Paperback: $17.99, eBook: $5.99
ISBN: 978-1628480320
Fiction, 282 pages
Book Case Engine, Oct. 24, 2013
Meet
Jimmy LaPlante – sensitive, bookish, baseball obsessed – the neighborhood fat
kid and easy prey for his bullying older brother. The story opens in Brockton,
Mass. It’s 1976. When Jimmy tries to stand up to Cliff, the verbal abuse turns
physical and an accident occurs, sending Jimmy to the hospital with an injury
that changes the trajectory of his life. “Tanker 10” follows Jimmy during his
pre-teen and teenage years as he struggles to understand the physical and
psychological effects of his injury. Throughout this period, baseball is his
outlet. By the time he begins high school, Jimmy is an up-and-coming right
fielder on the freshman baseball team. Despite having no physical signs of his
condition, he is so ill at ease with himself that he can’t help but feel like a
freak. Jimmy spends his life grappling with what it means to be normal as he
tries to find his place in his family, among his friends, and with his brother
Cliff. “Tanker 10” is a funny and heart-breaking story about self-acceptance in
the wake of trauma. Readers will root for Jimmy as he struggles to understand
that the key to becoming who you are is learning to get out of your own way.
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CONTACT:
Marissa Curnutte
347.574.3136
LIFELONG
BASEBALL FAN HITS HOMERUN WITH COMING-OF-AGE STORY ECHOING HIS OWN LIFE
Jonathan Curelop makes literary debut with compelling novel
‘Tanker 10’
NEW YORK – “Tanker
10,” written by Jonathan Curelop, is a compelling and timely story about the
love of baseball, and being bullied and overweight.
“Tanker 10” (published by Book Case Engine) opens in
Brockton, Mass., in 1976, where bashful and overweight 10-year-old Jimmy just
wants to read his books and toss the ball with his best friend, Ben.
Unfortunately, Jimmy is an entertaining victim for his older brother, Cliff,
and his buddies. When Jimmy tries to stand up to Cliff, the verbal abuse turns
physical and an accident sends Jimmy to the hospital with an injury that
changes the trajectory of his life.
“Tanker 10”
depicts the story of Jimmy during his pre-teen and teenage years as he
struggles to mend his physical and psychological injuries. Finding salvation
through baseball, he dedicates himself to a strict regimen, taking him from
intramurals baseball to Little League. By the time he reaches high school,
Jimmy is no longer the fat kid throwing a ball against a wall but an
up-and-coming right fielder on the freshman baseball team. Yet despite his
successful recovery, Jimmy remains ill at ease with himself. He longs for
emotional and physical intimacy and grapples with finding his place in his
family, among his friends, and with his brother, Cliff.
Curelop, a
lifelong baseball fan who was bullied as a child for being overweight, has
written a poignant fictional account of a character in search of himself. His
debut novel, “Tanker 10,” is a funny and heart-wrenching coming-of-age journey
toward self-acceptance in the wake of trauma.
Check out all the stops on the
What
Readers Are Saying About
“Tanker
10” by Jonathan Curelop
“Jonathan Curelop's portrayal of
Jimmy's suffering is frank, honest and
intimate. Tanker 10 should be required reading for parents, students, and
teachers alike. It's a story about courage, overcoming fear, and resilience.
More importantly, it's a story about the damage human beings can inflict on one
another and leaves the reader wondering what can be done to protect children
and adolescents who are perceived as flawed.”
“Baseball is a game of hits
and misses, new starts and last chances. ‘Tanker
10’ brings us back to a simpler time where learning how to talk to each other
got us to first base, but listening got us home.”
“‘Tanker 10’ is funny and sad and agonizing and awkward…in much the same
way growing up is.”
“Jonathan Curelop is
clearly a gifted writer in so many ways. He
is human, candid and extremely amusing at times. The book flows and it was
one that I simply didn't want to get to the end. But I did, and I loved it. I
look forward to the next one by Curelop.”
“Great read! I found myself
carrying ‘Tanker 10’ with me everywhere, hooked by the voice of Jimmy as he takes us through his harrowing, funny,
utterly believable life.”
“Beautifully and
sensitively written story of a young overweight boy who, as he matures,
forgives his brother and himself for seemingly unforgivable acts, without which
he would have been unable to embrace his manhood. The underpinnings of his
stability are parental love, reading and baseball. The theme of forgiveness, love and overcoming life's obstacles, is
universal. A truly wonderful read.”
“Curelop takes you through a roller-coaster ride of emotions as he
shares his thoughts and feelings dealing with some of life experiences so many
young kids deal with everyday. One minute I found myself laughing out loud and
the next minute reaching for a box of tissues. For me, the book was more than
just about bullying, baseball and relationships, it goes much deeper than
that.”
“Finally a true teen hero! In this age of overhyped teen fantasy
novels, ‘Tanker 10’ spins a classic coming of age tale through good old fashion
story telling. Curelop’s overweight, bullied teen, Jimmy, wins over daunting
physical and emotional challenges through his passion for baseball.”
