A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip: A Memoir of Seventh Grade

Novelist Brockmeier (The Illumination) experiments with the memoir form as he guides readers through the 12th year of his life in this finely tuned portrait of a tween growing up in suburban Little Rock, Ark. in 1980s. Narrated in the third person, Brockmeier reflects on the sensitive kid he once was: "the kid who crie[d] too easily" and was constantly concerned with social norms, Kevin cannot help but draw attention to himself. When Kevin is blindsided by former friends who become his teasing tormentors, he escapes into a science fiction-esque alternate universe. The confusion and anguish of the scenario is captured astutely by Brockmeier, who describes the school setting vividly with its "lockers crashing shut like cymbals," "Levis, Izods and bomber jackets," and "vending machines with their coils of chips and candy." This genre-spanning work is short on plot but bursting with eloquence, a striking slice of life aching with nostalgia. Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Apr.)