Tiny Americans

A Novel

By: Devin Murphy

Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee, Kirby Heyborne, Andrew Eiden, Christian Baskous

From the National Bestselling author of The Boat Runner comes a poignant, luminous novel that follows one family over decades and across the world—perfect for fans of the film Boyhood.

Western New York, 1978: Jamie, Lewis, and Connor Thurber watch their parents’ destructive dance of loving, hating, and drinking. Terrance Thurber spends this year teaching his children about the natural world: they listen to the heartbeat of trees, track animal footprints, sleep under the star-filled sky. Despite these lessons, he doesn’t show them how to survive without him. And when these seasons of trying and failing to quit booze and be a better man are over, Terrance is gone.

Alone with their artist mother, Catrin, the Thurber children are left to grapple with the anger they feel for the one parent who deserted them and a growing resentment for the one who didn’t. As Catrin withdraws into her own world, Jamie throws herself into painting while her brothers smash out their rage in brutal, no-holds-barred football games with neighborhood kids. Once they can leave—Jamie for college, Lewis for the navy, and Connor for work—they don’t look back.

But Terrance does. Crossing the country, sobering up, and starting over has left him with razor-sharp regret. Terrance doesn’t know that Jamie, now an academic, inhabits an ever-shrinking circle of loneliness; that Lewis, a merchant marine, fears life on dry land; that Connor struggles to connect with the son he sees teetering on an all-too-familiar edge. He only knows that he has one last try to build a bridge, through the years, to his family.

Composed of a series of touchstone moments, Tiny Americans is a thrilling and bittersweet rendering of a family that, much like the tides, continues to come together and drift apart.

Another great novel by Devin Murphy!

The descriptive word used to tell the story are unmatched. Being able to relate to each character as they walk through life is what draws me to his writing. I can’t wait for the next installment from this talented writer.

Interesting, but left me wanting more.

The stories were interesting, but I would have liked to know more about the characters.

ugh!

A fine performance from all the characters, but even a fine performance cannot save this turd of a book. I find the plot to be completely pointless the storyline to be worse and it to be completely anti-climactic. 100% of waste of a credit and my time.