Wanderers

Written by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan

Narrated by Laura Knight Keating

The Emmy Award nominee and Edgar Award-winning duo return readers to the postapocalyptic teen world, the Wasteland, in this thrilling sequel. Bestselling author of Criminal, Karen Slaughter, called Wasteland "a Lord of the Flies for future generations. An irresistible page-turner."

The former citizens of Prin are running out of time. The Source has been destroyed, so food is scarcer than ever. Tensions are rising . . . and then an earthquake hits.

With heart-pounding adventure and suspense, the stakes are even higher for Esther, Caleb, and the rest of their clan. They're pinning all their hopes on the road . . . but what if it's the most dangerous place of all?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9780062299895

Susan Kim

Susan Kim & Laurence Klavan cowrote the graphic novels City of Spies and Brain Camp. Susan is also a five-time Emmy nominee for her work in children's television and a Writers Guild Award winner for best documentary. She wrote the stage adaptation of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, teaches writing at Goddard College, and is a blogger for the Huffington Post. When she was growing up, her family moved a lot, and the combination of being a) shy, b) the constant new kid, and c) the only Asian meant she was often picked on. In Guardians, she explores her thoughts and feelings about not just bullies but how others deal with them . . . and learn to stand up for themselves. Laurence has also written the novels The Cutting Room, The Shooting Script, and the Edgar Award-winning Mrs. White and a short-story collection, The Family Unit and Other Fantasies. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to Bed and Sofa, a musical produced by New York's Vineyard Theatre. Laurence was the baby in his family, the youngest of four brothers; even his twin brother was two minutes older. He learned that having little expected of you can be a source of power. So does Esther in Guardians: she has to finally accept being a leader of people before it's too late. She is sixteen, after all.

Reviews for Wanderers

[theampersand · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's hardly controversial to say that many Americans hold idealized views of the nineteen fifties, but Richard Price's "The Wanderers" still feels, at times, like a desperate attempt to correct parts of the historical record before they descend completely into pompadoured schmaltz. It's gritty and foul-mouthed enough to be accused of being mere exploitation, but it's also a welcome reprieve from representations of the era that don't get too far past tailfinned Caddys and doo-wop hits. Its dominant emotions, both in the domestic sphere and in the gang-patrolled streets, are fear and anger, and Price's writing, while hardly polished, often achieves a shocking immediacy that serves the material very well. While his transcription of his characters' lively, filthy talk is often very funny, the book itself is almost unrelentingly grim, particularly its heartbreaker of a an epilogue. The author seems to want to remind the reader at every turn how few resources -- both emotional and financial -- most of these kids have at their disposal. "The Wanderers" can hardly be called a psychological novel: full of hormones and violent emotion, it's characters don't seem to weigh consequences or to question the hugely imperfect lessons handed down to them by their parents. Quite frankly, it's difficult to tell many of its central characters apart, and while this was Price's first novel, that might not be entirely unintentional. The book's focus is on gang and neighborhood, not on the internal struggles of any individual. There may be some reportage going on here, too: much of the book reads like an overheard anecdote, and a lot of the (rather unbelievable) gang lore that Price includes here could be used as a visitor's guide to the rough part of town.Even so, for all its rough language and heavy subject matter, the book can't help but feel a bit nostalgic. The music -- and Price mentions dozens of songs and pop artists -- and the styles described pinpoint the book's temporal setting. It's also a novel that is, in some ways, about impermanence. The connection that the Wanderers feel with each other is real, but as events unfold, it becomes clear, even to them, that their dissolution is inevitable. Taking this a bit further, it could also be mentioned that this book's characters are also drawn largely from a population -- working class, urban-dwelling white ethnics -- who would be largely gone from New York in a decade or less, as anyone who could fled the city for the suburbs and their respective ethnic identities became mostly assimilated into monolithic American whiteness. Written a little less than fifteen years after these fictional events would have played out, I kind of wonder if the setting in which "The Wanderers" takes place already seemed impossibly distant on the day that it was published. Hardly a masterpiece, but at times brutally funny, sad, and effective. Recommended to readers seeking out literary thrills, tales of doomed youth, and antidotes to "Grease," "West Side Story" and Sha Na Na.

[lorihopkins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! I did not know it was part of a trilogy when I picked it up at the local used bookstore. I was still able to follow the plot even with it being part 2 of the series. I could not put it down and finished it in about 6 hours while waiting at the hospital with my husband.

[brandileigh2003 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to read the Wanderers because I enjoyed the first book and wanted to see what became of the village and especially of Ester and Caleb. I didn't remember a whole lot about it but the beginning does a good job of a short summary without feeling the info dump weight. We quickly got a handle on the characters again and their relation and thoughts about one another. One thing that still bugs me but I got used to was the weird perspective, I guess shifting third person but it seems to focus in a lot and then all of the sudden jump to another person with little to no warning or transition. I liked Caleb in this one, he is the strong type who leads and really thinks about other people and the well being but especially his relationship with Ester. Their little family including the baby from his deceased first wife (they don't live past teen years from something in the water or atmosphere, so family life happens early in this world set-up). Some of the same characters--Joseph and Sakar are in this one as well and we get more of a sense of their character, history and their attachment to our strong, compassionate Ester. She went through so many changes, losses and horrors but she still thinks of others and people look up to her. We also get some new secondary characters or get a character from the first and shine a new light on them where you can't help but admire. There was a lot going on in the romance department and not only for Ester, there was relationships brewing that I would have never speculated and others that were sweet in a way and then almost wrong in others. But all of this was kind of put on the back burner during the day, but when they stop on their journey for the night, they blossom. The bad guys were pretty cruel and I wanted to smack them in the usual fashion, but let me say that they get what's coming to them all in their own ways. There are some betrayals and schemes that they walk into because they don't have much of a choice. But as far as who works against them, Mundreel really took me by surprise but I almost pitied the kids until they took unnecessary measures. There were a few plot developments that I saw coming and almost hoped for but then again its so bittersweet that its hard even in its good news sense. There were some twists that took me by surprise and wasn't at all what I was thinking the story was going to go, but I can also see how it is a good stage for the next book to wrap up some things that are still not tied up. Also, thank goodness, we do get some insight on what happened to the world and water. It actually seems in the realm of possibility which really makes a chill go down my spine. Thanks to Joseph and his inquisitive nature that not only gives a point of reference and someone that isn't the normal in this world but shows Ester's protective nature and that she sees past things that others can't. Which started at a young age with her friendship with Skar. Speaking of whom, I loved how she was developed in this one, and I liked "getting into her head" as much as you can with the shifting narrative, but I loved the growth in her and the confidence that she gains in this book. This book was fast paced and kept my attention but I did feel like a dystopian Game of Thrones where people that I like are killed off, and I could scream. There are a few people that should be safe and then others that we want to be, but Kim and Klavan didn't hold things back. I can see how it helped them in the future to make certain alliances and that I couldn't help but like some of the characters that got more of a feature in romantics as a secondary character because of the deaths. The ending was good but I feel like a lot about Mundreel was rushed and not very well elaborated on, but I do know that I want to read the book and see what happens with the new struggle of power, and what Ester will do next for her friends, the strays they picked up along the way, and working towards not only survival but a better quality of life. Bottom Line: Fast paced account of the group of Prin citizens looking for a better life.

[ablueidol · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Wanderers by Richard Price was a first novel written in 1974 and draws on his teenage years around the Bronx street gangs of the early 60’s. It became a successful movie in 1979, which like the book went on to be a cult classic. Richard Price went on to write many other street crime stories such as Clockers and many successful screenplays as in The Colour of Money..The story follows the last months of members of a teenage street gang called The Wanderers. These are an all-Italian gang comprising of 27 members. They wear bright yellow/brown jackets and blue jeans. Their leader, Richie, is dating Despie Galasso, the daughter of an infamous mobster, so The Wanderers have connections We also get involved with the fights and alliance of the other local gangs such as•The Fordham Baldies: As their name suggests, they are all bald, reportedly to prevent their hair from getting in their eyes during a fight. •The Del Bombers: The toughest all-black gang in the Bronx. •Ducky Boys: An all-Irish gang , all short- 5'6" and under and the most vicious•The Wongs: An Chinese gang, all with the last name of "Wong" and highly skilled in Jiu-JitsuBut it’s more then being in a gang as we explore their relationships, schools, neighbourhoods and often dysfunctional families. Its not a book for the politically correct or maiden aunts, you get unfiltered real street language and behaviour and no moral judgements by the author. The bad aren’t punished and the good rewarded, its left messy as in real life. The story whilst a novel is structured like a series of inter connected short stories so characters pop in and out of the set events as we move through the lives of the gang members. I should add apart from the high energy dialogue many of the scenes are funny,( ask me about the lasso, stone and what was tied to the rope when thrown over a bridge!) sad and even chilling. Well worth reading

[punkypower · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Started the book this morning and finished it this afternoon. It is about a gang in 1960s Brooklyn. After reading this and the Chocolate War books, it makes me realize that "real" characters such as Archie Costello and Dougie Rizzo scare the hell out of me way more than Pennywise and other horror characters ever could.