Rage Is Back
A Novel
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F*** to Sleep, “a rollicking, frenetic and hilarious jaunt” (San Francisco Chronicle) and an Amazon Best Book of the Month
Raised in the shadow of two graffiti legends from New York’s “golden era” of subway bombing, Dondi Vance is less than thrilled to learn his father, Billy Rage, is back after sixteen years on the lam. But the transit cop who ruined Billy’s life and shattered his crew is running for mayor—and must be brought down. Welcome to the Great American Graffiti Novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this slick, outlandish novel by bestselling author Mansbach (Go the F**k to Sleep), 18-year-old biracial Kilroy Dondi Vance, a "lightskinned cat," is expelled from a New York City private academy for peddling hydroponic marijuana. Sixteen years earlier, in 1989, Dondi's white father, Billy Rage, a popular graffiti artist, had a violent encounter with NYPD's Vandal Squad, led by Anastacio Bracken, who caught Billy and others spray-painting in the subway and, during the pursuit, gunned down his friend Amuse. After Bracken covered up Amuse's murder, Billy went on "the sickest run," spraying graffiti accusing Bracken of killing Amuse all over the city, with Dondi's African-American mom Karen, herself a graffiti artist, hoping Billy would "stop and grieve." After Bracken was appointed the MTA's chief of security, he declared war on the "sociopath" Billy, who fled to Mexico. Now, in 2005, Dondi finds Billy back in town in bad shape after a suicide attempt and years spent in the Amazon becoming a shaman, with the help of numerous psychedelic drugs. Bracken is more powerful than ever, and a mayoral candidate, and Billy resolves to bring him down via a new graffiti campaign. Though Dondi's voice, a combination of sophistication and raw urban slang, feels at time forced, Mansbach's novel is a fun and exciting read.
