Kickflip Boys: A Memoir of Freedom, Rebellion, and the Chaos of Fatherhood

by Neal Thompson Narrated by Joe Knezevich

Overview

“With a dispassionate but tender eye, Thompson captures the ache, fizz, yearning and frustration of being the father of adolescent boys-and of adolescence itself, observed and remembered.” -Michael Chabon

What makes a good father, and what makes one a failure? Does less-is-more parenting inspire independence and strength, or does it encourage defiance and trouble? Kickflip Boys is the story of a father's struggle to understand his willful skateboarder sons, challengers of authority and convention, to accept his role as a vulnerable “skate dad,” and to confront his fears that the boys are destined for an unconventional and potentially fraught future.

With searing honesty, Neal Thompson traces his sons' progression through all the stages of skateboarding: splurging on skate shoes and boards, having run-ins with security guards, skipping classes and defying teachers, painting graffiti, drinking and smoking, and more. As the story veers from funny to treacherous and back, from skateparks to the streets, Thompson must confront his complicity and fallibility. He also reflects on his upbringing in rural New Jersey, and his own adventures with skateboards, drugs, danger, and defiance.

A story of thrill-seeking teens, of hope and love, freedom and failure, Kickflip Boys reveals a sport and a community that have become a refuge for adolescent boys who don't fit in. Ultimately, it's the survival story of a loving modern American family, of acceptance, forgiveness, and letting go.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

01/08/2018
In this heartfelt and blunt memoir, Thompson (A Curious Man: The Strange & Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It or Not” Ripley) recalls the highs and lows of raising two boys who grow up obsessed with skateboarding. Thompson indulges his sons’ passion, chronicling their tricks on YouTube and at one point driving them on a cross-country skating adventure. As sons Sean and Leo snarl into their teen years, their rebellious attitudes fester into various forms of disobedience, including marijuana use, vandalism, and a furious disregard for school. Calls from authority figures become routine. As Thompson and his wife, Mary, endure their sons’ growing pains, Thompson recalls his own adolescence, which featured its fair share of skateboarding and rebellion. The family bonded over the sport, but as Sean and Leo get older and more disobedient, they drift from their parents. “I wanted them to fly, though not too much,” Thompson writes. “I also wanted them to comply. Why couldn’t they do both?” He skillfully describes the many trials of parenthood, as when, about facing a stoned son at the dinner table, Thompson wittily remarks, “If we wanted a conflict-free meal, Marty and I would have to pretend Spicoli wasn’t at the table, snickering at us all.” This memoir will provide humor and comfort for parents figuring out their kids—and themselves. Photos. (May)

From the Publisher

With a dispassionate but tender eye, Thompson captures the ache, fizz, yearning and frustration of being the father of adolescent boys—and of adolescence itself, observed and remembered.” — Michael Chabon

“An honest account of raising creative, rebellious boys who happen to love skateboarding.  Having been through the fire of raising a few free-thinking boys myself, I found Kickflip Boys to be fun, moving, raw, and relatable.” — Tony Hawk

“Excellent. . . . Thompson’s remarkably honest account of fatherhood presents a scary, funny, and reflective read all at once.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Kickflip Boys is an amazing chronicle of parenthood, but what makes it so striking, so beautiful, is how well Neal Thompson not only understands the struggles of parenting, but also the strangeness of adolescence. It’s empathetic, and funny, and Neal Thompson nails it.” — Kevin Wilson

“Heartfelt. . . . This memoir will provide humor and comfort for parents figuring out their kids.” — Publishers Weekly

“With the emotional authority of the best novels, Thompson’s prose sings. I laughed out loud and cried all the way through. The voice is brave, funny and fiercely honest. Ultimately this wonderful book is about love. Because those we care about most will always surprise us.” — Peter Heller

“A provocative and inspiring memoir that delves into the hopes and fears of parents as much as it delves into the hopes and fears of the children they are striving to raise. And, yes, it is about skateboarding.  Which is the key—for the resilient Thompson family—to happiness and joy.” — Garth Stein

Peter Heller

With the emotional authority of the best novels, Thompson’s prose sings. I laughed out loud and cried all the way through. The voice is brave, funny and fiercely honest. Ultimately this wonderful book is about love. Because those we care about most will always surprise us.

Garth Stein

A provocative and inspiring memoir that delves into the hopes and fears of parents as much as it delves into the hopes and fears of the children they are striving to raise. And, yes, it is about skateboarding.  Which is the key—for the resilient Thompson family—to happiness and joy.

Tony Hawk

An honest account of raising creative, rebellious boys who happen to love skateboarding.  Having been through the fire of raising a few free-thinking boys myself, I found Kickflip Boys to be fun, moving, raw, and relatable.

Michael Chabon

With a dispassionate but tender eye, Thompson captures the ache, fizz, yearning and frustration of being the father of adolescent boys—and of adolescence itself, observed and remembered.

Kevin Wilson

Kickflip Boys is an amazing chronicle of parenthood, but what makes it so striking, so beautiful, is how well Neal Thompson not only understands the struggles of parenting, but also the strangeness of adolescence. It’s empathetic, and funny, and Neal Thompson nails it.

Tony Hawk

An honest account of raising creative, rebellious boys who happen to love skateboarding.  Having been through the fire of raising a few free-thinking boys myself, I found Kickflip Boys to be fun, moving, raw, and relatable.

Kirkus Reviews

2018-02-20
Permissive parenting clashes with adolescent rebellion amid the skateboarding subculture.As the two skateboard-obsessed sons become increasingly disruptive to family harmony and the narrative proceeds from school discipline issues to pot-smoking defiance and legal skirmishes over trespassing and graffiti, it would seem that this is building toward a horrific climax. Thankfully for Thompson (A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley, 2013, etc.) and his family, the sons stepped back from the precipice toward the end of high school, straightened out, and found some sort of independent maturity. So what initially seemed like a cautionary tale turns out to be a rite-of-passage story. The lacerating power of some of the chapters comes from the author's recognition that he has perhaps "become their enabler," that he didn't recognize where all this was leading until it was almost too late, and that his own teenage experiences with skateboarding and marijuana hadn't prepared him for this brave new world. "If my 1970s skating had been a pastel-colored tableau, smooth like 1970s AM radio," he writes, "the boys skated like a gray-hued mash-up of grunge, punk, and rap, all angsty and illegal." Thompson also confesses to the insecurities of a writer whose career has stalled, who numbs himself with alcohol and has to hide the Xanax after his son tells him that it has become "the new heroin" among their crowd. Could this loving family have handled things differently? Definitely. Could they have handled things better? That's more difficult to answer. The author admits that his wife worried that this book would "memorialize our incompetence," while he countered that it would "celebrate our persistence." It also shows that Thompson recognizes promising material when he sees it (and lives it) and knows how to heighten the drama for narrative momentum.A highly candid memoir of parenthood that often fascinates and occasionally frustrates as the author tries to come to terms with the causes that have produced these particular effects.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170355501
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/15/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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