The Baker’s Boy by Barry Kitterman - Review & Giveaway
Everyone has a skeleton in the closet, and Tanner’s has been dogging him for over 20 years. It followed him from Belize after a two-year Peace Corp stint that was supposed to help him do something good. But Tanner wonders if some people do good things naturally while others have to work a little harder at it.
In The Baker’s Boy, a tragic event on Tanner’s first day back to college after a 25-year break, pushes him to the brink. The trauma of the present conjures up images of a past he’d rather forget, teaching boys in a school for Belize delinquents. As he tries to figure out how to deal with marriage and impending fatherhood, he lapses into the past, unburdening his story bit by bit to his best friend and his pregnant wife.
Author Barry Kitterman doesn’t paint the picture of the lush green Belize you’d find in the travel brochures. Kitterman’s Belize is real to the core, impoverished, and gritty. His descriptions of the New Hope School for Boys and those who live there are achy, sometimes funny, always able to hold the reader’s attention. As the narration progresses, the book gains more and more momentum right up to its unexpected ending.
I have one copy of The Baker’s Boy that I’d like to give away to one of you. Enter to win by midnight, May 6, 2008.
3 Ways to Enter:
1.) Leave a comment telling me what interests you about the book. (Something more than “sounds good” is kindly suggested.) Don’t worry -you don’t have to share the skeletons in your closet - unless you want to!
2.) Subscribers are automatically entered into this and all future giveaways. Just enter your email address in the little white box on the upper part of the right hand column. (Please make sure to verify your Feedburner subscription by responding to the email they send you. If you don’t receive it, check your junk mail.)
3.) Blog about this giveaway on your blog with a link back.
Do all three, and you’ve got three entries to win!
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
Nice prize.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I’ve heard about this book…I’d like to give it a try.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
sounds like it could be a pretty good psychological drama
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
This one interests me, because I attempted to join the Peace Corps last year (I didn’t get a medical clearance), so I’m always interested in PC stuff!
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I have always wanted to go to Belize so the setting appeals to me. I am going to add this one to my tbr list. Thanks!
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Happy Friday! When you mentioned that the “real” Belize is show in this book, it reminded me of my trip to the Bahamas several years ago. We took a cab and we saw where the islanders lived. It was so sad. They also could not enter the casinos and such unless they worked there. It bothered so much that it effected the rest of my stay. I would enjoy reading this book and see what is in the main character’s past and if he comes to terms with it. Please enter me in your drawing. Thanks,Cindi
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
sound like it would have all kinds of on different boys and atheir lives
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
An appealing and unique novel that interests me greatly. Thanks for the lovely giveaway.
May 2nd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I’d really like to read this. Thanks
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I need this something awful
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:52 pm
This looks like an interesting book. Thanks!
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:23 am
Thank you, I love to read anything new and fresh!
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:44 am
This sounds like an intriguing story set in interesting places. Just right for summer reading. Thanks for the chance to win.
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:43 am
i could use some great summer reading
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:38 am
As I hae observed life in Belize and hope o return there this yar, this bok sunds intreguing.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
This looks interesting. I hope that I win so I get a chance to check it out this summer!
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
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May 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
It sounds interesting and I’d like to read more about it, the book itself, just the change in lifestyle and how he handles it.
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Sounds like such a unique story and a great read…thanks!
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
ooooo, I need a new book! Looks good.
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Would be a very interesting read!
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Looks very interesting - like the premise
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:26 pm
ovely giveaway
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I’d be very interested in reading this book, sounds great.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I like skeleton as long as they are not mine. Sounds great.
May 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am
I’ve never heard of this book but am intrigued by what triggers him to recount this skeleton from his past. Will blog about this as well.
May 4th, 2008 at 8:47 am
[...] have never heard of this book but the description has intrigued me. For your chance to win, visit Carp(e) Libris Reviews for more details. Hurry, offer ends May [...]
May 4th, 2008 at 9:07 am
I’d like to know what skeletons he’s keeping in his closet!
May 4th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I’d like to read this book because I’m intrigued by people who have dark secrets in their past. Plus the insight into the real Belize sounds appealing.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I’m in!!
May 4th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I think the skeleton in his closet haunting him is what so intrigues me. I think we’re all haunted by our past sometimes.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I love to read!!!
May 4th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
please enter me thanks
May 5th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I was caught by the title alone. My grandparents owned a bakery when my Dad was growing up. He and his brothers were known as “the damn baker boys” So the title caught my eye immediately. LOL!
May 5th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Unexpected ending? That’s why I want to read it! I love a good surprise!
May 5th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Belize is a country I’ve always wanted to visit — sounds intriguing!
May 5th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I’m always up for a good book - it’s summer and I love curling up on the deck, lounging in the sun and passing the day away wrapped up in someone elses life. It’s a nice vacation from my own! That’s why I’d like to read this book.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Sounds good…what in the world made him go over the edge?
May 5th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Sounds really good!
May 5th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
we all do have skeletons in the closet-ones we never even tell the people we are close to. the book sounds very intriguing
May 5th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I love Belize - and would love to win this
May 5th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Ooooo.. I love an unexpected ending, and I’m fascinated by repressed or long buried memories. Sounds like an intriguing book!
I have a couple giveaways on my blog this month too (until the 15th) if anyone cares to look.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
The premise has hooked me!
May 5th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
The bread on the cover intrigues me. It’s beautiful.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
count me in
May 5th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Sounds like a tough book, but at the same time very intense.
May 5th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
i want to win
May 5th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
sounds interesting
May 5th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
I’d love to read this!
May 5th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
sounds like a good read just kidding looks like this will be one you cant put down definitley does sound thrilling
May 6th, 2008 at 1:12 am
I like the premise of “skeletons in the closet”. I also like that it takes you far away back to a time and place in Belize, which can be beautiful, lush and tropical on the surface, or dark and ugly underneath it all.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:59 am
please enter me
May 6th, 2008 at 9:10 am
You hear so many awesome things about the travel industry in Belize.. I would love to hear the other side of the story
I blogged your contest on Prize-A-Tron
http://www.prizeatron.com
May 6th, 2008 at 9:59 am
The time has come in midlife to once again curl up with excellent reading and let the world pass by. Best of luck to all who enter. Happy Mother’s day to ALL!!!! Many Thanks SW
May 6th, 2008 at 10:24 am
The character’s dark secret in his past and how he deals with it in the present in the setting of the boys school intrigues me.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I am intrigued by this book because the review said that the book holds the readers attention and it has a surprise ending. It sounds interesting.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
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May 6th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
We all have skeletons in our closet. I want to win this book so that I can see what skeletons are in his closet. I’ve written about your giveaway at http://sunnyislandbreezes.com/?p=59
May 6th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
This book would be a personal treasure for me. I understand well about having “skeletons” in your closet. I also know they have a way of jumping out when least expected. Two weeks ago, the most horrible experience of my life, came tumbling out of my mouth as I told my husband of the atrocity. I also told my beloved Daughter in the faith. Between my husband and daughter…healing is beginning to take place. Never did I think that “skeleton” would come out…as I was never able to bring myself to tell anyone.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
There’s nothing I like better than to hear the story of someone else’s life. This sounds like a little bit of a mystery and a little suspense. Intriguing.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Intriguing description. I’m curious about his secret.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
The fact that the main character in the book returns to college after a 25-yr break appeals to me because I am currently on leave due to a car accident. I am returning to work soon after a 2-yr break. I can definitely relate to this intriguing story; psychological dramas have always been fascinating to me. I could really use a great read. Thanks for this interesting contest!
May 6th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
I am interested in learning Tanner’s secrets.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Sounds really intriuging!! I would love to win this book!! Thanks for the contest!
May 27th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I’m interested to see what he is hiding. Sounds pretty awesome. Specially since its in a boys POV.