Back Roads (novel)

Last updated
Back Roads
TwaniODell BackRoads.jpg
Author Tawni O'Dell
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
Publisher Viking Press/Allen Lane
Publication date
December 1999
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages338 pp (hardback edition)
ISBN 0-670-88760-9 (hardback edition) & ISBN   0-451-20234-1 (paperback edition)
OCLC 40891038
813/.54 21
LC Class PS3565.D428 B33 2000
Preceded byNone, Back Roads was Tawni's first published novel. 
Followed by Coal Run (June 2004), Sister Mine (March 2007) 

Back Roads is the 1999 novel by the American writer Tawni O'Dell, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in March 2000. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Describing her novel and characters during an interview in 2000, O'Dell said: [5]

"I didn't see it as a novel of redemption.... To me, Harley was the hero of this book. He was doing the best he could with what he had.... There'd definitely not be that riding off into the sunset kind of hope."

Plot introduction

Harley Altmyer, a nineteen-year-old, becomes the caregiver for his three sisters when his mother is jailed for killing his abusive father. Living in the coal town of Laurel Falls in backwoods Western Pennsylvania and increasingly embittered by the sudden changes in his life, he becomes obsessed with a mother of two who lives down the lane. [6]

Plot summary

While still just a teenager, Harley Altmyer suddenly becomes the head of his family's household when his mother is convicted of killing his abusive father and sent to prison, changing his future from a vision of college life that included drinking beer and chasing girls to one in which he feels trapped in a small, dead-end, coal town-life as a nineteen-year-old forced to work two minimum-wage jobs in order to care for his three younger sisters. [6]

After a chance encounter with a beautiful but depressed mother of two who lives nearby, he becomes obsessed with her even as he explores the dynamics of his dysfunctional family with the help of a court-appointed therapist and begins a journey of self-realization and healing. [6]

Film adaptation

In 2011, it was announced that a film adaptation of the book would be directed by Adrian Lyne; [7] however, the film never made it into production.

In late 2015, it was announced that Alex Pettyfer and his producing partner Craig Robinson, who set up Upturn Productions in 2015 with the intent of securing literary works that could be made into film or television, secured the rights for a film adaptation of the book. [8] The film, Back Roads went into production in March 2017, with Pettyfer also serving as its director. The film stars Pettyfer as Harley Altmyer, Jennifer Morrison as Callie Mercer, Juliette Lewis as Bonnie Altmyer, Nicola Peltz as Amber Altmyer, and Robert Patrick as Chief Mansour.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Color Purple</i> 1982 novel by Alice Walker

The Color Purple is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana, Pennsylvania</span> Borough in Pennsylvania, United States

Indiana is a borough in and the county seat of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 14,044 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Indiana, Pennsylvania micropolitan area, about 46 miles (74 km) northeast of Pittsburgh. It is a part of the greater Pittsburgh–New Castle–Weirton combined statistical area, as well as the Johnstown and Pittsburgh media markets.

<i>Pay It Forward</i> (film) 2000 American drama film by Mimi Leder

Pay It Forward is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Mimi Leder. The film is based loosely on the novel of the same name by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It is set in Las Vegas, and it chronicles 11- to 12-year-old Trevor McKinney's launch of a goodwill movement known as "pay it forward". It stars Haley Joel Osment as Trevor, Helen Hunt as his alcoholic single mother Arlene McKinney, and Kevin Spacey as his physically and emotionally scarred social studies teacher Eugene Simonet. The film was released on October 20, 2000 to mixed-to-negative reviews and was a box office disappointment, grossing $55.7 million worldwide against a $40 million budget.

Adrian Lyne is an English film director. In the mid 1970s, he directed television commercials for DIM Lingerie (France).

<i>Lolita</i> (1997 film) 1997 film by Adrian Lyne

Lolita is a 1997 drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Stephen Schiff. It is the second screen adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel of the same name and stars Jeremy Irons as Humbert Humbert and Dominique Swain as Dolores "Lolita" Haze, with supporting roles by Melanie Griffith as Charlotte Haze and Frank Langella as Clare Quilty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Pettyfer</span> British actor and model (born 1990)

Alexander Richard Pettyfer is a British actor and model. He appeared in school plays and on television before being cast as Alex Rider, the main character in the 2006 film version of Stormbreaker. Pettyfer was nominated for a Young Artist Award and an Empire Award for his role.

<i>We Were the Mulvaneys</i> 1996 novel by Joyce Carol Oates

We Were the Mulvaneys is a novel written by Joyce Carol Oates, and was published in 1996. We Were the Mulvaneys was featured in Oprah's Book Club in January 2001.

<i>I, Tina</i> 1986 autobiography by Tina Turner

I, Tina: My Life Story is a 1986 autobiography by Tina Turner, co-written by MTV news correspondent and music critic Kurt Loder. It was published by William Morrow and Company, and was reissued by Dey Street Books in 2010.

