Last Dance at the Frosty Queen
Richard Uhlig, . . Knopf, $15.99 (358pp) ISBN 978-0-375-83967-2
Raging hormones, angsty rants and reckless behavior fuel this accomplished black comedy about coming of age in middle-of-nowhere Kansas in 1988. Debut author Uhlig brings the quintessential stuck-in-Hicksville atmosphere to idiosyncratic life by drawing plenty of small-town details. Arthur Flood, the narrator, can't wait to graduate high school and leave—that is, assuming he can get past the sheriff, who has effectively blackmailed Arty into dating his daughter, the unlovely Geraldine, and she can't wait to lose her virginity and press Arty into marriage. Then there's Mrs. Kaye, Arty's high school English teacher, who has been conducting an affair with him in the back of the Floods' hearse (yes, the family business is undertaking, and it's dying, pun surely intended, thanks to aggressive competition from the new Golden Rule chain). As the residents tune in to
Reviewed on: 08/13/2007
Genre: Children's
Library Binding - 358 pages - 978-0-375-93967-9
Mass Market Paperbound - 358 pages - 978-0-440-23984-0
Open Ebook - 218 pages - 978-0-375-89172-4