Team-Building
Daniel Magariel’s accomplished debut novel begins with two boys — the narrator and his brother — conspiring with their father to shop their mother to social services with fabricated allegations of physical and sexual violence. The father wins custody and the three of them start a new life together in New Mexico. Though the brothers are well aware of his eccentricity — they joke about him behind his back, mocking the solemn machismo of his corny pep-talks — they are nevertheless hopelessly in his thrall.
Houman Barekat reviews One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel.