Leaving Yesler-- Peter Bacho

This book was a gift from my friends D &P. Thanks, guys. For everything.

Bobby is unmoored and drifting. His protective older brother, Paulie, was killed in Vietnam. His mother died a few years before. His father is losing his grip after head trauma in the Korean War and too many bouts in the boxing ring, and has made it clear that he is dying too. Without an example to follow, Bobby decides he wants out of his neighborhood and housing project for good. Assistance come in the forms of boxing lessons from his father, life coaching from Paulie's ghost, and a vision of the future in the form of lovely Deena.

Bacho does a number of things very well here. His vibrant descriptions of Seattle neighborhoods in the 1960s make for amazing reading, as does his nuanced exploration of Filipino and masculine identities. What trips up the narrative are the developments that, like a fast right hook, we don't see coming: Bobby sees dead people? Deena is in love with him? There is some weirdness surrounding his early education in Catholic school? While these threads may have added richness to the narrative, they are abruptly introduced and woefully underdeveloped.

Deena's character, as a whole, is a disappointment... doesn't every well-developed male character deserve an equally three-dimensional female counterpart? That said, this book is remarkable in its portrayal of emotional relationships between men; the tenderness between Bobby and his father and tough-guy brother are touching, if seemingly uncomplicated.