<i>The Road</i> 2006 novel by Cormac McCarthy

The Road is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed industrial civilization and almost all life. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Rider (character)</span> Character of Alex Rider novel

Alexander "Alex" Rider is a title character and the protagonist of the Alex Rider novel series by British author Anthony Horowitz. He has also been featured in three short stories written by Horowitz based in the same canon as the series; Secret Weapon, Christmas at Gunpoint and Incident in Nice.

Tawni O'Dell is an American novelist. Her first published novel, Back Roads, was selected by Oprah Winfrey for Oprah's Book Club in March 2000.

<i>Third and Indiana</i> Novel by Steve Lopez

Third and Indiana is a novel written by Steve Lopez about the experiences of several people connected to 14-year-old Gabriel Santoro, while living in the dangerous gang-controlled streets of the Badlands section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The novel gave notoriety to Third Street and Indiana Avenue, a real-life intersection in the Fairhill area known for the prevalence of drug dealers. The first printing had 50,000 copies printed. Published in 1994, it was Lopez's first novel.

<i>Rogers Version</i>

Roger's Version is a 1986 novel by American writer John Updike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oprah Winfrey</span> American talk show host, actress, producer, and author (born 1954)

Oprah Gail Winfrey, also known mononymously as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century and was once the world's only black billionaire. By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world.

<i>Waking the Dead</i> (novel) Novel by Scott Spencer

Waking the Dead is a 1986 novel by Scott Spencer. The book, Spencer's fourth, was adapted in 2000 into a film of the same name, starring Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly.

<i>Before Women Had Wings</i> 1997 American TV series or program

Before Women Had Wings is a 1997 American drama television film directed by Lloyd Kramer and written by Connie May Fowler, based on her 1996 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Barkin, Oprah Winfrey, Tina Majorino, Julia Stiles, Burt Young, and John Savage. In the film, set in 1960s Tampa, Florida, a woman whose abusive husband had committed suicide begins violently abusing her two daughters. It is only then that a kindly woman becomes good friends with her youngest daughter and helps the daughter escape her tortured life.

Back Roads may refer to:

<i>Amy and Isabelle</i> 1998 debut novel by the American author Elizabeth Strout

Amy and Isabelle, also stylized as Amy & Isabelle, is the 1998 debut novel by the American author Elizabeth Strout. The novel was first published in hardback on December 29, 1998 through Random House and is set in the fictional town of Shirley Falls, a location that Strout would revisit in her 2013 novel The Burgess Boys. Strout would also revisit the character of Isabelle in her 2019 short story cycle Olive, Again.

<i>Back Roads</i> (2018 film) 2018 American film

Back Roads is a 2018 American drama film directed by Alex Pettyfer in his directorial debut. The screenplay by Tawni O'Dell and Adrian Lyne was adapted from O'Dell's bestselling novel of the same name. Starring Alex Pettyfer, Jennifer Morrison, Nicola Peltz, Robert Patrick and Juliette Lewis, the film centers on a young man living in the Pennsylvania backwoods who must care for his three younger sisters after his mother is arrested for murdering his father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeanine Cummins</span> American author

Jeanine Cummins is an American author of Irish and Puerto Rican heritage. She has written four books: a memoir titled A Rip in Heaven and three novels, The Outside Boy,The Crooked Branch, and American Dirt.American Dirt was a notable success, selling over 3 million copies in 37 languages. However, it also gained controversy within the American literary community for its perceived cultural exploitation.

References

  1. Brink, Julie A. "Six unpublished novels later, Tawni O'Dell hits pay dirt with Oprah book club." State College, Pennsylvania: Centre Daily Times, September 17, 2000, p. C3 (subscription required).
  2. Cloonan, Patrick. "Tawni O'Dell: Indiana High School grad strikes publishing gold." Indiana, Pennsylvania: The Indiana Gazette, July 3, 2019.
  3. Hoover, Bob. "Coming home gives Tawni O'Dell a new lease on writing." Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 6, 2004, p. E-5 (subscription required).
  4. Weeks, Linton. "High roads and back roads." Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: The Ottawa Citizen, June 24, 2000, p. E10 (subscription required).
  5. Brink, "Six unpublished novels later, Tawni O'Dell hits pay dirt with Oprah book club," Centre Daily Times, September 17, 2000.
  6. 1 2 3 "Back Roads." Publishers Weekly, November 29, 1999.
  7. Hubschman, Daniel (February 10, 2011). "Adrian Lyne returns to film with 'Back Roads'". Hollywood.com. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  8. Mitchell, Robert (April 14, 2017). "Alex Pettyfer to Make Directorial Debut With 'Back Roads' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved April 18, 2017.