Hammond
by Jonathan LaPoma
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Pub Date Dec 18 2018 | Archive Date Jan 20 2019
Almendro Arts | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles
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Description
Warning: heavy profanity, child abuse, graphic sex, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and deeply disturbing psychological content. Also, this book is a character-led literary novel, not a plot-led commercial novel.
A group of troubled but charismatic boys in a tough Buffalo, NY neighborhood play basketball at a local park and dream of winning a state high school championship. Driven by raw talent and killer instinct, they dominate the court, but everywhere else, they feel like losers.
A dark but humorous coming-of-age novel, HAMMOND offers a poetic and disturbing look inside the complex mind of an adolescent boy as he slowly learns that having the heart of a champion can sometimes be more burden than blessing.
*HAMMOND is the first novel in a loosely-linked series with THE SUMMER OF CRUD, UNDERSTANDING THE ALACRÁN, and DEVELOPING MINDS: AN AMERICAN GHOST STORY as books two, three, and four, respectively.
A Note From the Publisher
ebook (978-0-9988403-4-5)
Advance Praise
Author is available for interviews, blog tours, autographed book giveaways, contests, and book club discussions.
Jonathan LaPoma is an award-winning, best-selling novelist, screenwriter, songwriter, and poet from Buffalo, NY. He's written four novels, twelve screenplays, and hundreds of songs and poems. His screenplays have won over 150 awards/honors at various international screenwriting competitions, and his black comedy script HARM FOR THE HOLIDAYS was optioned by Warren Zide along with Wexlfish Pictures (AMERICAN PIE, FINAL DESTINATION, THE BIG HIT) in July 2017.
LaPoma’s novels have been recommended by Kirkus Reviews and Barnes and Noble (B&N Press Presents list), have hit the #1 Amazon Bestseller lists in the “Satire,” “Urban Life,” “Metaphysical,” “Metaphysical & Visionary,” and “Religious & Inspirational” Kindle categories (USA, Canada, and Australia), and have won awards/honors in the 2018 Eric Hoffer Book Award, the 2016 and 2017 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Awards, and the 2015 Stargazer Literary Prizes. He lives in San Diego, CA and teaches at a public secondary school.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9780998840352 |
| PRICE | $15.95 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Keirstin S, Reviewer
Hammond by author Jonathan LaPoma is an intense, disturbing fiction story that follows a mentally ill boy on the basketball courts of Buffalo New York. The book is raw and dark but also humorous! The characters are well structured and the plot is thick, making Hammond a great book for those looking for a read that takes you into a whole other world (so to speak).
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of Hammond in exchange for an honest review.
Edwin H, Reviewer
HAMMOND, by Jonathan LaPoma, is the story of James Lombardi, a young man gifted with basketball talent and drive to succeed. James also struggles with what he calls "Evil Thoughts" which are all of the negative thoughts, scary future outcomes, and hatred he thinks other people have about him. As James matures from a young 6th grader to a mature high school graduate, James constantly battles his inner demons but they become harder and harder to keep at bay and threaten to overwhelm him completely.
As raw and unfiltered as any coming-of-age book I have ever read, HAMMOND forces the reader live the struggle with James and constantly yearn for James to overcome his "Evil Thoughts" once and for all so that he can find the value and purpose in his life. By making James a talented basketball player, LaPoma charges the reader to really look at sports as an escape for some people; not just escaping one's own troubles day to day, but escaping a life you are in for a better one, by basketball opening doors that otherwise would remain shut. The novel is graphic and a little disturbing at times, but in the context of James Lombardi's age and type of person he is, worked well for me.
I found little if any of the graphic (violent and sexual) content to be gratuitous, it was just the mind of a young man growing up in a tough city, a tough school, and a tough family. HAMMOND is a unique book, one that lingers in the mind long after finishing it, and I for one am looking forward to reading more from LaPoma in the future.
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