All Out: A Father and Son Confront the Hard Truths That Made Them Better Men
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 7, 2017 7:39 PM | Last Updated: March 7, 2017
Kevin Newman and Alex Newman
Kevin Newman wanted to be a family man in an era when fathers are expected to be more engaged than ever before; he also wanted to reach the top of a profession that demands 24/7 commitment. The higher he climbed, the more irreconcilable those aspirations seemed. Meanwhile, his artistic, solitary son, Alex, was wrestling with his own competing ambitions: to be the sporty, popular son his dad wanted, and to be true to himself.
Kevin reached the summit of American network television, becoming co-host of Good Morning America — where he was instructed to develop a "quarterback" persona and change his accent, mannerisms, personality, hairstyle and everything else that made him Kevin. At the same time, Alex was realizing he was gay, but frantically trying to mask and change that fact. Both felt like failures and hungered for one another's approval, but didn't know how to bridge their differences. A decade later, they retrace their steps (and missteps) to reinventing their relationship and becoming one another's role models for what it means to be a man in our culture. (From Random House Canada)
From the book
When he was a teenager, Alex and I loved one another, but we were mysteries to one another, too. I'd never been the active-duty parent who knew where his favourite T-shirt was, when the math homework was due, and why he hated John G.'s guts. The stuff of daily life provides connective tissue; Cathy, as a full-time, at-home mother, has a bond with Alex that was richer, more intimate and nuanced than mine. They knew one another inside out. I tended to swoop in to solve problems and mete out punishments, so there was a black-and-white nature to our interactions. It was more difficult for me to know, and be known by, him.
From All Out by Kevin Newman and Alex Newman ©2015. Published by Random House Canada.