Greencastle and the Denizens of the Sacred Crypt - Hardcover

Kropp, Lloyd

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0881910376 ISBN 13: 9780881910377

Publisher: Freundlich Books, 1986

Synopsis

A group of adolescents in Greencastle, New Jersey in 1952 create a secret club, The Denizens of the Sacred Crypt, as an outlet for their imaginative fantasies

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

This novel by the author of One Hundred Times to China is so good that its lapses are the more regrettable. Kropp's many characters take possession of the reader's mind, so vivid are his descriptions of life in the small town of Greencastle during 1951. The leads are Roger, 15, and his buddies Dennis, Frank and Harry. The boys' "otherness" makes them outcasts in the rigidly conforming community. In compensation, they invent fantastic worlds of their own, taking their inspiration from the tales they read in Norman Pangborn's second-hand bookstore. Pangborn's hospitality and his support of the imaginative youngsters draw fire from bigots who accuse him of supplying harmful material to teenagers. As a consequence, local hoods are incited to commit outrages. Roger is badly beaten but brilliant Harry's fate is worse. The author masterfully evokes adolescent angst in his sensitive and often slyly humorous story. Unfortunately, one finds the quick capitulation by the community's moralists a dubious resolution.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Small-town Connecticut in 1952 is a place full of fear and suspicion for a group of high school students who are persecuted for being out of step with their classmates. Among them is Roger Cornell, who with his friends forms a secret club, the Denizens of the Sacred Crypt. The Denizens read stories by Lovecraft, discuss Egyptian mythology, and hang out at the local bookstore. Roger is the focus of the story; for speaking his mind he becomes the center of attention at a time when McCarthyism and groups like Parents for Better Schools made such attention especially unwelcome. University professor Kropp doesn't so much tell a story as document the conflicts peculiar to adolescence, especially adolescence in the 1950s. At times, incidents in the novel seem out of proportion, and some important characters appear only sporadically. Still, this is an interesting book appropriate for larger collections.Susan Avallone, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Freundlich Books
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0881910376
• ISBN 13: 9780881910377
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 373