DUST is a really good book to be reading at this time in America. Besides telling a really good story, Thompson's book also shows us that we have not come nearly as far as we need to in dealing with race and poverty. But DUST is not a political book - it is a coming of age story of young men growing up in a very turbulent time, beautifully written.

First half doesn’t seem to completely gell. But once it moves to the road trip second half you’re gifted with a truly great American novel. And the end will stay with you for some time after you finish.

Dust is an accomplished coming-of-age debut novel, that we'll make you long for simpler times, which for most of us, happened during our childhood.

The narrator of this novel is JJ, who lives in a small town in New Jersey, with his parents and annoying older brother. His best friend is Tony Papadakis, whom JJ calls El Greco. The two boys very tight, and they are doing what probably many boys used to do in the 1960s - wonder aimlessly, explore, smoke cigarettes, climb trees etc. There was no over-parenting back then. A child's worldview is pretty narrow, but it seems to be more concentrated. Seemingly small events, gestures become very important.

The story is somewhat familiar, but it's told beautifully by Mark Thompson, whose writing is of the highest calibre. Some of the descriptions were absolutely breath-taking.

If you enjoy road-trips and coming of age novels, you'll love Dust.

Brilliantly well written novel that I couldn’t put down. This is the debut novel from Mark Thompson and I cannot wait to read more from him. The tone and prose were outstanding and brought the whole book to life.

Set in a small town in New Jersey I found the story was funny in parts but sometimes sad as the events unfold. It centres on the friendship of two eleven year old boys growing up in the late 1960s. JJ and El Greco grow up through boyhood pranks, misadventures and generally get into scrapes and trouble during one hot summer.

Towards the end of that summer the boys go on a road trip and learn some of the more harsh but realistic facts of life.

Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley, RedDoor Publishing and Mark Thompson for this ARC in return for my honest review.

A story about two boys growing up in America in the 1960s. Poignant, funny and really sad it is a really good read. It also is about the harsh reality of living in 1960s America. Vietnam and segregation are reality and there is violence on the streets. This is a down to earth account of life.

JJ and El Greco are inseparable adolescents growing up in New Jersey in the 60's. JJ is in thrall to El Greco's superior grasp of the wider world, from his knowledge (.mainly gained from his encyclopaedia) to his advice on life. They grow from childhood pranks and interests to being touched by losses from the Vietnam war, illness, family strife, racial inequality and JJ's realisation that his mother has had her free spirit wings clipped, and perhaps dreams of a different life. What lifts this book above the normal coming of age tale is the wonderfully descriptive writing, it is a joy. I was sorry to finish the book, I suspect it will be a while before I enjoy another as much as this.

This book failed to grip me, it is hard to fall into, the style is laboured, there is no hook at the beginning of the story that would intrigue the reader and entice them to continue reading.

A road trip through adolescence in 1960s America, Dust tells the story of JJ and his friend Tony Papadakis. Brought up in white America, a road trip with JJ's father exposes the boys to poverty and scenes they have never imagined. Harsh, realistic and ultimately sad, reading Dust is a journey in itself.

4.5 Stars

”When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we see
No I won't be afraid
No I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

“If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountains should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me”
-- Stand By Me, lyrics by Ben King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller

”We lay on our backs for what seemed like an eternity and guessed at shapes while the sun beat down and the long dry grass shimmered in the faintest zephyr of a breeze. Crimson tissue poppies bobbed back and forth with the motion of well-wishers waving handkerchiefs on a distant railroad station.”

This coming-of-age tale begins the summer that J.J. Walsh and his friend Tony ‘El Greco’ Papadakis are ten years old, living in New Jersey. As time has its way of moving forward, and never backward, so does the story of JJ and El Greco. Way leads on to way, and time passes as they maneuver through these pre-teen years. There are bumps in the road that are not insignificant.

”…things rolled on calmly into the seasonal changes that marked the passage of time, and softly erased the scars of life, like the smoothing action of waves on cliffs.”

