Excellent book about a young boy growing up with a dead-beat dad and a possessive, over-bearing and over-protective mother. Harold lives in a rough neighborhood and has no true knowledge of the ways of the world because his mother has sheltered him from it--much to Harry's detriment. He's socially awkward, naive, and has developed a split personality to deal with things when they are too tough or beyond Harry's understanding. He loves his mother, is loyal to his friends and has a knack for beating people up, which gets him in with the local mob. Throughout the book, Harold struggles with both loving and hating being the main focus of his mother's life, yearning for and yet fearing his father, wanting to fit in with his friends, becoming a man independent from his mother, and falling in love.

It's a great read and the movie adaptation starring Norman Reedus and Debbie Harry was surprisingly a decent representation of the novel. ( )