In the Light of You [Hardcover]

Nathan Singer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2008

Angry 16 year old misfit Mikal Fanon has just joined a gang of Neo-Nazi skinheads for reasons that are not entirely clear to him. He is taken in by the leader of the gang, Richard, and the two become fast (and best) friends. Emboldened by his new-found sense of belonging Mikal finds himself committing horrible acts of violence without a second thought. But two women threaten to tear his world apart -- a gorgeous and passionate young Black activist on campus named Niani Shange, to whom Mikal finds himself hopelessly attracted, and Sherry Nicolas, Richard's new girlfriend who seems to be driving a wedge between the two young skinheads . . .

Sherry Nicolas, awkward, shy, and away from home for the first time in her life, finds comfort in a brand new circle of friends and a handsome new boyfriend - the charming and charismatic Richard Lovecraft. Richard leads Sherry into a wild, thrilling, fast-paced lifestyle that is also dangerous and troubling . . .the violent "white power" underground. Though very much in love with Richard, Sherry finds herself increasingly fascinated by a group of young leftist radicals on campus lead by Niani Shange and her platonic best friend, the rather ghoulish and unstable Jack Curry.

Sherry's (and Mikal's) attraction to these two radically opposite, yet eerily similar,forces threatens to throw fuel on an already smoldering fire, leading to a bloody and explosive end. Who will survive and who will be burned?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Late in this raw, blistering coming-of-age novel set in an unnamed Ohio city, Mikal Fanon observes that most 16- to 17-year-olds try lots of roles, discard most and move on, but I happened to have worn a costume with consequences. The costume that the rootless teen tries on is a violently right-wing group, the Fifth Reich, led by the charismatic Richard Lovecraft. Mikal learns to spout the slogans, gets the de rigueur tats (i.e., tattoos) and stomps whatever poor victims the group despises. Singer (Chasing the Wolf) evokes with rare passion the tumultuous confusions and conflicts as teens seek to work out their racial and sexual identities. Though other major characters, like a beautiful black girl, Niani Shange, who alternately attracts and repels Mikal, aren't sufficiently fleshed out, readers will find Mikal's erratic passage through a rough adolescence both vivid and compelling. (June)
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From Booklist

In furiously fast-paced prose, Singer gives voice to 16-year-old loner Mikal Fanon and his infatuation with the white power movement. A family move lands Mikal in a high school riven by racial conflict, where he finds himself friendless and the target of black-on-white violence. Then he meets the charismatic Richard Lovecraft, leader of a gang of neo-Nazi skinheads, and the feeling of being a part of a group gives Mikal an unprecedented sense of empowerment. Soon he is avidly participating in a horrific series of assaults on gays, blacks, and other minorities, until the evening the skinheads take on a group even more ruthless than their own. Singer vivifies the attraction of the white power movement, drawing both the long, boring stretches spent playing video games and the heated moments of violence, set against a backdrop of sex and metal music. Mikal’s ultimate moment of redemption is not drawn with the same convincing detail, but by then, Singer’s percussive prose will have worked its magic. An unblinking portrait of young white rage. --Joanne Wilkinson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Bleak House Books (June 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932557822
• ISBN-13: 978-1932557824
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,516,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Coming of Age Story of Two of Society's "Throwaways", May 27, 2008

By 

caryn (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Light of You (Paperback)

We have in America today a group of young people who are basically throwaways. They don't fit. They may be white kids in an predominately black school. They may be kids kicked out of their homes or kids who have left abusive homes. They may be kids whose families have moved around so often they have quit trying to adjust. They may be poor, illiterate, or foreign born. But for whatever reason, they don't fit into society.

Singer's third novel, In the Light of You, tells the story of two such kids, Mikal Fanon and Sherry Nicholas. Both Sherry and Mikal fell in with the Neo-Nazi group because the didn't fit into any other group. It was disturbing how easily they were each sucked into the Neo-Nazi underground by the charismatic leader, Richard Lovecraft. The Skinheads first became their friends, and then they became their family-just swallowing them up into the fold. Later, for different reasons, they each became involved with a radical leftist group of extremists-a group that is the polar opposite of the Skinheads. This powerful book takes readers into these underground organizations and lets us experience what life is like inside these groups. While much of their days are spend doing mundane things like playing computer games and figuring out what they are going to eat, when these groups "get active," much of the activity is quite frankly frightening. It makes for gritty, dark and violent reading that leaves the reader uneasy.

While In the Light of You is basically a "coming of age" novel, this book is perhaps the most thought provoking book I've read in a couple of years. While it was an uncomfortable book for me, far from my preferred reading choices, the portrayal of the subversive radical groups made for fascinating reading. As much as I wanted to put the book aside and forget about it, I could not. Sherry and Mikal's story had me hooked until the very last page.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raw and Amazing, September 20, 2011

By 

Jerry D. Rhoades (Carthage, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In The Light of You (Kindle Edition)

A brutal, unflinching look at America's racist subculture, replete with sex, violence and jagged-edged punk rock. Nathan Singer does more than narrate the story of the rootless, disaffected kids drawn into the hate: he lets you hear the siren song that lures them to their doom.

Grab this book and let it grab you.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Basking or Blinding, August 3, 2009

By 

Brett Perkins (Folsom, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In the Light of You (Paperback)

I practically judged In the Light of You by its cover, title, and type of story. Well, I did not judge it by its actual cover, but you get what I mean, right, my initial impressions. I was not thrilled to be reading another dismal-type story, and once I started reading it, I thought the author's written dialogue was a cheap attempt to be hip, and the story, not just like American History X, but trying to capitialize on it, instead of being original, in the same genre, like it.

Well, first impressions do not always lead to the next most logical progression. And once we really got into this story, American History X is barely comparable and not even in the same neighborhood, besides the white power theme. And even though the synopsis claims this story is about white supremists, it's really just about Mikal trying to find his way, to belong, to create an identity, and grow.

I have one criticism, the title never truly fits the book. It seems forced, as does the metaphor connected to it. In the Light of You relates to the fact that, there is a theme in which only some people give off this light. We are blinded by it or bask in it. Niani is obviously one of these people. But what seems to be implied here, at least to me, as that we are dependent upon these people for light. We cannot generate it ourselves. We cannot learn to cultivate it. You either got it or you don't. I couldn't disagree more. We can find our own light. Granted, someone else's light may be a step in discovering the light that we can give off from within ourselves, and if that had been more progressively angled in its communication in the novel, then I might buy into it more, but it seems to be the end all theme, not open-ended.