Slapboxing with Jesus is a collection of twelve interconnected short stories by Victor LaValle. The collection is full of humor, violence, and astonishing moments while exploring the lives of vulnerable youths living at the mercy of a city that wants to destroy them as they come of age.
Ancient History is a story about two childhood friends who are on the cusp of graduating from high school as they transition into responsible adults. Pops is a classic father and son tale about an African American boy who finally meets his estranged father who happens to be a Caucasian police officer from Connecticut. They find it difficult to connect given their opposite standing in society.
Kids on Colden Street is about a boy who is thrilled with the arrival of his younger sister. The story takes a turn for the worst as it makes a commentary on the nature of brutality. LaValle’s writing is full of grit, candor, and heart as he successfully attempts to pioneer and charter new frontiers in contemporary fiction.
These stories possess a power that enables them to live on through different eras of literature. The narrative is vibrant, deeply emotional, and visceral. The coming of age characters deals with a lot of societal issues as they battle to survive like masculinity, bullying, drugs, violence, and murder.
The collection explores heavy topics such as racism, poverty, religion, and social class. The reader gets to experience how these issues affect children and how they determine their future way before they are born into them. LaValle provides an unscathed take on how minority groups are systemically disadvantaged and targeted in a bigger strategy to eradicate them.
LaValle tackles how men are constantly made self-aware of their sexuality and other crucial aspects of life to police them into becoming members of society that do not challenge the establishment. Slapboxing with Jesus is a collection that dares to challenge the establishment with its words of insight and great intuition.
