In his series novels about Tyler and Lymie, and in his novel
Flyers, featuring an older protagonist, fifteen-year-old Gabe Riley, Hayes examines the complexity of loyalties, friendships, and dreams that fuel the engine of adolescence. His novels, more picaresque adventures than linear plot-driven works, employ comedy in large doses and hit close to the bone on issues such as adult hypocrisy, single-parenting, male virtues, and even alcoholism--though Hayes rejects the idea of problem novels. "My books start with characters," he told
AAYA, "and of course if you have real characters you're going to have problems. But I don't write books, like some TV shows, that 'feature' a disease. For me that's putting the cart before the horse." Hayes has managed to make a success out of not following the rules in his fiction, just as many of his protagonists do in their lives. Loosely formed and organic in structure, Hayes's novels are held together more by the energy of characterization and dialogue than by a tightly woven plot.
Life on the Farm
Hayes grew up outside Troy, New York, on a dairy farm.
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