The Light Years

In this vibrant memoir, artist Rush recounts his strange and colorful childhood and adolescence, from his upbringing in an affluent but turbulent New Jersey home to trying to find his place in the 1970s drug and art scene. Eccentric and with an extremely high IQ, Rush was often seen as a problem child, embarrassing his father by making paper flowers or wandering the neighborhood in a pink silk cape. Later, he overheard his father telling his mother, “The boy is a goddamn queer,” and his parents sent him to Catholic boarding school, where he was bullied and expelled a year later for kissing another boy. At home, his favorite sister, Donna, had become involved with a group of hippies who smoked pot, which she introduced to the 11-year-old Rush as a “sacrament.” It was the first time he’d found people who accepted him (“You’re one of us now,” Valentine, a dealer, told him). Thus began Chris’s journey into drug use and the blossoming American counterculture. Rush’s storytelling shines as he travels across the country and back again, searching for truth, love, UFOs in New Mexico, peace, something that feels like God, and a place to call home. This is a mesmerizing record of his journey through adolescence. (Apr.)