SOMEWHERE ON THE MOUNTAIN

by Michael F. Novosad

Overview

My name is MIKE NOVOSAD and I'm 75, and was born, and raised in Denver, Colorado. When I was 8, my mother committed suicide. Before her death, my mom had placed me, and my younger brother in the care of a family, so that she could work, and not have to worry about a babysitter. Our father was overseas serving in the Korean War. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but my folks were going through a divorce.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798887030739
Publisher:	LitPrime Solutions
Publication date:	03/07/2023
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

My book is semi-autobiographical, and is called "Somewhere on the Mountain." It's based on my experiences growing up as a child in the 1950's. The main character, Thomas, and his younger brother Billy, have a traumatic childhood, what with their mother dying, and their father leaving them in the care of people who abuse and molest them. Finally, when Thomas is ten, and his brother eight, they are placed in a boy's home, which is just as bad as the place they came from, and the abuse goes on. But they have friends there, who in turn, help to make the Home more bearable. The only real saving grace about it, is that in the summer, they move to a camp in the mountains, and they stay there until school begins in the fall. Thomas enjoys the outdoor activities and the picnics.

Editorial Reviews

2023-07-21
In Novosad’s semiautobiographical novel, a man recounts his tumultuous days at a boarding school in the 1950s.

Mike Janicek is only 8 years old when his mother leaves him and his little brother, Billy, in the care of another family (their father was off fighting in the Korean War, and she couldn’t raise the boys on her own). Mike endures sexual and physical abuse for over two years before his father finally takes them out of the household—only to send them to boarding school. On his first day there, Mike gets into a scuffle and earns the ire of his attackers when he reports them. Unfortunately, some of the supervising adults are just as cold and vicious as the students who unrelentingly torment Mike. Reticent Billy generally avoids confrontations, but Mike rarely suffers his tormentors silently and begins fighting back with his fists. He finds solace in the summertime, when the brothers would go camping: Somewhere in the woods rests (allegedly) a downed World War II bomber that Mike is determined to find. The author explores dark territory, from bullying to pedophilia. As the story progresses, Mike loses some sympathy as he becomes more violent and turns into a bully himself. But Novosad fully acknowledges his flaws; Mike calls himself a “coward” despite his aggressive behavior: “I still wanted guys to think of me as someone you didn’t want to mess with, and, I continued to have behavioral problems at the Home. The fact that I was basically a coward, didn’t stop me from trying.” Throughout, his periodic search for the plane serves as a worthy metaphor for clinging to hope. Many among the boarding school’s revolving cast of bullies are interchangeable, but a few stand out, including one who becomes a friend and another who hides in the woods and bites people. Unfortunately, grammatical mistakes mar the text, particularly the extraneous commas that make sentences choppy or confusing.

An absorbing tale of personal struggle that needs an editor’s touch-up.

Kirkus Reviews