Advertisement Anything your uncle told you was truth. When you twisted Grandpa’s nose, his teeth fell forward. If you made a silly face often enough, your face would freeze that way. And “because I said so” was always reason enough to obey Mom.
Then you grew up.
Are you glad you’re not like you were when you were a kid? Or do you wish you could have some of that innocence again?
Mikal Fanon doesn’t want to go back to his childhood. For a little less than a year, he was a person he didn’t like much, and in the new novel “In the Light of You” by Nathan Singer (c.2008, Bleak House Books $24.95 hardcover/$14.95 paperback 232 pages), Mikal remembers a far-from-innocent time.
For much of his life, Mikal Fanon knew poverty, violence and hard times. His parents moved the family often, the last time to a downtrodden area mostly populated by black people. When he was younger, this was no big deal. But when he left home because he
couldn’t stand his parents and left school because he thought it was a waste, things were different.
Mikal Fanon joined the Skinheads.
He didn’t really set out for it. It was just something to do. A way to belong. A way to get rid of frustrations by slam-dancing to Racialist music, intimidating interracial couples and fighting with rival groups.
Although he refused to carry a gun, Mikal was a popular member of the group and quickly rose to “right-hand man” status. Richard, the leader of the Skins, was charismatic and everyone in the group — all of the Skinheads, in fact — loved him.
So when Richard saw a cute young co-ed at a bar and brought her home with him, Mikal wasn’t surprised. But he was a little jealous and he hated hearing Sherry and Richard in their bedroom in the middle of the night.
But that’s not all Mikal hated. Niani Shange, a beautiful black activist, kept rotating into his world, along with a scary freak of a man with cold eyes and matted dreadlocks. Jack Curry and Niani were everything Mikal detested.
And everything he wanted to become.
I have to admit that “In the Light of You” made me squirm. The racism (or “racialism,” as Singer calls it) is matter-of-fact, ever-present and unapologetic. The violence goes largely unpunished. And, other than Mikal (who sometimes shows a skewed conscience), most of the characters are creepy, not very interesting and quite unlikeable.
That aside, while there were flashes of action in this book and a few story threads that kept me reading, the ending seemed rushed and not very plausible. At the risk of giving away the ending, I thought Mikal’s “redemption” was forced and his new calling, convoluted.
This is not a terrible book, but it’s not Singer’s best, either. If you want to tackle this coming-of-age novel, give it a whirl, but I think “In the Light of You” is probably on the heavy side of so-so.
Terri Schlichenmeyer lives in the La Crosse area and reviews books as The Bookworm.
Send her messages via etcetera@lacrossetribune.com.
