King injects the narrative with the topics of racism, white power and privilege, and class with increasing intensity as the teens’ stories unfold and entwine. These characters brush against one another’s lives, eventually coming together at an eye-opening Easter dinner. CanIHelpYou? works the Arby’s drive-through, discreetly serving drugs to those who know the magic words. Loretta is ringmistress of a flea circus and knows her part by heart, even when her father goes dangerously off script. Malcolm’s frequent first-class flights to Jamaica give a charmed veneer to a life otherwise dictated by his father’s cancer. The Freak flickers from location to location, always in control of her ability to exit a situation. The Shoveler’s snow shovel may give him a reputation for being strange, but it also keeps him safe from school bullies. Trauma or abuse touches most of their lives, and they each find security in a self-defined role. With a style and structure similar to I Crawl through It (2015), King’s surreal new novel tunnels through the consciousness of five unknowingly connected teens as they grapple with their identities within the context of their families and society.
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