The Brimstone Journals [Paperback]

Ron Koertge's startling, often poignant poetic novel evokes a suburban high school both familiar and terrifying.

The Branston High School Class of 2001 seems familiar enough on the surface: there’s the Smart One, the Fat Kid, Social Conscience, Bad Girl, Good Girl, Jock, Anorexic, Dyke, Rich Boy, Sistah, Stud . . . and Boyd, an Angry Young Man who has just made a dangerous new friend. Now he’s making a list.

The Branston High School Class of 2001. You might think you know them. You might be surprised.

Narrated by fifteen teenage characters, this startling, often poignant poetic novel evokes a suburban high school both familiar and terrifying — and provides an ideal opportunity for young adults to discuss violence in schools.  
Lester
My dad’d freak if he knew I played
with it, but I can’t help myself. And
I’m not hurting anybody.
The bullets are across the room
in his sock drawer. The Glock is by
the bed, same place as the condoms.
I like to hold it in my hand. Everything
gets sharper, I don’t know why.
I feel skinnier instead of just this big
bag of fries and Coke and pepperoni.
If I take off my clothes, it’s cool
on my skin.
I’d never hurt anybody but if I did
this is how I’d do it—butt naked.
And I’d start in the gym. They wouldn’t
laugh then, would they? The jocks would
crap their pants. The girls’d kiss my fat
feet.

Tran
My father came here with his parents when
he was ten. In the boat, there was room
for two to sleep, so they took turns
standing up.
By 1980 they owned a small market.
By 1990 three more. My mother and father
often worked twenty hours a day. I started
stocking shelves at age six.
Everybody warned against black people,
but who turned out to be full of hatred
for our prosperity? Others like us, some
from a village not fiveló,