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mother dies, and he's suddenly on his own. Living with his aunt in
Trenton, New Jersey, becomes unbearable for him, so he decides to go to Boston and sail to sea. After the situation escalates, Joey flees from his violent father and joins Perry. And Buddy impregnates his girlfriend, Despie, on their very first date and has to face the challenges of being a 17-year-old husband and father.
429:
The major differences between book and film are Despie is Richie's girlfriend and made Chubby's daughter, Buddy is made a minor character, Eugene and C are nonexistent, Nina becomes Joey's love interest and Nina's rape never occurs. Instead, she kisses Richie in the back of his car, becoming his main
289:
Denise Rizzo, called C, 15 years old, is Richie's girlfriend. Her parents often have arguments and yell at each other in front of the children. They both blame one another for lack of respect. C stands for comb, since Denise always has a pink comb handy. C has a little brother, Dougie. She is not yet
267:
Toward the end of the book, the events focus more and more on the protagonists and their problems and challenges of growing up – everyone in his own way. Eugene joins the marines after watching, without interfering, his girlfriend, Nina, being raped. Perry's father had died several years ago; now his
355:
Emilio Capra is Joey's father. He is a fireman. He has a humiliating and rather violent way of raising his son and treating his wife. Emilio was Mister New York City 1940, and is still in good shape. He is an egomaniac and has no respect for his son, who is not at all like him. He likes teasing Joey
285:
Richie
Gennaro, 17 years old, is the head of the Wanderers. His father, Louis, and his mother, Millie, both 41 years old, run a rather conservative household with a reasonable income, since there's always plenty of good food on the table. Louis accuses Richie of being ungrateful for what he does for
187:
The book contains 12 chapters, which are loosely connected with each other, mainly by reappearing characters. It is more like a collection of short stories—each chapter can stand on its own. A conventional encompassing plot is missing. However, there is a thread: the protagonists are forced to
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Lenny
Arkadian owns the sign-painting shop, where the Wanderers sometimes hang out after school. Lenny is more of an entertainer than a business man. He served in the Navy and is the one painting the football banner for the Stingers (football team of the Wanderers). Apparently, Lenny has a lot of
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Eugene Caputo, whom his father calls him "Ace", lives with his parents in their house. He's a womanizer, keeping score of his conquests. Eugene's major activity is chasing girls, although he has a complex: because of his penis pointing downward when erected, he thinks he's impotent. Consequently,
194:
Regarding the year(s) in which the story takes place there is an inconsistency. In the first chapter, it reads 12 September 1962. In chapter 5, Thanksgiving and 27 November 1962 are explicitly mentioned, as well as
Valentine's Day in one of the following chapters. Then, in chapter 11, it reads 1
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that will lead the 1960s away from the 1950s in which his gang were still lingering, and way ahead incomprehensible for him at the verge of settling into a married man life. Witnessing the assassination of
President Kennedy on a store-window TV set made him realize that change was spinning and
263:
At the beginning of the book, a broad range of events and characters describe the zeitgeist. In addition to the protagonists, many characters appear only once. At first, “gang-business” is in focus: rivalry with other gangs in the neighborhood who come from different cultural and/or ethnic
426:. The first Avon Books printing from February 1975 refers to the upcoming movie ("SOON A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE"). The artwork of the title on the front cover of the same book may have been the inspiration for the 'Wanderers logo' on the back of the uniform jackets in the film.
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called the book "a fine first novel — gritty, incisive, unpatronizing, authentic in its detail, able to recreate a dead era and deal with the
American male myth (city-style) while somehow managing miraculously to avoid both pomposity and sentimentality."
259:
Richie
Gennaro is the 17-year-old leader of the Wanderers, an Italian-American youth gang in the Bronx in 1962. His girlfriend is Denise Rizzo. Richie's friends in the Wanderers are Joey Capra, Buddy Borsalino, Eugene Caputo and Perry LaGuardia.
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backgrounds. This rivalry is determined by prejudice and machismo. But there is also competition, in terms of sports such as football and bowling. And above all, it is about being cool and trying to have sex for the first time.
