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Description edit
What would your 20-year-old self think of the 40-year-old you’ve become?
For Steve, Sophia, Dave, and Brooke, life hasn’t turned out as planned. Rather than easy fame and fortune, these four teenagers of the 1980's found young adulthood a mystifying series of dead-end jobs, failed... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
A Novel Of America's Most Disillusioned Generation
For Steve, Sophia, Dave, and Brooke, life hasn't turned out as planned. Rather than easy fame and fortune, these happy-go-lucky teenagers of the 1980's found young adulthood a mystifying series of dead-end jobs, failed relationships,... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Steve Levine: As a former talk show host and struggling author, his searing insights into life and those around him set the tone for The Bull Years. Now 39 and working in sales, he generally feels lost and alone. Has never forgotten Sophia Danton, with whom he had a torrid affair.
- Sophia Danton: Sheltered by her Catholic parents growing up, Sophia had a sexual awakening in college. Since then, however, she's never quite hit her groove, trying to remain true to both herself and her family. Now a media personality and journalist, she also remains haunted by the devastating night that broke up the close-nit group of college friends.
- Dave Miller: Steve's old college apartment-mate, Dave hoped for a career in a rock band until impregnating Jen Canton. Doing the "right thing" never turned out more wrong, as Dave and Jen's brief marriage eventually threw him both into bankruptcy and a mental institution.
- Dr. Hayley Sykes: Steve's downstairs neighbor, Hayley is an unhappy young teacher. Though contributing to Steve's "Life Project" that forms the basis of the book, Hayley's view of the world is very different from his.
- Jennifer Canton: Unwilling to become an unmarried mother, Jen's family pressures Dave Miller into marriage following her pregnancy. Hopelessly immature and self-centered, Jen is anything but an ideal wife.
- Brooke Lynn Smith: The mysterious fourth "Bull Personality," Brooke proves the linchpin to the chaotic events that drove them all in different directions.
- Sandy: Add a description of this character.
- Aaron
- Mandy Miller Erickson
- Richard
- Renia
- Mrs. Danton
- Jason
- Ted
- Amanda
- Hannah
- Elizabeth Danton
- Ed
- Mrs. Canton
- Harold Edgar Jensen
- Rachel
- Lee
- Hitler
- Kayla Meade
- Ben
- Maria
- Marauder
- Eugene
- Susan
- Dan
- Garth
- Jurgen
- Lester
- Kendy
- Bobby
- Johnny
- Henry Bilt
- Nick
- Matilda Jensen
- Mike Bacharach
- Ms. Jessica Smith
- Arnade Alphas
- Johan
- Edgar
- Angel
- Maggie
- Helen
- Henrietta
- Ethel
- Marissa
- Latisha
- Edith
- Charlie
- Wally
- Justin Reynolds
- Nicole
- Phil Stern
- Brian
- Francois
- Martin Danton
- Utley
- Amy
- Eleanor
- Jake Fisher
- Randy
- Jane
- Reyhan
- Megan
- Dr. Stanley Xander Ludwick
- Wes
- Mr. Nixon
- Griswald
- Mr. Canton
- Julie
- Bill Hassert
- Dr. Darren Barrington
- Bob
- Stephanie Reynolds
- Carrie
- Jeb Stuart Jack
- George Smith
- Eva Braun
- Lynda Carter
- Denise
- Heather
- Dr. Blanton
- Edwin
- Beth
- Jen Canton
- Liz
- Michael
- Reny
- Dr. Stan Ludwick
- Mrs. Miller
- Jensen Daniels
Quotes edit
-
“Do you ever drive around and think about all the different jobs people have that no one in their right mind would want to do?”
Steve Levine -
“I've come to realize we're all two different people. Our younger, innocent self that's inevitably mangled along the highway of life, and our tougher adult persona that evolves from the wreckage. Happiness comes from juxtaposing the two, nurturing the maimed spirit within you, welcoming it into your adult life and giving it the time and understanding you never received as a child, no matter how sane and loving your parents tried to be.”
Sophia Danton -
“When you're a college guy, all you want to do is sleep with sexy, crazy girls. The sexier, and crazier, the better. It doesn't make sense, but there it is.”
Dave Miller -
“Look, I hate when guys suggest stupid dates. No, I don't want to go to some car race. I don't even know what a 'mud flat' is, and I don't want to know. Sorry guys, playing golf or attending the antique car show isn't my idea of a good time. That's the kind of boring shit my dad did.”
Hayley Sykes -
“My parents came from a generation where happiness consisted of a simple formula. Meet some 'nice' girl or boy, get married, move to the suburbs within a 'good' school district, buy a house, pay your taxes, have kids, join the PTA, go to all the block parties, grow old, and then die. Boy, were they disappointed.”
Steve Levine -
“Don't you think at some point Starfleet would have just banned the holodecks? I mean, there must have been at least a dozen times where the holodeck 'safeties' malfunctioned, plunging the whole ship into danger from fictional characters. If I was a starship captain I would have just padlocked the whole deal and told the crew to go jerk off somewhere else.”
Dave Miller -
“I see the marriage delusion for what it is. Two people decide to get hitched because they think it will make them happy, then quickly get bored and tired of one another. A few years later they have children because well, that's what they're supposed to do, isn't it? And surely children will make them happy, right? But the kids only add pressure to an inherently faulty relationship. It all goes downhill from there.”
Steve Levine
First Sentence edit
At what point in life have you officially not made it?
Subjects edit
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