New Car Loan

Anthony James weighs 315 pounds, is possibly schizophrenic, and he's just been kicked out of college. He's rescued by his mother, sister, and grandmother, but they may not be altogether sane themselves. Living in the basement of their home in Queens, New York, Anthony is armed with nothing but wicked sarcasm and a few well-cut suits. He intends to make horror movies but takes the jobs he can handle, cleaning homes and factories, and keeps crossing paths with a Japanese political prisoner, a mysterious loan shark named Ishkabibble, and packs of feral dogs. When his invincible 13-year old sister enters yet another beauty pageant--this one for virgins--the combustible Jameses pile into their car and head South for the competition. Will Anthony's family stick together or explode? With electrifying prose, LaValle ushers us into four troubled but very funny lives.

Bebe's paid her dues. Now it's time to light a little fire . . . . Bebe's got a brand-new tight-fitting money-green dress. Isaac has three dollars in his wallet and fifty out on loan. Bebe's wearing her best lipstick. Isaac's got a shirt that could have been on Soul Train, a car that won't start, and a pair of free tickets to a "happening" nightclub he'll wish he never used. All in all, it's a first date made somewhere far from heaven. And it's the start of something really hot. Following her acclaimed first novel, He Say, She Say, Yolanda Joe brings back her high-spirited heroine, Bebe, as she takes a shot at love with a sweet, good-natured Chicago fireman named Isaac Sizemore. So what's the problem? Here's a hint: she's twelve years old, raps, and knows an enemy when she sees one. . . .