January 4, 2016
This thoughtful memoir tracks the career of Canadian television news anchor Kevin Newman; the childhood and adolescence of his son, Alex; and the evolution of their relationship. Kevin and Alex write alternating chapters, each referencing roughly the same time period from the writer's own perspective. Kevin's chapters, sometime laborious, deal mostly with his career moves from one television station to another, the tribulations of his jobs, and the personalities with whom he worked. He's the sole breadwinner in the family, his hours are long, and the trade-off is less family time, so he's not entirely present as Alex grapples with bullies and isolation at school, and later, as he tries to figure out his sexual orientation . Alex's chapters describe his childhood, the difficulties of moving to new cities several times during his school years, his fear that he would never be the kind of son Kevin wanted, and the process of accepting his homosexuality and coming out to his family. The alternating narratives add an interesting dimension and depth to the story. This book will appeal to fans of Kevin Newman and, more broadly, to fathers and sons grappling with their own relationships. Agent: Michael Levine, Westwood Creative Artists.