the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life

by Alcy Leyva

Overview

In the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life, we meet Maji, a sixteen-year-old African-American teenager from the Bronx who, inspired by MOBY DICK, and overwhelmed by issues of racism, mental health, and complex family dynamics, sets sail on the Hudson in search of a miracle and experiences a coming-of-age journey that blends own-voice insight, social commentary, elements of magical realism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798987070741
Publisher:	Green Writers Press
Publication date:	10/17/2023
Pages:	194
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Alcy Leyva is a Bronx-born multi-genre writer whose first two books in the Shades of Hell series, And Then There Were Crows and And Then There Were Dragons, were published by Black Spot Books. His short stories have appeared in the award-winning anthologies A Midnight Clear and Dead of Winter. He currently lives and teaches in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

"A Black high school junior tries to escape the sea of chaos around him by finding a miracle in the ocean. . . . The juxtaposition of beauty and horror takes readers on an unpredictable ride full of twists and turns. An imaginative look at teen mental health." —Kirkus Reviews

“In Alcy Leyva’s novel the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life, sixteen-year-old Maji’s New York world is falling apart, and he sets out to sea in search of a miracle. The book is miraculous in its own right, featuring lyrical prose and a kind of dreamlike logic that make Maji’s journey a memorable one.” —Foreword Reviews, Starred Review 

From the Publisher

2023-08-26
A Black high school junior tries to escape the sea of chaos around him by finding a miracle in the ocean.

Maji is a young man growing up in the Melville Projects in the Bronx. He experiences frequent nightmares, and his synesthesia allows him to pick up on people’s emotional tenor in the form of colors. He tries to manage his emotions by carefully curating his sensory inputs. Maji’s biggest influences are a vlogger called Consciousness 2.0 and his English teacher, Mr. DaCosta. C2.0, as fans call him, seems to have everything Maji wants. Mr. DaCosta has been trying to keep Maji in school and consistently checks in on him. Maji bonded with Mr. DaCosta through a personalized reading challenge, which led to thought-provoking conversations about Moby Dick. Maji’s fragile hold on his emotions starts to slip as social justice protests take place in his neighborhood, his parents’ marriage disintegrates, Mr. DaCosta announces he won’t be returning the following school year, and C2.0 seems to be closing his channel. Everything in Maji’s world revolves around not being seen as weak, and he decides to head out to the Atlantic: “Maji feels the call. The call of a miracle.” Moby Dick is a major focus: from character studies of Ahab and Ishmael to Maji’s insistence on keeping a copy of the book close. The juxtaposition of beauty and horror takes readers on an unpredictable ride full of twists and turns.

An imaginative look at teen mental health. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews