Oliver Loving

"One warm West Texas November night, a shy boy named Oliver Loving joins his classmates at Bliss Township School's annual dance, hoping for a glimpse of the object of his unrequited affections, an enigmatic junior named Rebekkah Sterling. But as the music plays, a troubled young man sneaks...

Full description

Main Author: Block, Stefan Merrill (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Flatiron Books, 2018.
Edition: First edition.
Subjects:
Summary: "One warm West Texas November night, a shy boy named Oliver Loving joins his classmates at Bliss Township School's annual dance, hoping for a glimpse of the object of his unrequited affections, an enigmatic junior named Rebekkah Sterling. But as the music plays, a troubled young man sneaks in through the school's back door. The dire choices this man makes that evening -- and the unspoken story he carries -- will tear the town of Bliss, Texas, apart. Nearly ten years later, Oliver Loving still lies wordless and paralyzed at Crockett State Assisted Care Facility, the fate of his mind unclear. Orbiting the still point of Oliver's hospital bed is a family transformed: Oliver's mother, Eve, who keeps desperate vigil; Oliver's brother, Charlie, who has fled for New York City only to discover he cannot escape the gravity of his shattered family; Oliver's father, Jed, who tries to erase his memories with bourbon. And then there is Rebekkah Sterling, Oliver's teenage love, who left Texas long ago and still refuses to speak about her own part in that tragic night. When a new medical test promises a key to unlock Oliver's trapped mind, the town's unanswered questions resurface with new urgency, as Oliver's doctors and his family fight for a way for Oliver to finally communicate -- and so also tell the truth of what really happened that fateful night." --
Physical Description: 395 pages ; 25 cm
ISBN: 9781250169730
1250169739
Author Notes: Stefan Merrill Block grew up in Texas. His first novel, The Story of Forgetting , won Best First Fiction at the Rome International Festival of Literature, the 2008 Merck Serono Literature Prize and the 2009 Fiction Award from The Writers' League of Texas. The Story of Forgetting was also a finalist for the debut fiction awards from IndieBound, Salon du Livre and The Center for Fiction. The Storm at the Door is his second novel. He lives in Brooklyn.