--and the people--around us.
He's a big man, my granddad, not necessarilyin size or proportion, but in other ways, like the manner in which he lives. The trouble in which he finds himself. The magic that heconjures and the spectacular things he believes.
When he was a younger man, Alistair McPhee was fond of escaping in his '56 Chevy Bel Air, Lucy, named for the cherished wife who died and left him and their nine-year-old son Colin behind. Yearning for a way to connect to his itinerant father, Colin turned to writing screenplays inspired by the classic films they used to watch together, while Colin's own son, Finn, grew up listening to his grandfather spin tales of danger, heartbreak, and redemption on the road.
Now, at the end of his life and wishing to feel the wind in his hair one last time, Alistair charges his grandson with a task: bring Lucy to him in San Francisco from New York, where a man named Yip has been keeping her safe. The long road west will lead Finn, accompanied by his disgruntled friend Randal and an ancient three-legged orange cat named Mrs. Dalloway, through the very cities that supposedly bore witness to Alistair's greatest adventures, offering an unlikely lesson in the differences between facts and truth, between boys and men.
Driver's Education is at once a literary adventure and a finely detailed family portrait, combining in a bold declaration of Grant Ginder's outstanding storytelling gifts.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Alistair McPhee asks his grandson Finn to bring his beloved '56 Chevy Bel Air, named after his long-dead wife, Lucy, from New York to San Francisco so he can have one last drive before he dies. Finn, a TV reality show editor and a fabulist like his grandfather, re-enacts his grandfather's exploits of daring, adventure, and romance by following a map of Alistair's cross-country trips with his friend Randal and the ornery cat, Mrs. Dalloway, along for the ride. Alistair, meanwhile, is looked after by his son, Finn's father, Colin, a screenwriter whose 15 minutes have faded, and whose memories of Alistair are not as rosy as Finn's. Alternating with the journey are Colin's explorations of childhood moments bonding with his father, the movies, his mother's tragic death, and other pieces of his past. Part fairy tale, part picaresque, part coming-of-age tale, this second novel from Ginder (after This Is How It Starts) blends reality and the imagined in a sentimental brew about the stories that bind generations. Though the ambitious structure is undercut by the indistinct voices of Colin and Finn, Ginder has crafted a memorable and amusing story about storytelling with enough irony to cut through the syrup of sentiment. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Ginder (This Is How It Starts, 2009), in his second novel, enlists three generations of an American family to illustrate the way myth and fantasy penetrate everyday lives. The patriarch, Alistair McPhee, a structural engineer working on bridges, used to live in a Hudson Valley town with his wife, Lucy, and only child, Colin. In 1956, when Colin was 8, the family would watch movies every week at the newly opened Avalon Cinema, but within a year, Lucy died of breast cancer; Colin's father started disappearing on long road trips; and Colin practically lived at the cinema. At 16 he started work at the concession stand with a girl called Clare; he also tracked his father to a neighborhood bar and listened to him entertain a skeptical audience as he recalled fantastical exploits on the road. Eventually, Colin moved to Los Angeles to become a screenwriter; he sold one screenplay, which was a hit but after that, terminal writer's block. By chance he met Clare again; they married, had a son, Finn, and then Clare split. The awkwardly constructed novel begins in 2010. Finn is a young man in New York City, editing reality TV shows. His grandfather, Alistair, has had a stroke and is being looked after by Colin in San Francisco. (Finn and Colin alternate as narrators.) Finn gets a call from his granddad: Drive my battered old car across the country and retrieve my memories. The mission is urgent, though much diluted by the flashbacks. Finn motors west with his camcorder and a new buddy. As he admits at the end, he's an unreliable narrator, so he's layering a new set of fictions on top of the old. This might be intriguing, or at least good fun, if there was some passion behind the inventions; but only once, in Chicago, ringing the changes on a baseball story, is there a sign of that. Tall tales need larger-than-life characters; Alistair and Finn are on the small side.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Fathers and sons seek clarity, closure, and fresh starts in Ginder's (This Is How It Starts, 2009) raw, insightfully detailed examination of the men in one family. Alistair McPhee's beloved wife, Lucy, died when their son, Colin, was only nine. Alistair's almost equally beloved '56 Chevy Bel Air, named after his wife, ferried young Alistair through myriad adventures he shared with his son and, later, his grandson, Finn. Mind and body seemingly hampered by strokes, Alistair now lives in San Francisco with Colin, a struggling screenwriter. One day, Finn receives an imperious phone call from Alistair to fetch Lucy from a New Yorker, Yip, who has watched over her for many years, and drive her to Alistair in San Francisco so he can have one last glorious adventure with her. Finn, his ne'er-do-well friend, Randall, and an alarmingly charismatic cat named Mrs. Dalloway take off on this unexpected road trip. Along the way, they realize there is a fine line between storytelling and truth telling and that living a meaningful life requires a balancing act both precarious and beautiful. Lively, funny, gritty, and achingly real, Ginder's sophomore effort should appeal to fans of Junot Diaz and Michael Chabon.--Trevelyan, Julie Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The McPhees are a family of storytellers. Grandfather Alistair began weaving fantastic tales for anyone who would listen after his wife died in the 1950s. His son, Colin, spent his youth in the local movie theater and eventually became a screenwriter. Grandson Finn is working as a reality show video editor in New York when ailing Alistair calls and asks him to bring Alistair's old car to him in San Francisco, where he lives with Colin. Finn, along with a buddy and an old three-legged cat, sets out on a cross-country car trip with stopovers at some of the sites of his grandfather's tallest tales. Episodes from the road trip alternate with Colin's memories of growing up in the 1950s, moving to LA, then getting hit with divorce and writer's block. VERDICT Ginder (This Is How It Starts) takes an absorbing look at family history and the stories through which it is told. His novel should appeal to fans of comic and touching travel tales and those who like to see how parents and children influence and change each other.-Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Lib., Bowling Green (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.