In the News
Jonathan Curelop ’87 immortalizes the Rand Theater in his debut novel.
Pulled from his experiences growing up on the East Side of Brockton.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Curelop is a graduate of
the City College of New York’s Creative Writing Program. He has studied at
Gotham Writer’s Workshop and the New York Writers Workshop. His fiction and
non-fiction have appeared in various publications, including Solstice, Amarillo
Bay, Liquid Imagination, UMass Amherst Magazine, apt, Raging
Face, The Melic Review, The American Book Review and Aura.
Originally from Massachusetts, where he graduated from the University of
Massachusetts/Amherst’s Theater department, he now lives in New York City with
his wife, Pamela.
Short Stories
Q&A with Jonathan Curelop
Tell us about the title, “Tanker 10.” What does that mean?
The title comes from real life, as do
the first two chapters. My brother branded me with the nickname Tanker 10
because on my 10th birthday I received a tee shirt with the number
10 on it as a gift. It was too tight, but I was determined to lose weight and
continue to wear it until it fit properly. One day I made the mistake of
wearing the shirt in front of him and…well…Tanker 10 was born.
Jimmy is such a great character. The more you learn about
him in “Tanker 10,” the more relatable he is. Did your experiences growing up
shape the world you created for Jimmy?
Absolutely. The book is a work of
fiction (I never suffered the injury that Jimmy suffers, nor have I ever played
organized baseball on a serious level), but the fundamental elements that occur
in the book are triggered by actual events from my childhood: being bullied by
my older brother; being hospitalized for an injury in a body part that is…shall
we say…sensitive; the sudden death of a friend; being overweight; being
petrified of girls.
What role did baseball play in your life when you were
growing up?
My first memory of baseball was the
1975 World Series. Louis Tiant’s windup and delivery; Dwight Evans’s magic in
right field. Well, the whole outfield really! I’ve been hooked ever since. How
it never pushed me to actually play baseball is something that still troubles
me. I played on intramural teams and softball teams, but I never attacked it
the way I wish I had.
Bullying is a serious issue among kids and teens. How does
your book address that?
When I first started writing Tanker
10, bullying wasn’t the headline-grabbing issue that it is today. Bullying
plays a part in the novel because that’s what happened to me in real life and
is the catalyst of the novel. Jimmy is not the only character in the book who
gets bullied. Lance, a boy on the swim team, endures a horrendous experience at
the hands of his teammates. Both Jimmy and Lance overcome their taunts and
beatings to the point that their relationships with the attackers actually
improve over time. Being bullied doesn’t have to be the end of the story.
Sometimes it’s the beginning.
From
a writing perspective, I needed an event that would separate the brothers (at
least emotionally) for years. The bullying leads to the accident; the accident and
its aftermath define how the boys develop emotionally as they become men.
Is it true that you started working on “Tanker 10” back in
1989 and didn’t touch it again until 2005? What inspired you to start writing
again?
I
actually started working on it well before 1989. That was when the first (very
rough) draft was completed. When I first moved to Chicago, I spent quite a bit
of time writing letters to friends who I had known at college and were still
living in MA. After a while, though, the letters dried up as we drifted apart,
but I found that I missed writing. So I picked up a story that I had started in
college about a boy who dreamed of playing centerfield for the Boston Red Sox.
It didn’t really stick, so I thought about something else I could write about.
I had had some delicate surgery as a child, so I figured I’d write about that.
It didn’t take. So I figured I’d add some stuff about my brother, who bullied
me for being overweight. Again, I found no inspiration. I tried writing about
my childhood friend, Bobby, who was killed by a car while he was riding his
bike. Still, nothing clicked. Then I started combining all the stories and
that’s when my imagination started spinning. When I finished it, though, it
took one rejection letter from an agent responding to my query letter to
convince me the book wasn’t worth pursuing.
It took a long
time, decades, to realize that the reason I had stayed away from this story –
had let it sit in a filing cabinet – for so long was because it was so close to
my life, at least when it came to the relationship between the brothers.
Although a work of fiction, this was my story in a way that none of my other
writing had been before. Part of me feared the reaction if the book were ever
to see the light of day.
Who were some of your baseball heroes growing up?
Most are mentioned in the book: Carl
Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Dwight Evan, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice. Especially Carlton
Fisk, probably because his nickname was Pudge.
So, who do you root for these days?
Always the Red Sox. If they’re not in
it, always the underdog.
Your book seems like it will appeal to a lot of people –
baseball fans, teens, adults. Was that something you thought about while
writing?
No, I try not to think about the
reader until the very late stages. Obviously, I want a broad readership and I
want everyone who reads to really enjoy it, but finding the voice of a
character is too hard and too important to allow some editorial presence in the
back of your mind to interfere with the creative process. Asking questions
like, “Hmm, is this too old adult for a 13-year-old?” “Is it too young adult
for a 20-year-old?” I figure just write the story in the truest, simplest, most
honest way you can and hopefully it will find an audience.
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