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Joey Capra is short, smokes, and has much nervous energy, never standing still. Joey's best friend is Perry. Joey is afraid of his brutal father. There's permanent tension in his home because of his father's conceit and
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Joey DiMassi is leader of the
Fordham Baldies, respected for his fairness and decency. But he tires of being a Baldie, and the nail in the coffin, is when all the good members in a drunken stupor, sign up for the US
317:
Turkey is ugly and alone, but of high intelligence, with flippy parents and a cheap sister. Turkey is Jewish, yet collecting Nazi paraphernalia. He can draw, sing and speak German. He occasionally hangs out with the
348:
Raymond LaGuardia is Perry's brother, and married with a wife and kids, he neglects his mother and brother after the death of their father. After their mother's death, Perry refuses to have anything to do with
324:
Scotty Hite is Dougie Rizzo's friend, that is, Scotty is Dougie's punching ball, until Scotty dares standing up. Regarding this as mutiny, Dougie tricks Scotty to jump off the roof of a tall building – to
430:
love interest which betrays Joey. However disappointed with all their boys lifestyles, Richie sees her "disappear" and becoming more interested and heading into a higher spiritual road along the
352:
Nancy and Marie are two girls Buddy and Eugene meet at a bar, Nancy is crosseyed, Marie has a face full of acne, and the two wear hearing aids, but it is with Nancy that Eugene pops his cherry
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Perry LaGuardia, 19 years old, a tall, beefy guy, who has problems at home involving his mother, and his brother's absence, to deal with, as well as his rivalry with Emilio, Joey's father.
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him. Apart from that, Richie's family background is pretty normal. Richie has a 12-year-old brother, Randy, and a girlfriend, Denise. Richie is desperately trying to get laid.
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Randy
Gennaro, Richie's little brother, he is called upon to get revenge against Dougie for causing Richie trouble against the African-American students at his school
331:
Antone is the head of the
Pharaohs. After calling a truce with the Wanderers, he turns around and almost hurts the Wanderers, if not for the intervention of Turkey.
184:, was published. It was his first novel, and the setting of the story is a housing project in the Bronx, New York, which is similar to that in which Price grew up.
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Despie Carabella, a friend of C's. They go to the same school, and she later becomes Buddy's love interest, and eventually, wife, after he impregnates her.
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Dougie Rizzo, C's brother, he is malicious with an evil streak. Causes much trouble for Richie, but is paid back in full by Randy Gennaro and his gang.
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he's always insulting girls, to make them run off before sex occurs. He is afraid of falling in love, but when does, it leads to tragic consequences.
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Terror, cross-eyed, 150 pounds, six foot four is the war machine of the Fordham Baldies. He suffers from asthma. His mother is said to be Mexican.
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Mr. Sharp, an ex-gang member turned teacher, he hates Puerto Ricans, and teaches all the students of his class a simple lesson about racism.
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Peppy Dio, an older man who works in the bar at the bowling alley, he is the uncle of the Galasso brothers, helping them with their racket.
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experience with women and is Richie's advisor in how to get laid. He finally makes arrangements with a hooker for Richie's first time.
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Nina Becker, Eugene's later girlfriend, he falls in love with her, but after witnessing her rape by a black guy, he leaves her.
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to the point of distress and giving him a hard time whenever possible. He also has a rivalry with Perry, being the same size.
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speeding up in the nation as a whole, as well as in him and his peers as they transitioned from teens to young adults.
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548:"Three of Richard Price's New York Novels - The Wanderers - Bloodbrothers - Ladies' Man -- New York Magazine - Nymag"
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called it "a powerhouse," writing that "the book is raunchy, violent, tender, cruel, and laugh-your-ass-off funny."
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June 1962 on the wedding invitation given out by Buddy Borsalino. It might be an author's inaccuracy or a misprint.
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Mario Borsalino, called Buddy, is anxious to get laid: when he does, he gets Despinoza "Despie" Carabella pregnant.
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205:, Boston, Massachusetts, USA in 1974. Reprints and publications at other publishers followed, such as:
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Chubby Galasso, A Bowling gambler, he and his five brothers run a racket at the local bowling alley.
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Parts of the book were published as the story "Big Playground" in Antaeus, New York City, in 1972.
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The serious side of life is catching up, the gang is falling apart, and Richie is staying behind.
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Rowohlt, Reinbek, GER, 1976. 1st German paperback edition (German title “Scharfe Zeiten”).
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Richard Price: The Wanderers, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1st printing, 1974, p. 198
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Richard Price: The Wanderers, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1st printing, 1974, p. 9,
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Bloomsbury Publishing Limited, London, UK, 1993. 1st paperback edition.
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164:. It was first published as a book in 1974. The plot is set in the
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mature, each one in his own way, toward the end of the book.
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Richard Price: The Wanderers, AVON 1975, book cover back
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534:"THE WANDERERS | Kirkus Reviews"
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18:The Wanderers (Richard Price novel)
914:American novels adapted into films
536:– via www.kirkusreviews.com.
380:received mostly positive reviews.
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919:Novels by Richard Price (writer)
520:"New York Times, April 21, 1974"
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