SLAPBOXING WITH JESUS
Twelve original and interconnected stories in the traditions of Junot Díaz and Sherman Alexie, Victor LaValle’s astonishing, violent, and funny debut offers harrowing glimpses at the vulnerable lives of young people who struggle not only to come of age, but to survive the city streets. In “Ancient History,” two best friends graduating from high school fight to be the one to leave first for a better world; each one wants to be the fortunate son. In “Pops,” an African-American boy meets his father, a white cop from Connecticut, and tries not to care. And in “Kids on Colden Street,” a boy is momentarily uplifted by the arrival of a younger sister only to discover that brutality leads only to brutality in the natural order of things. Written with raw candor, grit, and a cautious heart, Slapboxing with Jesus introduces an exciting and bold new craftsman of contemporary fiction. LaValle’s voices echo long after their stories are told.
Short Stories
THE ECSTATIC
Anthony James weighs 315 pounds, is possibly schizophrenic, and he’s just been kicked out of college. He’s rescued by his mother, sister, and grandmother, but they may not be altogether sane themselves. Living in the basement of their home in Queens, New York, Anthony is armed with nothing but wicked sarcasm and a few well-cut suits. He intends to make horror movies but takes the jobs he can handle, cleaning homes and factories, and keeps crossing paths with a Japanese political prisoner, a mysterious loan shark named Ishkabibble, and packs of feral dogs. When his invincible thirteen-year-old sister enters yet another beauty pageant—this one for virgins—the combustible Jameses pile into their car and head South for the competition. Will Anthony’s family stick together or explode? With electrifying prose, LaValle ushers us into four troubled but very funny lives.
Fiction
VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES
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