Home After Dark

Plot

David Small's long-awaited graphic novel evokes Lord of the Flies in its savage portrayal of male adolescence gone awry. Kaleidoscopic and cinematic, Home After Dark is both a visual and narrative tour de force that renders the brutality of adolescence in the so-called nostalgic 1950s like no other recent work. After his mother abandons the family, thirteen-year-old Russell Pruitt follows his alcoholic father to sun-splashed California in search of the American Dream. Left on his own, with no parental guidance, Russell struggles to find his place in small town Marshfield, where he is bullied and gradually falls into a tentative friendship with another boy. Eventually, a series of unexpected events force Russell to confront his own frailties and cruelties, especially after his refusal to act results in tragedy.

     A gritty, unsentimental, and unforgettable immersion in the life of a boy trying to forge his own path to manhood, Home After Dark confirms David Small as one of the most gifted visual storytellers at work today.