Rolling the R's

Illuminated by pop fantasies, Donna Summer disco tracks and teen passion, the fiercely earnest characters in "Rolling the R's" come to life against the background of burning dreams and neglect in a small 1970s Hawaiian community. In this daring first novel, tour-de-force experiments in narrative structure, pidgin and perspective roll every "are" and throw new light on gay identity and the trauma of assimilation. "Rolling the R's" goes beyond "coming of age" and "coming out" to address the realities of cultural confusion, prejudice and spiraling levels of desire in humorous yet haunting portraits that are, as Matthew Stadler writes, "stylish, shameless and beautiful."