cover image Talking God's Radio Show

Talking God's Radio Show

John High, . . Spuyten Duyvil, $16 (320pp) ISBN 978-1-933132-44-0

In High's Southern gothic, Jesse Rivers, half African-American and half white, looks back over a lifetime struggle that has put him in numerous psych wards, and tells about his crucial 15th year, in 1965, when his life seemed to crack open. After his mother dies, and his best friend, Charlie Monroe, is killed by the cops, Jesse and his retarded sister, Amy, end up in "Camp Jesus," run by "Mama" Evangeline. Jesse escapes after Amy commits suicide and "Mama" tries to make him an evangelical radio announcer. In the sleazy Shakhoe district of Richmond, Va., Jesse hooks up with a fellow Camp Jesus escapee, Tyrone Christopher, to form a dance team that performs at a strip joint owned by a transvestite mob boss. Lee, Tyrone's lover, lurks in the background: murder is in the air, as is betrayal. The combination of highly wrought writing and prosaic storytelling never completely gels. Still, High imparts a strong sense of the price Jesse pays for psychic survival. (Feb.)