The Frontman: A Novel

by Ron Bahar

Ron Bahar is an insecure, self-deprecating, seventeen-year-old Nebraskan striving to please his Israeli immigrant parents, Ophira and Ezekiel, while remaining true to his own dreams. During his senior year of high school, he begins to date longtime crush and non-Jewish girl Amy Andrews—a forbidden relationship he hides from his parents. But that’s not the only complicated part of Ron’s life: he’s also struggling to choose between his two passions, medicine and music. As time goes on, he becomes entangled in a compelling world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Will he do the right thing? A fictionalized memoir of the author’s life as a young man in Lincoln, Nebraska, The Frontman is a coming-of-age tale of love and fidelity.

• ISBN10: 1943006458
• ISBN13: 9781943006458
• Publish Date: 3 April 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: SparkPress
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 272
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

This was such a fun and nostalgic read for me. I love the 80s, and I was enamored with this story of first love and identity too.

•Pro: Ron was a total delight. He made some HUGE mistakes over the course of this book, and spent the last half of the book trying to atone for his mistakes, but I loved him. He was complicated, but intriguing, and he made me laugh. I am not like him, but I could relate to a lot his struggles.

•Pro: The family history bits were really interesting, and I have to give Bahar credit for being able to concisely package that much information.

•Pro: The style was pleasing to me, and really worked for this story. I often felt like Bahar was speaking directly to me, and this is a style I associate with memoires, which I guess this book sort of was, and therefore, the format was wholly appropriate.

•Pro: This story had a wonderful, nostalgic feel. I could hear the voice over in my head, which made me think of A Christmas Story, and the musical references just pushed it over the top for me.

•Pro: The book was set in Nebraska! I am always shouting about how most books are set on the coasts, and it was exciting to read a book set in The Middle. I also loved taking the trip with Ron to Israel.

•Pro: Ron's family was delightful. Granted, his parents put a lot of pressure on him, and though I did not agree with them, I sort of understood them, and I loved that he had his two older sisters there for some guidance.

•Pro: Between the quirky characters, teen hijinks, and self-depreciating humor, I found myself laughing quite often.

•Pro: I loved the theme of fidelity that permeated the book. Fidelity to your family, to your girlfriend, to you friends, to your dreams, and to yourself. It may be packaged with a ton of humor, but there was plenty of food for thought in this book.

I had become an expert at delayed gratification. Conversely, I had no idea what it meant to live in the present.

Overall: A hilarious and heartwarming coming-of-age tale,which addressed family relationships, friendships, first love, identity, and finding one's voice quite well. I laughed, smiled, and felt the feels.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review

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