A.A. Freda

You don't have to enter a giveaway to get a free read, just go to your local library. They have thousands of free reads.

A.A.,
Thank you for becoming a friend on Good Reads. You have accomplished much and have a lot of good hobbies. My favorite hobby is reading.
Blessings,

The location of your mailbox shows you how far away from your house you can be in a robe before you start looking like a mental patient.

My new novel A Police Action is due out in August 2017.

Please let me know if you have any questions about my upcoming book.

Thanks for accepting.

Thanks for the friend request. : )

Thanks for the friend request! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! : )

When I wrote Goodbye Rudy Kazoody there were two questions that I wanted to answer.

The first was; how does a City, the Bronx, go from being golden and full of possibilities in 1960, to a dying, burnt out wreck, within ten years.

The second was what effect did those changes have on the lives of a group of naive teenagers in one such neighborhood.

The following is a summary of the review of my novel from Clarion one of the leading independent reviewers.

This thoughtful tribute to the Kennedy era transcends time and place to explore how key relationships—and their fallout—can force people into adulthood. At turns comedic, profound, hypersexed, imaginative, and jagged, Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody illustrates a pivotal season in its characters’ lives-K. Rigby, Clarion Review

The following is a review of my novel, which I believe captured the story well.
"Growing up as a teenager in a big city is hard for the youth of any generation, but being an immigrant from Italy growing up on the mean streets of New York City in the 1960s was a bigger challenge than most. In Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody, author A.A. Freda gives us a picture of his own life as an immigrant in the Bronx from that historic time period. This semi-autobiographical tale is strikingly heartfelt and has the ring of deep truth, which makes it difficult to put down.
Joey is an innocent kid trying to make his way in the tough world of the Bronx, and while many of his companions are also immigrants newly arrived to the Big Apple, he gravitates to Spike, his cousin, who seems to be everything that Joey admires. There is a brotherly relationship between the boys, and a believable through-line of a plot that outlines many of the heartaches of youth. The unrequited love of an older woman, the confusing bonds of brotherhood and family, and the moral fiber that begins to form and strengthen in our earliest years – all of this and so much more is explored in the pages of Freda’s novel. There are moments of prose so pure and honest that it can almost be mistaken for poetry.
Freda keeps the action moving, and like the childish heroes of this tale, readers are forced to race around and chase the endlessly winding plot. Some of the more personal, intimate and sexual scenes are not portrayed voyeuristically, but rather academically, depicted with the curiosity of a child. The portrait of the Bronx that the author paints is not so much based in the time period, but in our imagined caricatures of certain neighborhoods and individuals.
Writers like Freda, who are able to capture their own experiences honestly, and with such devastating simplicity, have talent that should be spent on nothing but writing. The accuracy of the dialogue is excellent, and a pleasure to read at a rapid clip. It can be difficult to capture the essence of youthful speech, but Freda does it well, as though he can still hear many of those conversations bouncing around in his memory.
While there are some technical issues in the writing, a solid final editing sweep and some minor corrections would raise this book from very good to great. The plot is also tragic in its own right, which shows the emotional range of the characters and allows Freda to flex his literary muscles a bit. All in all, this is a coming of age story without a particularly happy resolution. If readers push deeper into the story, there are serious ruminations on death, love, innocence and growing up. But despite the often dark tones, the book finds moments of joy, and even a few spots that will make you laugh out loud. Freda has a delicate hand and a wonderful eye for the past, making this an exceptionally memorable read for people of all ages."
4½ Stars
--
Editor, SPR
www.selfpublishingreview.com
www.kwillbooks.com

Congratulations to Chaz Palminteri for the opening on Broadway of his epic coming of age story A Bronx Tale. Mr. Palminteri and I grew up in the same Bronx neighborhood at the same time period in his story. Although, we both hung out only a few blocks from each other, I don't recall our paths ever crossing.
If you like the subject of A Bronx Tale, you may want to consider my coming of age story Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody. The action is set in the same neighborhood during the same historical decade. A slightly different take on the times depicted in Mr. Palminteri's story.

One of the many inspirations for my book Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody was the song A Pleasant Valley Sunday written by Gerri Goffin and Carole King, performed by the Monkees.

10/13/2016
Review Rating: 5 stars!
Reviewed By Arya Fomonyuy for Readers’ Favorite

Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody by A.A. Freda is powerful, lyrical, and heartwarming — but the story will break the reader’s heart more than once. Set against the backdrop of a revolutionary New York Bronx neighborhood, this mystery narrates the life of Joey, an emigrant from an Italian city, his quest for love, and his journey to solve the mystery of Rudy Kazoody, a man who might be connected to the tragic fate of a group of teenagers in the early '60s. The mystery of Rudy Kazoody will haunt the young man, become an obsession, and make him feel that he must solve it to become complete. But can he? Can he find out who this mysterious man is?

There is a lot going on in Goodbye, Rudy Kazoody and there is a lot of entertainment for those who love coming-of-age stories and mysteries. The language is wonderful, and the first person narrative is so skillfully executed that it draws readers into the story. The author combines different genres into one story that is fast-paced and utterly intriguing. The characters are carefully sculpted, reflective of the history and culture of the time. Readers will love to watch Joey, the protagonist, as he evolves from a timid young man without the courage to talk to women into a self-confident man taking control and seeking answers. I enjoyed the entertaining and plot-driven dialogues, able to bring powerful images to the minds of readers, and as I read some of them, I got clear ideas of what the characters look and feel like. A.A. Freda is, no doubt, a great narrator, and an accomplished entertainer.


I loved everything about the book, but for the cover. Please, get a better cover. This one looks so somber, so dull and the writing isn't clear. Get something more colorful, something that will immediately catch the attention of the reader. The story is just too good to be wrapped in a poor cover.

Just received a five star rating from Readers Favorite.