Genevieve Hudson

Read all in one go on a long plane ride. Headache inducing. But also quite good.

"Atmospheric" is an adjective that nine times out of ten is so miserably misapplied you would think that reviewers were raised on a diet of pure Hemingway with nary an adverb to be found. But this is the real atmospheric deal. Hudson does a superb job capturing the feeling of the American south -- physically and psychically -- and that feeling is what drives this story, rather than the plot or even necessarily the characters. It's hazy, un-straighforward, very very humid.

Also impressive: Hudson's ability to criticize if not condemn religion and masculinity culture without discounting their appeal or resorting to didactic heavy-handedness. Narrator Max is at times uncomfortably aware of how morally untenable his new friends are, how conditional their friendship with him is, but works hard to suppress this awareness because, at the end of the day, they make him feel good, simple as. Other characters are similarly complex, sometimes admirable and sometimes despicable, off-putting, just plain annoying. I didn't particularly like any of them, but I never got the sense that were cardboard cut-outs, piloted not by their own motivations but the authors.

The magical elements were not so well executed. Max is the only character who is explicitly shone to have supernatural patterns, while other magical elements are depicted as either ambiguous or false, and nothing much comes of his power except as a source of connection (with love interest Pan) or of conflict (with literally everyone else). As a sort of metaphor for or externalization of Max's relationship with his sexuality, it mostly works, but it's underutilized and a little jarring vis a vis the surface story.

The only real issue I have with the story, and the reason I don't think it deserves five stars, is that the ending is very sudden to the point it feels unearned, a little unsophisticated, like a losing chess-player who flips the board rather than admit defeat. After two hundred pages of vacillation Max makes what we're meant to understand as the wrong choice, but when push comes to shove he doesn't have to pay as much for it as he thinks he will. So what's the point, then? It's unsatisfying, thematically not very coherent, less a moment of grace than a revelation that's it's been a shaggy dog story the whole time. So anti-climactic it's surprising.… (more)

This book features a quadruple-whammy of otherness. The struggle with sexual identity, supernatural powers, immigrant status and atheism all combine to make the main character "a stranger in a strange land," trapped in a small Alabama town. Utilizing this otherness in stark contrast to the prevailing milieu makes for an interesting read and a blistering critique of those that would smother the uniqueness of youth. Most troubling is its portrayal of the destructive power our society risks exacting in its demand that we fit it.

Warning - SPOILER ALERT.

In the final scene, the relentless ache to conform is pitted against that which would otherwise heal. There is a glimmer of hope: Perhaps in reaching out we can validate our resilience and our humanity. Perhaps, as Faulkner suggests, we can not only endure but prevail. An important book.… (more)

Literary fiction about a teenaged boy from Germany who moves with his parents to Alabama because of his father's job. He then gets wrapped up in the world of the other boys at his private school and seduced by the charm (?) of a religious fanatic running for office. Threads of sexual questioning and homophobia run throughout the story. I was perplexed by this novel, which I never really found any footing with. And the end was ambiguous and deeply unsatisfying in a way I associate strongly with certain kinds of literary fiction and generally find annoying at best.… (more)

Max and his family have relocated from Germany to Alabama and Max is feeling like a fish out of water but is determined to somehow fit in with his overly religious school. Football seems to be the thing that will do it but not because he has any talent for it…but because he can run fast enough to keep from being killed on the field. Max has another gift…he touches dead animals or withered plants and they return to life. Max thinks of it as a curse. It works on animals, bugs…everything he’s ever dared to touch… but the question remains…will it work on dead people? That is a major part of the story’s suspense….and you just wait for it happen. Of course there are pitfalls to this “gift”…migraines… cravings for gobs of sugar as well as fear and guilt. Max is tempted to give it a try on people as he is troubled by his love for his dead classmate, Nils. He is also drawn to Pan, a witchy boy who wears dresses and believes in auras and incantations. Pan is the only person who knows about Max’s power…and he desperately wants Max to try it out…and eventually will demand it of Max as an onerous test of loyalty. I guess good descriptive words for this book would be brutal, potent, sad and passionate. The story is a little too heavy on the religious theme... but then the setting is the deep south and a boys school run by one of the local churches… (more)