Feature: The Car Thief by Theodore Weesner

Title: The Car Thief

Author: Theodore Weesner

Genre: Fiction

Purchase: IndieBound

From Goodreads:

It’s 1959. Sixteen year-old Alex Housman has just stolen his fourteenth car and frankly doesn’t know why. His divorced, working class father grinds out the night shift at the local Chevy Plant in Detroit, kept afloat by the flask in his glove compartment and the open bottles in his Flint, Michigan home.

Abandoned and alone, father and son struggle to express a deep love for each other, even as Alex fills his day juggling cheap thrills and a crushing depression. He cruises and steals, running from, and to, the police, compelled by reasons he frustratingly can’t put into words. And then there’s Irene Shaeffer, the pretty girl in school whose admiration Alex needs like a drug in order to get by. Broke and fighting to survive, Alex and his father face the realities of estrangement, incarceration, and even violence as their lives hurtle toward the climactic episode that a New York Times reviewer called “one of the most profoundly powerful in American fiction.”

I have been slowing down, waaaay down on what I am accepting for review. But that hasn't stopped me from offering up a chance to "feature" a title that seems interesting to me. I did a bit of this last fall and earlier this winter to "catch" up on some of those titles that have been sitting on my shelves waiting for a little attention from me. It doesn't feel as satisfying as a full on review from my heart but I do feel better knowing that I am giving some attention to some seemingly interesting and unique titles.

This title is even more interesting in that it is part of a launch of "Digital First" Publishing, Astor + Blue Editions. Titles that were first published in digital format are given a chance to be published in print. Check out the article in Publisher's Weekly. 

Thank you to Serena at Blue Dot Literary for bringing this title to my attention. 

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child