num_pages: 285
description: In this bewitching debut novel a sensitive teen newly arrived in Alabama falls in love questions his faith and navigates a strange power. While his German parents dont know what to make of a South pining for the past shy Max thrives in the thick heat. Taken in by the football team he learns how to catch a spiraling ball how to point a gun and how to hide his innermost secrets.Max already expects some of the raucous behavior of his new American friendslike their insatiable hunger for the fried and cheesy and their locker room talk about girls. But he doesnt expect the comraderyor how quickly he would be welcomed into their world of basement beer drinking. In his new canvas pants and thickening muscles Max feels like hes playing dress-up. That is until he meets Pan the school witch in Physics class: Pan in his all black. Pan with his goth choker and the gel that made his hair go straight up. Suddenly Max feels seen and the pair embarks on a consuming relationship: Max tells Pan about his supernatural powers and Pan tells Max about the snake poison initiations of the local church. The boys however arent sure whose past is darker and what is more frighteningtheir true selves or staying true in Alabama.Writing in verdant and visceral prose that builds to a shocking conclusion Genevieve Hudson brilliantly reinvents the Southern Gothic mapping queer love in a land where God guns and football are king (Leni Zumas author of Red Clocks). Boys of Alabama becomes a nuanced portrait of masculinity religion immigration and the adolescent pressures that require total conformity.
language: English
title: Boys of Alabama
publisher: Liveright