This story places you firmly in the history of this era with references to the Watts riots, racial tensions, the space race, the printing of the last edition of the Saturday Evening Post, Vietnam, Nixon, which teams won or lost World Series / Super Bowls, there are also the stories of the family and neighborhood shared. Annoying older brothers just waiting to smack you around when no one is looking. Mothers whose lives revolve around their families. Fathers who are good, and some who are not. The sense of time passing permeates these pages.

”Early in life, my grandfather told me that only three things were certain: birth, death and time. And time only ticked one way: it went forward and never back. It came to be a recurring wish with me, the desire to turn back the clock, to undo what I had done. Always wishing for the impossible, my feet stuck firm in the molasses of the present, unable to shrug off decision I had made and their unforeseen or disregarded consequences.”

This isn’t much like the movie ‘Stand by Me’ (based on Stephen King’s ‘The Body’), at least story-wise, but there is an element of that story in this one. The world of these young men seems so insular, as though it’s almost a world apart from the one in which the “adults” in this story abide. They float through these days as though they are untouchable, not without fear when trouble rears its head.
Never believing they, too, will, one day, be seen as reminiscing old men – that is, if they’re lucky.

This reads somewhat like a well-written, polished up, well thought out journal of those magical last years of childhood through those almost adult years, sprinkled throughout with some lovely prose – but it is, at heart, a somewhat wistful story about growing up during the 60’s, and the loss of innocence that comes with the passing of these years.


Published: 08 Sept 2016


Many thanks for the ARC provided by RedDoor Publishing

The friendship between 2 young boys in New Jersey in the 1960s is the basis for this beguiling and tender debut novel. J J and Tony, or El Greco as he is usually called, are firm friends and have all the adventures together you might expect. The first half of the book is well-observed and demonstrates much understanding of how a young boy’s mind works. My problem with the book was the 2nd half when J J’s father takes the boys on a road trip to the southern states of the US, where they see a very different world to the one at home and I felt that their voices became too knowing and adult. I doubt very much if such young boys would be aware of the social and political situation, or even be interested in it.
So I didn’t find this otherwise very enjoyable and readable novel totally convincing but nevertheless it’s a pleasant enough tale, and an interesting portrait of 1960s America.

I did not realize that this was a YA book. Sorry I will let the YA group read this one. Thanks for letting me read the book Net Galley

"Early in life, my grandfather told me that only three things were certain: birth, death and time. And time only ticked one way: it went forward and never back. It came to be a recurring wish with me, the desire to turn back the clock, to undo what I had done." from Dust by Mark Thompson
For as long as I can remember, part of me has faced backward, tied to the past by nostalgia and longing. When I read Maria Rainer Rilke's advice in his Letters to a Young Poet that one's childhood "treasure house of memories"* offers the creative artist a wealth of inspiration I knew it was true.

I share this to explain why I so enjoy writing that is turned backwards, considering a childhood's treasure house. The newness, the first contact, the adventure of life--and its sorrows and disappointments and questions--always has a poignancy for me.

Mark Thompson's slim debut novel Dust about the friendship and adventures of two eleven-year-old boys growing up in New Jersey in the late 1960s. It is full of lyrical nostalgia as J. J. Walsh recounts his last summer with his best friend Tony 'El Greco' Papadakis.

The boys still imagine sticks are swords, but they also sneak Kent cigarettes and drink coffee black. They imagine the larger world, planning a trip to see the Pacific Ocean. In a freedom rarely allowed today, the boys get into trouble and have misadventures, and they come to terms with death and pursue knowledge of sex. Details of American life offer a deep sense of time and place.

Near the end of summer, Mr. Walsh takes the boys to see his hometown of Savannah, GA, whose exotic beauty enchants JJ. During their travels, the boys experience the Jim Crow South with its poverty and division.

Dust is a love song to the endurance of love, love of a boyhood friend, a wife, a son.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.