The Wanderers
Richard Price
 Richie Gennaro is the 17-year-old leader of the Wanderers, an Italo-American youth gang in the Bronx in 1962. His girlfriend is Denise Rizzo. Richie’s friends in the Wanderers are Joey Capra, Buddy Borsalino, Eugene Caputo and Perry LaGuardia. At the beginning of the book a broad range of events and characters describe the zeitgeist. In addition to the protagonists many characters appear only once. At first “gang-business” is on focus: rivalry with other gangs in the neighborhood who come from different cultural and/or ethnical backgrounds. This rivalry is determined by prejudice and machismo. But there is also competition in terms of sports such as football and bowling. And above all it’s about being cool and to have sex for the first time. But it’s a cumbersome road. Toward the end of the book the events focus more and more on the protagonists and their problems and challenges of growing up – every one in his own way. Eugene joins the marines after watching, without interfering, his girlfriend, Nina, being raped. Perry’s father had died several years ago. Now his mother dies and suddenly he is on his own. Living with his aunt in Trenton, New Jersey, becomes unbearable for him, so he decides to go to Boston and sail to sea. After the situation escalates Joey flees from his violent father and joins Perry. And Buddy impregnates his girlfriend, Despie, on their very first date and has to face the challenges of a 17-year-old husband and father. The serious side of life is catching up, the gang is falling apart and Richie is staying behind.