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Friday, October 25, 2024

A Coming-of-Age Story: Al Ortolani's BULL IN THE RING Makes it to HPPR's Radio Readers Book Club

Bull in the Ring by Al Ortolani

    As you may have heard, the celebrated Kansas poet and long-time educator Al Ortolani has written his first fiction novel, Bull in the Ring. Over the summer, this honest and edgy coming-of-age story was featured on High Plains Public Radio’s Summer Reading List. Emilie Moll talks about why everyone should meet Danny Prego, the novel’s captivating young protagonist. 


    Read the article here or listen to the audio on HPPR Radio Readers Book Club!





HPPR Radio Readers Book Club

    I’m Emilie Moll, editorial assistant for Meadowlark Press, for the High Plains Public Radio Summer Reading List. Our small, independent press specializes in stories from the Midwest, and today I'll be talking about Bull in the Ring, by Al Ortolani, a Meadowlark Book. This was Al’s first fiction novel, on which I had the honor of working as an editor.

    Bull in the Ring is the introspective, entertaining, and gritty coming of age story for anyone – from the young, reluctant reader looking for a book that says, “to hell with the rules,” to those who might feel a historical sense of familiarity when they pick up this book. In a similar vein to Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, this PG-13, lyrical novel by beloved Kansas educator and poet, Al Ortolani, takes you back to small-town Southeast Kansas in the 70s – think picking up a pack of cigarettes for Mom, drinking a cold beer before doing something stupid with your teammates, a football coach finding creative ways to discipline, Coke bottle returns, classic cars, leather boots, and definitely chickens – some are fried and some are still feathered.

    Danny Prego is unlike your typical young protagonist from Kansas. Growing up, many protagonists that I read from Kansas were from a farm or lived life on the Prairie – it never resembled my own midwestern experience. In this book, you get a look at what it’s really like to live under the geographic moniker, “Pullet County,” a location where everyone works at the local chicken factory, and which to this day is the poorest county in the State of Kansas. What struck me was how immediately charmed I was by Danny – his angst dripped from the page with every clever, sarcastic turn of phrase.

    He makes questionable choices. He resents his lot in life. And yet, to see the world through his eyes is to see living in poverty and with alcoholism for what it is. Danny shows you his wounded heart – and you can’t help but ache for him. For me, reading this book was like gaining a little brother, and feeling the emotional depth of his experiences was inevitable due to the intimate nature of its prose. I shared his pride and shame, felt his pangs of jealousy, came to understand his apathy, became a cynic in his world myself, and found myself celebrating each small victory and each strand of hope as it came.

Author Al Ortolani

    Al Ortolani approaches his first novel with the heart of a poet, and with the deft skill of a longtime author and educator in language and linguistics.

    Melissa Fite Johnson, author of Green, had this to say about the book.

    “Al Ortolani’s Bull in the Ring manages to conjure other great coming-of-age stories—think Catcher in the Rye, think The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian—while being “in a football conference all on its own.” Danny Prego is an instantly iconic protagonist, masking deep hurt and insecurity with careful bravado and one-liners, with his dad’s boots that make him taller and the dream of a letter jacket that will make him feel like someone. Bull in the Ring is a time capsule of a book that made me nostalgic for an era before I was even born.”

    Bull in the Ring is available for purchase wherever you buy books. Learn more about Bull in the Ring and other Meadowlark titles at meadowlarkbookstore.com.

    I am Emilie Moll for the High Plains Public Radio Reader’s Book Club’s Summer Reading List.



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