The Rail

Tommy Donovan's coming-of-age memoir depicts the struggles of the son of an Irish immigrant growing up in an all-Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx before and during the 1960s. At home Tommy must wrestle with family dysfunction, while in the streets he must navigate a world where being a goy (gentile) confers a hurtful outsider status on him. Eventually, young Tommy's life hangs in the balance. Tommy struggles not to surrender to the pull of drug addiction while fighting to break free and flee the Bronx. Confronting these formidable obstacles while growing up in the Bronx takes place center stage around The Rail where Tommy's cohorts and nemeses meet daily.