Uncle Max
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- 6,49 €
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- 6,49 €
Publisher Description
The Summer From Hell?
Meet fourteen-year-old Dillon: a self-described nerdy band f*g in too-small clothes accessorized by a clarinet case and orthodontic headgear with a robin's-egg-blue satin strap. Fresh from the rigors of junior high school gym class and daily torment by studly jock Aaron Lewis, Dillon is in desperate need of a three-month reprieve. Alas, that isn't to be--not after his mother, Lana, stumbles across his stash of empty wine bottles and Sears catalogue pages featuring scantily clad male torsos.
Unfortunately for Dillon, Lana has recently swapped booze and overflowing cleavage for fervent devotion to the one man who can never leave her--the Lord Jesus Christ--and to the Lord's earthbound henchman, Wayne Blandings, Assistant Pastor at The Church of the Divine Redeemer. Alarmed at the diabolic evidence of Dillon's drunken, perverted nocturnal hobbies, Lana and Wayne conclude that Bible Camp is his only hope. Now, on the verge of being shipped off to the Christian barracks, Dillon needs salvation of a different kind. . .
Before you can say "halleluiah," Dillon's personal savior materializes--fabulously shirtless and smoking a French cigarette. Perpetually on the lam, Uncle Max needs a place to hang--and hide--out for awhile. But the flamboyant francophile can't seem to elude a colorful mini-entourage that includes his parole officer, Meredith; his sexy mountaineer boyfriend, Serge; and fellow con artist/antiques dealer Jane Nguyen.
Much to Dillon's amazement, loathsome Lana isn't all he has in common with the dashing family black sheep. Sprung from the proverbial closet at last, Dillon finds himself under Max's supervision for the summer. This entails Hitchcock films, Balzac novels, and a crash course in shoplifting, from which Dillon swiftly graduates to insurance fraud and art heists. Now, as Max and Jane's devoted sidekick, he's the third member of the notorious "Balzac Bunch," who specialize in befriending blue-haired, blue blooded bridge players--and then relieving them of their priceless antiques.
Too quickly, sultry July gives way to steamy August, and the heat is on in more ways than one. Now the cops are closing in, and only two things are certain: that autumn and Max's departure are imminent--and that for Dillon, nothing will ever be the same again. . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A wacky, long-lost relative instructs a nerdy Denver teenager on gay life, love, rock-climbing and larceny in Kenry's zippy second addition (after Can't Buy Me Love) to gay fiction's fluff shelf. Clarinet-playing Dillon, "an awkward, ugly, all-too-ordinary suburban adolescent," has his hands full fending off the school bully and dealing with Lana, his boozy, floozy mother. Less-than-divine Christian intervention produces a sobered-up, born-again Lana, who wants Dillon to attend Bible school at the advice of her boyfriend, Wayne, the assistant pastor at church. Dillon, however, is more interested in the men's underwear section of the Sears catalogue and the contents of Lana's wine cellar. Found drunk in band class, he's suspended. A sudden hailstorm signals the arrival of flamboyant, shifty con artist Uncle Max, fresh out of prison, followed closely by his parole officer and Serge, his rock-climbing boyfriend. Needy Dillon quickly becomes entangled in Max's shoplifting jaunts, which escalate to elaborate insurance scams and several home robberies, assisted by antiques dealer and partner-in-crime Jane Nguyen. Still, Max finds time to counsel his nephew on clothes, men and his blossoming homosexuality, and Dillon grows increasingly enamored with his uncle. Dillon's days of thievery become "almost narcotic" until a narrow escape while robbing a million-dollar mansion forces him to reconsider his life of crime. Kenry has a knack for spinning clich d, banal material into endearingly comical, featherweight entertainment. The great leap to more substantial literary terrain feels but a book or two away for this talented author. National advertising.
