Van Boyle (link to purchase) is the story of a rather unfortunate man, told in reverse chronology. In individual snapshots the novel captures the entire life of Van Boyle from death to birth. Van was a professional baseball player for several years and a suburban husband and father, but as a result of a series of bad breaks and poor decisions he finds himself homeless and destitute in the latter portions of his life. Van struggles to get by, and the novel portrays his meager existence and survival techniques.
Each year in the life of Van Boyle receives one section of the book, proceeding backward. The novel opens with the death of the protagonist and we proceed one year at a time backwards to his birth sixty nine years prior. Over the course of the novel, Van dies, attempts to survive for years living as a homeless person utilizing a variety of means (living in an old car, camping in the woods, living on a boat, living in an abandoned storage facility, living in ruined houses with groups of other homeless people). Van also shares additional memories and insights in first person interspersed throughout the novel. As we proceed backward in time, however, it becomes clear to the reader that Van’s condition is slowly improving and by the middle third of the novel Van is living a “normal” life as a suburban father and husband, though we see his decisions aren’t always financially or personally wise. He is also the victim of various forms of family dysfunction.
In the later portions of the book, as the plot scrolls backward, we read about Van Boyle’s experience as a professional athlete in the early portion of his life—he was only marginally successful and unable to transition fully into “civilian life” (this is part of the tragedy of this novel). Moreover, in the final sections of the novel we come to understand the difficult upbringing that Van Boyle experienced, especially pertaining to his father and the pressure his father put on Van to succeed. The novel ends with Van Boyle’s birth and the high expectations surrounding his life.
Articles / Reviews
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About the Author
Nathan Leslie won the 2019 Washington Writers' Publishing House prize for fiction for his book Hurry Up and Relax. Nathan’s nine previous books of fiction include Three Men, Root and Shoot, Sibs, and The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice. He is also the author of a collection of poems, Night Sweat. Nathan is currently the series editor for Best Small Fictions, the founder and organizer of the Reston Reading Series in Reston, Virginia, and the publisher and editor of the new online journal Maryland Literary Review. Previously he was series editor for Best of the Web and fiction editor for Pedestal Magazine. His fiction has been published in many literary magazines such as Shenandoah, North American Review, Boulevard, Hotel Amerika, and Cimarron Review. Nathan’s nonfiction has been published in The Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and Orlando Sentinel. Nathan lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Julie.
