American skin /

Chicago's North Side, the intersection of Clark and Belmont Streets in the mid-1980s, is the setting for De Grazia's clever first novel, published, and well received, originally in England. Alex Verdi, a teenager fending for himself after his hippie parents are shipped off to prison on drug charges, falls under the sway of Tim Penn, leader of an antiracist gang of skinheads. He and his band of followers work and live at the seedy Gorgon nightclub, a "never-never land" of sorts for these bald, tattooed, Doc Marten boot^-wearing misfits; and Alex quickly assimilates. Others have noted similarities between Alex and Salinger's Holden Caulfield. More interesting is the Phineaslike command Tim has over his followers, battling with Frank Pritzger, leader of the Nazi skinheads, for the loyalties of this small band of toughs. There's an edgy, romantic overtone to De Grazia's prose, with many beautiful, lucid passages. It is uneven, and a heavy dose of sex, drugs, and violence may make this unpalatable for some. Still, it is a commendable, unique first effort. --Ted Leventhal

De Grazia's powerful debut fearlessly explores racism, adolescent rage and terrifyingly violent youth movements; its adolescent hero is a skinhead, getting into trouble in Chicago's late '80s scene. Intense, unsparing and fueled by a desperate energy, this graphically violent novel will not be to every taste, but it rings true with poignant clarity. Alex Verdi, a daydreaming 17-year-old, leaves home--an Illinois farmhouse--when his parents are busted for selling marijuana, and hitches a ride to the Windy City. There, he lives at the Y and gets a job in an electroplating plant, where he earns the nickname "Degreaser." He's also mugged and beaten by hoods, so when he joins a group of multiracial "anti-Nazi" skinheads, it's partly for protection, partly for a sense of belonging. Strongman leader Timmy Penn quickly becomes Alex's surrogate big brother and role model, but Alex also falls under the spell of a "straightedge" skinhead girl, Marie. Donning the group's image, he manages to get along bruisingly, until a violent encounter with a rival, "white power" skinhead faction, followed by a fight in a nightclub, finds Alex and Tim facing serious police charges. After family intervention, the pair are sent to the army reserves in Fort Benning instead of prison. Once the two youths are discharged, their paths split: Tim goes off to become a drug dealer and Alex tries to clean up his act by moving to Evanstown, a tony suburb--but even there, his ugly past catches up with him. Rights sold in Canada and France; film rights to Frederick Levy Productions. (Apr.) FYI: Written as De Grazia's M.A. thesis, American Skin was rejected by numerous U.S. publishers. Alerted to the success of working-class fiction in England, De Grazia sent his manuscript to Jonathan Cape in London, which published the novel in 1998. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved