Greencastle and the Denizens of the Sacred Crypt

Greencastle is a strange, but worthwhile read. It begins, somewhat unconventionally, with (if I remember correctly) a conversation between a small town's new kid and his imaginary friend that sits on the window seal of his house. This will remind some folks of the kid from Poltergeist, and this was indeed my first impression given the late 80's surroundings within which I first game to this extremely interesting novel. But further into the book the relationship becomes more closely aligned with the growing alienation between individual and departing collectivities (family, town, school, etc.) Against this strange backdrop sits a sleepy northeastern (or Midwestern, take your pick) town of conventional folks. The time trajectory parallels that of the McCarthy era, and so a town's intervention in anything inwardly conducted led to the harassment of this new kid's life-his name slips my memory. He was an outsider, an Other, who began a weekly club known as the Denziens of the Sacred Crypt meeting in his basement to discuss H.P. Lovecraft novels. The violence that ensues illustrates the dilemma of difference in so-called modern democracies. It's been 17 years since reading this novel, but it continues to emerge somewhere in the back of my mind during my present PhD travails across the boundaries of marginal fiction. The interplay between demonization of the `outsider' against the joy of a kite flying on a cloudless day in the nearby park, the way in which new places deal new faces, and especially the intersections of worlds through the space of literature are themes that are beautifully articulated here in Lloyd Kropps novel. I read it at 14, with U2's Joshua Tree on repeat. They go well together.

Very unusual, thoughtful-provoking, perceptive, frightening, joyful, poetic coming-of-age novel about a boy.