{"product_id":"9781572336292","title":"Blue Awesome Ascending: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003ePearl Harbor has just been bombed, and thirteen-year old Blue Awesome Easterly yearns to grow up fast, join the Army Air Corps, and become a hero. But one-eyed Aunt Spook warns him: “Beware the light!” She knows, because “the swamp people told me while I was in a trance,” that Blue Awesome is fated to see events from the past-revealed in flashes of light only he can see. “This light never dies,” cautions Aunt Spook. “And it never forgets what it sees.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlue Awesome's parents operate their funeral parlor\/telephone business out of their home, Welcome Hall, in deep south Home Free, a small village not far from Swamp Ha-Ha, an area as “rural as raw peanuts.” Blue Awesome's mother, Ethyl, more or less runs the businesses by herself because his father, Poordaddy, teaches in his private, tuition-free Classic Academy for Young Men. The Easterlys are getting by fine until the commander of the new Army base asks them to secretly embalm a murdered African American officer. When word gets out, local vigilantes turn their world upside down. But that's just the half of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTake a pinch of Gabriel García Márquez, a dollop of Riddley Walker, a touch of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a smidgen of William Kotzwinkle-blend thoroughly, bake at high heat (swamp temperature would be best) and you have this entirely new confection, Blue Awesome Ascending. Prepare for a feast.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Tennessee Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47060712751344,"sku":"9781572336292","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781572336292_p0.jpg?v=1763795447","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781572336292","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}