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Clay's Way |
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Clay's Way by Blair Mastbaum; Alyson Publications, $12.95 Skaterboy with a Heart
The story begins with fumbling, 15-year-old skaterboy and haiku-writer Sam-a rebellious, sarcastic, self-deprecating teenager-and his burgeoning crush on the Oahu punkboy's version of the superlative male: Clay-17, surferboy, pothead, 'brah.' He has the requisite blonde girlfriend, the pickup, the body, the tattoos-but the stereotype ends there. Because he's weirdly available to Sam-even open. But skittish as only a cool boy can be. He's a brilliant study in how a cool dude copes with his own uncoolness-not too well. It's a mixture-parts grace and reticence-and it fascinates and disturbs page after page. One of the great achievements of this book is Mastbaum's nuanced rendering of Clay, which will leave you liking him-even against your own better judgment-in all his weirdness, cruelty and confusion. So goes a crush. Mastbaum impresses with his plotting and descriptive abilities (his sensory descriptions are so vital, spot-on and well-timed that I still smell Clay's truck and feel the salt on Sam's skin. The surreal, climactic scene between the boys on a Kauai beach is superbly evocative of young love and animal magnetism) as the story twists and turns amidst the seedy paradise of the Honolulu suburbs and its alcohol and drug-fueled teenage parties. The secondary characters are well-drawn too, including Sam's bestfriend, Jared, an endearing dork (he likes to draw shark's eating people, etc.), and Jared's sister, Kendra, who acts as a sort of older sister and confidante. Clay's hippie Mom, who lets him do whatever he wants and even plays up to his surferboy mystique, referring to him as "Hammerhead," is a wonderful depiction of the disinterested, indulgent 60s-generation parent. I wanted to know more about Sam's parents, who are decidedly bourgeois and un-hippie, but then, this is a book dealing with teenage angst and self-definition, and if his parents were part of his inner life, it wouldn't be as convincing-certainly not as punk. As it is, Sam has shut them out, and his parents are generally blah-blah voices outside his bedroom, where Sam beats off amidst his piled clothing while bemoaning his wimpy chest, dreaming of Clay-even mimicking him. Because Clay is everything Sam wishes he himself was. Or maybe not.
In the end, his strong heart gains your faith, and if a good novel is an exercise in character, then this book's a real gem as Mastbaum brings to life a cast of characters you come to truly care about. As a coming of age novel, it hits pay dirt because, instead of a happy ending, it ends on a note of expansion: Something has happened to Sam that, after the smoke has cleared, causes him to look up at the sky and realize he's no longer Sam the kid, but Sam the man. 
Trebor Healey is the author of the 2004 Ferro-Grumley award-winning novel, Through It Came Bright Colors, Harrington Park Press, 2003
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In his debut novel, Clay's Way, Blair Mastbaum has written a brilliantly raw and insightful coming-of-age story for a new queer generation. With its punk sensibility and engaging young narrator, it offers a refreshingly askew look at age-old conundrums through a thoroughly up-to-date queer lens, marking Mastbaum as an important new voice.
Author Blair Mastbaum