Finnie Walsh: A Novel

By Steven Galloway

Book Overview

Steven Galloway's first novel, an incredible coming of age story, now revised and available in trade paperback from Vintage Canada.

Finnie Walsh is a captivating, Irving-esque story of family, friendship, redemption, and legend.

Paul Woodward lives in Portsmouth, a quiet northern mill-town. Born the day Paul Henderson planted the puck between the pipes against the Soviet Union to win the 1972 Super Series, Paul has no choice about playing hockey. His best friend Finnie Walsh is stinking rich. He is also fellow hockey fanatic and the only good kid in a long line of delinquent brothers. Paul's father works the nightshift at the local mill, owned by Finnie's father. One fateful day the boys noisily prepare for their first season of hockey in the Woodward driveway, keeping Paul's father awake when he should be sleeping. This triggers a chain of world-altering events. Galloway proves that childhood innocence, while not exactly bliss, can be amusing and more than mildly instructional. This is the book John Irving would have written if he understood hockey as well as wrestling. Finnie Walsh, like the fabled games before NHL expansion, is a story about greatness and legend. But it's also a heartsong to family, friendship, and atonement.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030739865X
• ISBN13: 9780307398659
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Vintage Books Canada
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Finnie Walsh is Amazing!

Finnie Walsh in my opinion was an eye opening experience it is by far the best book I have ever read and everything about it made me feel more interested. There is not a single bad thing I could say about it! The characters alone made the book, how you understood how they felt at diferent times, how they were perfectly described! This book made me laugh, cry and made me feel emotions that have never occured before in my mind! I couldn't put it down and I will continue to read it over and over again because everytime I am sure that I will recieve more and more happiness sadness and information from the text! I am getting it for everyone for Christmas and I hope that everyone will enjoy this story as much as I did!

Wonderful Story!

I picked up this book mainly because of my job working with high school teachers and students and ended up reading parts of it out loud to my own kids during a car trip. My 12 year old son was hooked, he read the book, then I finished it. It was amazing to have that 'secret book conversation' with my son. I/we both loved the book.

A Spanky Read!

Are you looking for a spanky good read? Look no further than this sly little Canadian book about a couple of kids living in the middle of the province of British Columbia who play hockey. This book is a swift, delicious thing that has a devilish way of not letting you free of it. You'll want to read it until you arrive at the last page--it is, in the classical sense of the hyphenated word, a "page-turner". I loved it. It was touching, heartfelt, and uncommon. A novel with an elegant plot, developed synchronously with its characters' motivations. Galloway is a secret talent ready to explode on the scene.

Finally, a good read from Canada!

I read this novel in two days, I couldn't put it down. A week later I went out and bought ten copies as Christmas gifts! The reports back after Christmas were all the same -- people were reading it in one or two sittings! Wives passed it on to their husbands and the husbands loved it, too! Book groups started ordering it. People fell in love with the characters. One friend said she had forgotten how much fun it could be to read a novel -- she'd been reading so much heavy, dark stuff. Don't be put off by the hockey content -- this really is a book for everyone. Galloway handles plot and characters with skill and precision, creates a vivid and engaging world and characters that are funny and quirky and live in your mind, even after you close the book. If I had to compare Galloway to another writer, I'd say he's the Canadian John Irving.

He shoots, he scores!

A fantastic debut! Full of rich storytelling and endearing characters, I could not put this book down. Finnie Walsh is about so much more than hockey--a universal tale of growing up in a small town. Hurry up, Mr. Galloway, can't wait to read what you dish up next!