cover image RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL: A Memoir of a Boy Possessed

RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL: A Memoir of a Boy Possessed

Steve Kissing, . . Crossroad, $22.95 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-8245-2105-9

This bizarre and humorous memoir follows the saga of Kissing, a boy convinced he is possessed by the devil. Beginning in fifth grade, Kissing started having spells—lasting only a minute or two—when he would suddenly hallucinate and hear strange voices. "The pencil holder of my teacher's desk became a shovel; the film strip machine, a tuba; the corner coat rack, a big strip of bacon," he recounts. Meanwhile, he heard garbled voices, "like when someone tries to talk with a mouthful of potato chips." Alarmed by his first episode, he wracked his brain for a possible cause: Could it be the electrical shock he'd gotten while exploring the innards of an alarm clock? It was not until he had his next episode during Catholic mass—with the Blessed Virgin turning into a refrigerator and the pastor becoming Abraham Lincoln—that he convinced himself that Satan was to blame. What makes this a compelling story is that readers live inside the mind of a Catholic over-achiever who is desperately trying to hide his unusual relationship with Satan. The memoir's highest moments of comedy and tragedy resonate in Kissing's attempts to wrestle with his double life; not even his parents knew. Kissing was 16 years old before he discovered that his hallucinations were linked to a physical problem. Although the memoir is occasionally immature, it is also hilarious, sad and fully absorbing. (May)

Correction: The author of the Q&A with Elaine Pagels (Religion Forecasts, April 14) is Henry Carrigan.