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Overview
It's a subzero Chicago morning on January 23, 1989, and Seamus is at his fighting best. Braving the bitter cold at the 85A bus stop, Seamus rails against his repressive environment in anticipation of his ''the-minute-I-turn-18'' move to London. Liberated by failure when kicked out of school for yet another late appearance, Seamus makes a break for London via an Amtrak to the mean streets of Late Eighties Manhattan.85A tracks a watershed day in the life of an adolescent antihero. Foulmouthed with a capital F-word, Seamus embodies Johnny Rotten as a way of fending off the bullies at home, at school and in his whites-only neighborhood. Luckily, his mixed-raced friend Tressa opens him up to experiences that turn his worldview on its head. Through it all, Seamus basks in BBC dramas, dreaming of what life would be if only he could stow away to London. By the time Seamus reaches his last L stop, he will come to see that his 85A ride that morning was just the kickoff to an intrepid urban odyssey.
Synopsis
It's a subzero Chicago morning on January 23, 1989, and Seamus is at his fighting best. Braving the bitter cold at the 85A bus stop, Seamus rails against his repressive environment in anticipation of his ''the-minute-I-turn-18'' move to London. Liberated by failure when kicked out of school for yet another late appearance, Seamus makes a break for London via an Amtrak to the mean streets of Late Eighties Manhattan.
85A tracks a watershed day in the life of an adolescent antihero. Foulmouthed with a capital F-word, Seamus embodies Johnny Rotten as a way of fending off the bullies at home, at school and in his whites-only neighborhood. Luckily, his mixed-raced friend Tressa opens him up to experiences that turn his worldview on its head. Through it all, Seamus basks in BBC dramas, dreaming of what life would be if only he could stow away to London. By the time Seamus reaches his last L stop, he will come to see that his 85A ride that morning was just the kickoff to an intrepid urban odyssey.
Edge on the Net
'If Holden Caulfield, the angst-ridden teenage protagonist of J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel Catcher in the Rye, had been gay and come of age in the post-punk youth culture of the 1980s, what would he have been like? Seamus O'Grady, of course! While Smith's protagonist clearly owes much to his literary predecessor, he stands on his own as a unique representation of teenage 'rage against the machine,' in the same way that 85A, like Catcher in the Rye, evokes its own unique place in time. Like Holden, Seamus serves as an important reminder of the universal urge to self-define in a world hostile to anyone who dares to be different.''--M.M. Adjarian