For Sam, coming of age in Hawaii, the most isolated landmass on earth, is almost impossible. He is 15, sensitive, cool, cute, blue-haired, a skateboarder, precocious, funny, horny, honest, and gay. He’s not interested in surfing, but he’s passionate about punk rock music and haiku poetry.
Sam’s object of affection is Clay. He is an 18-year-old surfer who’s handsome, enigmatic, complicated, passionate, funny, confident, charismatic, serious, sexy, and confused. He likes Sam, too, but isn’t brave enough to admit it.
As Sam attempts to grow up and realize his love for Clay, both boys face the hardest decisions and obstacles of their lives: a brutal hurricane during a drunken evening with Clay’s mother, Susan, a hippie and Joni Mitchell aficionado, a misty hike along the steep emerald cliffs of Kauai’s north shore, threatened by Hawaiian spirits, tumultuous betrayals, rival bands of surfers, misfired sex, violent collision, an angry car accident, Clay’s confused girlfriend, attempted suicide in monster midnight waves, desperate revival, evolving personalities, a native dream quest, personae theft, and a last-ditch Imperial declaration at a raucous teenage party.
Finally, when all appears lost, after Clay becomes strangely different and Sam takes on Clay’s personality, on a moonlit Halloween night, in the dark and echoey hall of a dark haunted house staged in an elementary school, Sam’s hopes could come true as a boy dressed as a wolf gives chase.
On the windward side of Oahu, below lush green cliffs, Sam inhabits a vast neighborhood of yearning. On the most remote landmass on earth, in suburban neighborhoods juxtaposed against dramatic cliffs and ancient culture, on jungle trails, and at remote beaches, Sam attempts to find his place in the world while trying to win Clay’s affection.
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