| The story of a 12 year old boy who runs away from home is bolstered by the environment in which he does it. Las Vegas is renowned for its glimmering hotels and casinos, but here we have a pawn shop and a deserted ice cream truck. Las Vegas is also renowned as a city overcoming its sultry past, but here we have a stripper and a porn star named Rod Erectile who has to inject his penis to stay hard. The story takes place on a Saturday night, when Newell and his friend Kenny stay out late and Newell never returns home. Newell loses his cell phone which turns up in the ice cream truck where a group of homeless teens hangs out. Ponyboy is there, too, straying from his girlfriend, Cheri, the stripper who Ponyboy convinces to have her breasts enlarged and then do porn, which Cheri agrees to, because she thinks she'll do the scene with Ponyboy. The encounter with Rod causes her to flee and reexamine her life. After Newell flees, his parents' marriage breaks down, with Lincoln spending his nights drinking and visting porn parlors and Lorraine getting involved with charity causes, from homeless kids to kittens. We never really learn where Newell went, although his night with Kenny is disrupted when Kenny molests him, adding a gay theme to the book. Kenny is worried Newell will expose him, yet he tries to recitfy things. Instead, Newell encounters one of the homeless teen girls in the desert as the book ends. The story of Newell and the other characters in the book exposes an American culture where beautiful children lead dark, desolate lives while the adults who love them can't secure their world. |
Beautiful Children: A Novel Books In Print, Audio Books.