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Title details for Kicking the Sky by Anthony De Sa - Wait list

Kicking the Sky

by Anthony De Sa
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On a steamy summer day in 1977, Emanuel Jaques was shining shoes in downtown Toronto. Surrounded by the strip clubs, bars and body rub parlors of Yonge Street, Emanuel was lured away from his friends by a man who promised some easy money. Four days later the boy's body was discovered. He had been brutally raped and murdered, and Toronto the Good would never be the same. The murder of the Shoeshine Boy had particularly tragic resonance for the city's Portuguese community. The loss of one of their own symbolized for many how far they were from realizing their immigrant dreams.
     Kicking the Sky is told from the perspective of one of these children, Antonio Rebelo, a character first introduced in Barnacle Love. Twelve-year-old Antonio prizes his life of freedom and adventure. He and his best friends, Manny and Ricky, spend their days on their bikes exploring the labyrinth of laneways that link their Portuguese neighborhood to the rest of the city. But as the details of Emanuel's death expose Toronto's seedier underbelly, the boys are pulled into an adult world of danger and cruelty, secrets and lies much closer to home.
     Kicking the Sky is a novel driven by dramatic events, taking hold of readers from its opening pages, intensifying its force towards an ending of huge emotional impact.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 10, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780307367990

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780307367990
      • File size: 2206 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 25, 2013
      This intricate coming-of-age debut novel from De Sa (author of the story collection Barnacle Love) finds its setting in an insular Portuguese neighborhood in 1970s Toronto. Twelve-year-old Antonio Rebelo’s mother, Georgina, is a hospital worker who picks worms on the side, and his father, Manuel, is a custodian and dump truck driver. Their neighborhood is shocked by the grisly kidnapping, torture, and murder of Emanuel Jacques, affectionately known as the Shoeshine Boy. Antonio and his best friends, Manny and Ricky, live amid the growing anxiety and hysteria triggered by the slaying. The boys befriend James, an older “gigolo” who works for Antonio’s father and initiates Antonio’s homosexual awakenings. When Antonio “sees” Jesus, his opportunistic father erects a shrine in his garage where the Catholic faithful flock, seeking the benefits of Antonio’s new miraculous powers for a cash offering. As the criminal trial for Emanuel’s vicious killers unfolds, Antonio finds he has achieved a new level of maturity.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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