Overview

""Christina and the Whitefish is a joy to read. If Bruce Springsteen wrote fiction, it would read a great deal like this."" - Dave Zirin, The Nation (magazine), author of The Kaepernick Effect ""To call this novel haunting is an understatement of mega-proportions-as powerful as Dalton Trumbo's iconic antiwar novel, Johnny Got His Gun."" - Beth Moroney's Book Reviews ""Do yourself, your family, and your friends a favor-get this book and read it!"" - Doug Rawlings, founder Veterans For Peace The debut novel from award-winning filmmaker and author, Stephen Vittoria. This is a book for the moment-a heart wrenching tale about overcoming your demons and finding your people. Vittoria doesn't flinch in the face of painful subject matter. At its heart, Christina and the Whitefish is an antiwar and anti-empire narrative, one that underscores love, resilience, and empathy. It's 1994. Christina, a young Gulf War veteran struggling with PTSD and the loss of both parents, drives cross-country in a borrowed car, desperately seeking relief and redemption in Asbury Park, the seaside mecca of her childhood. It's a place well past its prime and reigned over by the self-proclaimed King of Asbury Park: The Whitefish-a disabled Vietnam vet, tavern owner, artist, and oddball philosopher. It's here, on the Jersey Shore, that a chance meeting leads to a profound and life-altering connection. Rewind to small town America in the 1980s: two young women, best friends, fall in love when this reality was still something to be kept secret. Christina and Jaime move to Las Vegas to escape the judgment and to build a new life. Unable to cope with her parents' demise, and convinced she's doing the right thing for herself and her country, Christina enlists in the United States Army, only to find herself racked by a further and compounding wartime trauma. Christina and the Whitefish is a powerful novel that challenges the conventional treatment and care methods that veterans receive in America's inadequate, pharmaceutical-driven healthcare system, highlighting the critical importance of human connection to well-being and survival. Christina and the Whitefish asks tough questions about how to love and when to leave, questions that reveal a critical truth: family can be birthed from circumstance. And then, even in the pain and the stumbling, if you don't give up, if you keep seeking and moving toward something better, friendships and healing will find you-and love, no matter how battered, can endure even the darkest of times.

Full Product Details

9781735298924

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Christina and the Whitefish is a joy to read. If Bruce Springsteen wrote fiction, it would read a great deal like this."" - Dave Zirin, The Nation ""To call this novel haunting is an understatement of mega-proportions-as powerful as Dalton Trumbo's iconic antiwar novel, Johnny Got His Gun."" - Beth Moroney's Book Reviews ""Vittoria's attention to detail and character is delicate and intimate. It's a rollicking journey that is at once dark and beautiful, harsh and loving. When I finished, it was like walking out of a dark theatre into the light of day, feeling like I was wearing the story, a suit of armor."" - Kathy Kremins, poet, author of The Curve of Things ""The characters of this stunning novel will stay with you... a high-spirited and humorous voyage... the story will give you chills."" - David Swanson, author, journalist, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee ""I love this book... Masterfully delivered with twists and U-turns... It's an intriguingly subversive work."" - Paul Rabinowitz, author, founder of ARTS By The People ""Brutally honest and unexpectedly tender, with characters you root for... This isn't one of those books you bail on-you need to know how it ends."" - Katy Farzanrad, Executive Producer of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars ""A gifted filmmaker brings his storytelling prowess to the pages of this book... what a dramatic and beautiful journey."" - Sonali Kolhatkar, award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author of Rising Up ""There are many reasons to read this novel-its gripping narrative; its profoundly powerful characterization of the suffering that many veterans go through; and, most importantly, its beautifully rendered tone of hope despite all the malicious forces aligned against us in the veteran community who want only to bring peace into the world."" - Doug Rawlings, founder Veterans For Peace

Author Information

Stephen Vittoria is an award-winning filmmaker and author. His last two feature documentaries- ""Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary"" and ""One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern""-have been embraced by moviegoers and audiences worldwide. Vittoria was also a producer on two feature documentaries by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney- ""Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson"" and ""Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place.""Vittoria, along with journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, co-authored the three-book nonfiction series, ""Murder Incorporated: Empire, Genocide, and Manifest Destiny,"" with forewords by Angela Davis and Chris Hedges. Vittoria also contributed to an anthology (along with Norman Mailer and Frank Deford) entitled ""In Times Like These: How We Pray."" SPECIAL NOTE: Regarding Vittoria as a storyteller, legendary filmmaker, Albert Maysles, publicly petitioned his colleagues in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to consider Vittoria's documentary feature, ""Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary,"" for Oscar consideration: ""I've sat through many documentaries in my life and Vittoria's is one of the finest. I was riveted by the film and storytelling. It was as if Mumia was in the room speaking directly to us.""

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