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Brendan is a 35 year old gay man who grew up in an emotionally distant foster home, preoccupied with books about adventurous souls, who is dissatified with his life and his lack of progress in a series of dead-end low-paying jobs. When his brother Ian (who recently got out of prison for embezzling funds from senior citizens) and Ian's girlfriend offers to let him in a plot to rob money donated to a right-wing Christian lobbying organization, it appeals to Brendan on many levels, and he signs on to infiltrate the group as a trusted volunteer, which would put him in a position to handle the donations that could be stolen. While waiting for the scam to go down, he looks up Marvin, an older gay man previously partnered with a cellmate of Ian's, but rejects the man's sexual advances, only to end up posing as the former boyfriend and becoming his caregiver after Marvin suffers a stroke. Complicating his life further, Brendan hits it off with Sean, a gay neighbor of Marvin's with whom he can see the growth of a loving relationship, but which is doomed from the start because of the lies and deceptions Brendan used to set up the theft.

In a novel very different from his earlier "The Year of Ice," Malloy portrays the multi-layered and interesting complexities of a character who is far from a simple opportunist. He also makes subtle comments about what our society produces, in the guises of Marvin, Brendan's brother Ian and other supporting characters. Extremely well-written and unflinchingly gritty in its portrayals, with occasional bursts of wit and pathos, this is perhaps not an easy novel to read, but well worth the effort.

After reading Malloy's first novel, The Year of Ice: A Novel, I couldn't wait for his second. Unfortunately, while "Brendan Wolf" still captures Malloy's fine grasp of the English language, it doesn't contain the wit, liveliness, dialogue, or well-developed characters like "The Year of Ice."

Nevertheless, it was an interesting story about people with faults and I looked forward to seeing where Malloy was taking each of them. Some had criminal backgrounds, some were used to "getting by" by any means necessary, and some were users. But they were real. None of them was especially likeable, but they were real, and I was pleased with each of their outcomes.

Brendan Wolf isn't the main character's real name. Brendan didn't want to be the person that he was any longer; it was time for a new phase of his life. He assumed a new name like his hero, Alexander Supertramp (AKA Christopher McCandless) from his favorite book, Into the Wild. (As a side note, the author did inspire me to go check out the movie Into the Wild that was, ironically, playing in theaters as I was reading the book.)

While Brendan isn't a saint by any means, we do feel a bit of sympathy toward him. He's messed up because of his upbringing, having been abandoned by his real parents and separated from his siblings. From there, he bounced around from foster home to foster home. Then, as he grows older, he has to deal with the foster parents' disapproval of his homosexuality.

I like the way that Malloy approached Brendan's sexuality. It wasn't "in your face." He didn't make it a main focus of the book. Brendan was gay, it was accepted, but it wasn't all he was. Brendan was a character who just happens to be gay.

All in all, while "Brendan Wolf" wasn't Malloy's best, it was a good read. By the end of the book, we have followed a group of characters through different events and everything is resolved in one way or another. The author ties up all loose ends. I look forward to Malloy's next book which will hopefully recapture the exciting spirit of "The Year of Ice."

Tricky novel, this. At the surface, the central character is a loser who has loser connections with other losers, so it's easy to dismiss Wolf and decry the novel's morbidness. Many readers will be disappointed because there is no big moment of redemption or enlightment; at the close, Wolf remains a loser without much hope, despite plot movements and development. Therein is the easily missed "lesson" of the novel; that sometimes it's just good enough to get by, sometimes trudging through is, by itself, a triumph. Malloy is a talented writer with self-control. He develops the charaters, fuels the plot foward, yet avoids the cutesy-feel-good denouement. Many an author would have given in to the temptation to "rescue" their character. Malloy lets Wolf fade out b/c the truth is, in real life, sometimes losers just never stop being losers, and that's ok.

I have to begin with this: I saw so much of myself in Brendan... all the loneliness and lack of direction. It's amazing how as I read each chapter I could see a bit of myself in them. This is a great read. I really wanted everything to workout for him if only because I felt such hope... for Brendan. I highly recommend this book to everyone that feels that hopelessness every now and again. It will make you think twice about your choices. Excellent work!