Description
A timely and poignant story of masculinity, addiction and grief told from the perspectives of two Jewish-American brothers coming of age. Phillip grows up in the glow of his mother’s adoration, moulded by her praise and attention into a young man who values intellect above all else. However, his introspective mind soon becomes a prison, one that distances him from the rest of the world – socially, romantically, politically – and can only be escaped using drugs and alcohol.
An outsider to the closeness shared by Phillip and their mother, elder brother Donald is shaped by the long-distance phone calls he receives from their absentee father. This father-son bond feels entirely predicated on Donald’s success on the wrestling mat, where he spends his teenage years grappling with competitors and his sense of self. After an unexpected family tragedy strikes, the brothers are pulled apart and reunited over the course of their lives, forcing them to reckon with the legacy that they’ve inherited.
A novel that is as much family saga as cultural excavation of modern masculinity, When On High asks what it means to become men in a country losing grip with what a man should be.