Bad Kid: A Memoir

In this engaging memoir, Moth host and performer Crabb makes it quite clear that for a gay, awkward teenager in the 1980s, there were better places to be than South Texas. As he entered puberty, Crabb was forced to admit to himself that he wanted Marky Mark, not Madonna, and that he had to keep this information from the world. Crabb attempted to survive high school through invisibility, but his secret crush became a best friend, and he was introduced to eyeliner, drugs, and the San Antonio underworld. Soon he was struggling to stay awake in class after yet another LSD all-nighter. When his guidance counselor called him out in front of his father for lying, skipping school, and being gay, Crabb moved to another town where he lived with his mother and eventually found the courage to accept himself. Crabb presents this hormone-fueled roller-coaster ride with humor and sensitivity, and draws moving portraits of the people who provided him with a community. His evocation of postpunk bands, brutal skinheads, and Goth attire will resonate with those who experienced the era, while his sexual anguish and fumblings are all too universal. Crabb's exploration of the intensity, and necessity, of teen friendships especially resonates. (May)