Overview

A young boy visits a friend's house and reflects on his own dysfunctional family. After his engagement falls apart, a man must deal with the flood of no-longer-necessary wedding presents. A professional eulogist takes on a living client. A woman gets a summer job as a magician's assistant, which proves less magical than she'd hoped. A man's daughter wants him to clean out her late mother's closet, but maybe those clothes can bring him solace. In The Price of Their Toys, the men and boys (and one woman) each get a sudden, clear understanding of themselves as someone less than they had hoped to be. From story to story, John P. Loonam builds a mosaic of modern life, charged with the arrogance of youth, the despair of aging, and the prices we pay along the way.

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9781968148348

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Reviews

""A vivid, powerful coming-of-age tale, a story of stories."" -Frank Haberle, author of Downlanders ""John P. Loonam has given us carefully put together stories of men coming apart . . . and his depictions of New York City and its suburbs put him in a lineage with Richard Yates, for their alert detail, their hard edges, their irony and grace."" -Diana Goetsch, author of This Body I Wore ""Loonam's stories are full of mischief, sadness, and menace, of things coming together and blowing apart for boys and men. . . . On display in The Price of Their Toys is a lifetime of observation and evolved, thoughtful literary craft."" -Charles Foran, author of Just Once, No More

Author Information

john P. Loonam is the author of Music the World Makes (2026). A teacher in New York's public schools for thirty-five years, he lives with his wife Maria in Brooklyn, near his sons John James and Joseph.

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