Carney, Jeff. The adventures of Michael MacInnes.CARNEY, Jeff. The adventures of Michael MacInnes. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 256p. c2006. 0-374-30146-8. $17.00. S The old-fashioned comic book-like cover of this adventure tale suits its style perfectly. The setting is a traditional boys' prep school in 1924, and our hero, cocky "madman poet" Michael MacInnes, doesn't quite fit in. Neither does his roommate, Roger Legrande, who has been forced to hide his homosexuality. The two immediately become fast friends, bonding over whiskey on the train to school, and get into all kinds of scrapes. They print an underground literary magazine, smash a bully's bootlegging bootlegging, in the United States, the illegal distribution or production of liquor and other highly taxed goods. First practiced when liquor taxes were high, bootlegging was instrumental in defeating early attempts to regulate the liquor business by taxation. After the appearance of local and state option, those areas that voted to prohibit liquor were supplied with bootlegged liquor. operation, and escape from a girls' school in the night in a blimp blimp: see airship. Roger constructs, among other escapades. Of course, they make dangerous enemies along the way, and there's no shortage of action. There's romance, too, as Michael defends the honor of a girl whose virtue is threatened and then falls in love with her. Zounds!, as the characters would put it. There's lots of swashbuckling fun to be had in this period piece that reflects rather more up-to-date attitudes. Includes some sex. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT S--Recommended for senior high school students. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion