First published 2005
Dylan Ebdus lives in 1970s Brooklyn where every choice carries weight. Whether he talks to the kid next to him or hands over his lunch money could spark social disaster. His friendship with neighbor Mingus Rude complicates things further because Dylan is white and Mingus is black. The boys bond over comic book heroes and dream of having superpowers themselves. Their obsession with superhero fantasies shapes how they see their world and their place in it. As they grow up, America changes around them. The politically charged atmosphere of the 1970s gives way to the indifferent 1990s, when nobody seems to care about the issues that once mattered so much. But Dylan and Mingus discover that having actual superpowers would not solve their problems. Instead, extraordinary abilities would likely make their lives messier and more complicated than ever.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, african-american, coming-of-age, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Brooklyn
Period: 1970s, 1990s
528 pages · Paperback · Faber and Faber