The Barbarian Parade

This book caught my eye thanks to classic gay author Edmund White's blurb on the front: "Sensuous, carnal, tender, and brutal." There are also blurbs from Sena Jeter Naslund and Silas House, two Kentucky authors I'm interested in reading.

The Barbarian Parade is the story of Gabriel Toure barreling head-first into life as he is introduced to sex, soccer, and the changing dynamics of family relations. Growing up in Montreux, Kentucky, Gaby idolizes his father, "Smilin'" Ray, a hardworking Southern man who is fond of the horse track and a drink with the boys. When Ray is sent to prison on false drug charges, Gaby, lustful for experience, breaks from his family and chooses to place his faith in his body and in the sport of soccer. Training relentlessly, he distances himself from his alcoholic mother and finds a role model in an older player, Mies, who helps him find a position on a professional team. A wild succession of adventures takes him across the Eastern United States and ultimately back home, where he must come to terms with his family and his hometown. Written in prose that ranges from brutally honest to poetic, The Barbarian Parade - part The Adventures of Augie March, part Bull Durham - is a portrait of contemporary America, a country plagued with many dark realities, yet dizzy, like Gabriel himself, with a sense of unlimited possibility.

Kirby Gann lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and is the author of a second book Our Napoleon in Rags. He is the managing editor of Sarabande Books and at least at the time Barbarian Parade was published was teaching in the MFA Writing Program at Spalding University. He is also a member of the band Jakeleg, whose CD, Junkyard Cafe, is available from ear X-tacy Records, a locally owned music store (great, great, amazing music store!) on Bardstown Road in Louisville. You can learn more about him here and shit! He's married. Oh well...