Robert Rorke

A novel told in five cars so to speak. This is the story of a family dominated by an alcoholic father who buys old autos at police auctions. It is mainly told from the perspective of the families sole son who comes into conflict with dad (as they all did) One issue is that he wants to play the lead in the high school play Bye Bye Birdie. What I like most about the book was its realistic portrayal of the alcoholic father and how the family attempts to cope with and make up for his behavior. But, every once in a while in all his bluster dad actually helps people out. I liked the book.… (mehr)

I recieved this book through a giveaway on LibraryThing. This book is set in 1970s New York and follows Nicky as he navigates school and his home life. He deals with his father or “Himself’ (the moniker he’s given throughout the book), an alcoholic and abusive man. The story is told in what I might think as of vignettes. Each section of the book is framed by the new car that Nicky’s father has purchased, but all of these stories are linked though Nicky’s experiences. The setting, characters, and time period seemed authentic and I genuinely cared for Nicky, his family and his friends.… (mehr)

Car Trouble is a coming-of-age novel about a young man in 1970s Brooklyn who must find a path through life even as his alcoholic father overshadows what he does and thinks. Vain and reckless, Nicky’s father is larger than life, dominating everything and everyone in the home. The family refers to his father as “Himself,” as though he were the king and center of all. The story is told from Nicky’s point of view, as he is caught up in the almost daily drama of wondering when his father will be home, and when he is home, how to protect his mother and sisters from a violent and unpredictable alcoholic, while pretending to all the world that that the problem doesn’t exist.

Nicky sees the other side of his father as he watches him move a motorcycle victim out of the street, and he unintentionally becomes part of his father’s efforts to protect the family from what he perceives as threats from society. His father is unable to hold a job because of his alcoholism and violence, and Nicky is drawn into his father’s attempts to get back at those who he thinks have wronged him. Yet, as a young man Nicky is searching for a role model, and so he must reconcile the two sides of his father with others who care about him, such as a teacher who introduces him to acting and singing in a school play, his mother, his friends, his uncle, and the neighbor next door.

The flashy cars that his father brings home from precinct auctions act as mileposts through the story; the Blue Max, the Green Hornet, the Black Beauty, and the Pink Panther. Each one is at least a decade old and discarded, yet Nicky’s father loves to drive them fast and hard. They are reminders of a time when everything was possible in his father’s life, before the world of opportunity changed into a world of work and responsibilities. He teaches Nicky how to drive, and we find that same love of flashy cars is what Nicky takes with him from his father as he ends up as a successful actor, exchanging the drama of his home with the drama of the stage.

The story settings are vivid and reflect the experiences and memories of author Robert Rorke. We are drawn into a gritty and changing neighborhood scene, long car rides, and the love/hate relationship with a dominating alcoholic father. Car Trouble pulls in the reader and doesn’t let go. It’s as though we, too, are on a drive with Nicky’s father in Black Beauty or the Pink Panther, not really knowing what the next turn in the road will bring.… (mehr)