Boy Underground

A Novel

De: Catherine Ryan Hyde

Narrado por: Dan Butler

During WWII, a teenage boy finds his voice, the courage of his convictions, and friends for life in an emotional and uplifting novel by the New York Times and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author.

1941. Steven Katz is the son of prosperous landowners in rural California. Although his parents don’t approve, he’s found true friends in Nick, Suki, and Ollie, sons of field workers. The group is inseparable. But Steven is in turmoil. He’s beginning to acknowledge that his feelings for Nick amount to more than friendship.

When the bombing of Pearl Harbor draws the US into World War II, Suki and his family are forced to leave their home for the internment camp at Manzanar. Ollie enlists in the army and ships out. And Nick must flee. Betrayed by his own father and accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he turns to Steven for help. Hiding Nick in a root cellar on his family’s farm, Steven acts as Nick’s protector and lifeline to the outside world.

As the war escalates, bonds deepen and the fear of being different falls away. But after Nick unexpectedly disappears one day, Steven’s life focus is to find him. On the way, Steven finds a place he belongs and a lesson about love that will last him his lifetime.

©2021 Catherine Ryan Hyde, Trustee, or Successor Trustee, of the Catherine Ryan Hyde Revocable Trust created under that certain declaration dated September 27, 1999. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Fans of Homer H. Hickham Jr.’s Rocket Boys, Andrew J. Graff’s Raft of Stars, and Hyde’s substantial backlist will savor this heart-opening and meticulously researched coming-of-age tale.”—Booklist

Excellent!!

Loved the narrator. Excellent book. Characters very realistic. I highly recommend this book by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Fantastic but Disappointed

I couldn't stop listening to this. It was amazingly told but a huge let down. Steven deserved so much more happiness than the last chapter. He sacrificed so much for Nick just to be dropped off at a gay bar with the, "hope we can be friends" speech. Would love to have seen Steven find some happiness in his youth instead of constant loneliness and heart break. Poor guy only got a kiss too.

Boys to Men/Japanese/Straight/Gay Small Town/WWII

America’s great shame: internment of US citizens of Japanese descent was intensely personal in rural California and Arizona, where thousands of agricultural workers and all generations of their families were crowded into remote concentration camps. Four boys, 14 - 16 years old in 1942 navigate their high school years against the terror, prejudice and ignorance of the adults who control their lives.

Sensitive and insightful.

Unexpected Pleasure

What an unexpected hidden gem. I just finished listening, and as I sit here marveling at just how moving this story is, all I can think to say is: don’t pass this one by. Such a beautiful story that will linger and enrich the more you reflect on it.

So good much better than I even anticipated.

Awesome book. better than I anticipated. the last 1/3 of the book contains many nuggets of wisdom. This book examine a part of our history. How some people experienced history differently than other. Its hard to Bricktown subsurface this book, but it has a solid story and I really enjoyed it!

Friends Forever

Very good rendition! Well worth the hours spent listening. Good friends are those who are there when you need them.

Absolutely beautiful

Wonderful, poignant novel that follows a young man's struggle, or a few young men actually, to come to terms with themselves and the hands that they were dealt in this fickle life. A lot of worthy topics are discussed here, and I'm SO glad Catherine was the one bringing these topics to the table. She always does it so well!! Easily 10/10. 5 gold stars!

Powerful Painful

Powerful, Pain Full! Looking back on a time and place that White America prefers to forget and Japanese Americans would like for the world to reemember!Additionally the author seamlessly weaves in the personal struggles of people who are different and how Fate/God brings them closure through genuine acceptance!

Loved it! Great narration !

I have never been disappointed with Catherine Ryan Hyde! look forward to my next book.

Another winner by the author

4.5 stars with the poignant epilogue leaving me in tears and causing me to round up.

The narrator is grown-up Steven Katz, who spends most of the story as a teenage boy growing up in the California Sierra Mountains in the 1940s. His parents are wealthy landowners, but from the opening pages, it's clear that Steven does not fit into his family, nor does he seem to fit in the community. As a 14-year-old, he is forced by his dad to try out for baseball, something he is really bad at, and ends up meeting Suki Yamamoto, the son of Japanese agricultural workers who work his father's land. Suki has two other friends 17-year-old Ollie and 14-year-old Nick and the four become good friends, much to the dislike of Steven's mom. The bond between the four is solidified on a camping trip but when they return, everything changes. Pearl Harbor has been bombed, Ollie decides to join the army before he turns 18, Suki's family ends up being sent to the Japanese internment camp, and Nick ends up going into hiding after he is accused of a crime his father did. The entire story is told to us by Ollie, and it is a true coming-of-age story as Ollie learns who he is, who he wants to be, and that there is the family you're born with and the family you create. This story was definitely historical fiction, but it was also a coming-out story, and a story about racism, homophobia, classicism, and acceptance. I listened to the narration by Dan Butler and he was pretty good, but the sound editing had issues from time to time, with distracting background noise. Still, he did a good job and I had a hard time putting the book down. The epilogue was wonderful and had me in tears (good tears) and just put an exclamation point on an already compelling story. This is my third book by the author, and I am officially a fan.