Rockin' the Bronx
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Rockin’ The Bronx vividly transports readers to the vibrant and chaotic world of 1980s Bronx, where Irish immigrants forged a new community amidst the backdrop of political upheaval and cultural transformation. Larry Kirwan, leader of the revolutionary band Black 47, blends drama, passion, and musical evolution into a narrative that captures the essence of an era defined by its challenges and triumphs. Through the eyes of characters like the groundbreaking gay hero, a book-loving, hard-hitting immigrant with IRA roots, and the central couple, Seán and Mary, who navigate this raucous landscape, Kirwan explores the intersecting worlds of personal identity and communal struggle. Set during significant historical moments—the deaths of John Lennon and Bobby Sands, the AIDS crisis, and the birth of new musical movements—this novel not only tells the story of its characters but also of a neighborhood echoing with the rhythms of change. As these Irish immigrants carve out their destinies, they leave behind a legacy of resilience and rebirth, encapsulated in a narrative that moves irrepressibly to the beat of the 1980s. Rockin' The Bronx is more than a novel; it’s a chronicle of a time when being Irish in New York could mean everything from strapping on a Stratocaster to knocking down walls both structural and cultural.
A novel
Rockin' the Bronx has a headlong momentum and street-level immediacy, teeming with drama, romance, and politics.—Philadelphia Inquirer
Pitting the lilt of an Irish brogue against the jazzy rhythm of pimps and drug dealers in the Bronx of the early 1980s, Irish-American author and playwright Kirwan begins this roman a clef with arresting musicality.—Publishers Weekly
A tremendous rock n roll saga. . .The prolific Kirwan offers writing about the transformative and curative powers of music and performance that is brilliant on its own, but his lovingly rendered portrait of American and Irish social and political realties in the 1980s is both brutal and magical.—Library Journal
Larry Kirwan writes with all the charm of his music. This is Angela's Ashes for a new generation.—Thomas Keneally
Rockin’ the Bronx is a tragic tale of home-from-home and heartbreak . . . The city that Kirwan presents is so real you can feel the humidity in the air as you read, and the characters are fully-formed and soulful . . . Well worth a read if you like your pints black and your whiskey Irish.—New York Journal of Books
Kirwan‘s writing combines a fierce madness with poetic lyricism to great effect, and the book becomes a feast for all the senses. We can hear the drums as a constant backdrop, we can smell the garbage in the streets, we taste the cold pints being poured down the throat (often.). . .This is a book that should be released with a soundtrack.—Mark Sisti, Mohawk Valley Irish Cultural Center
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