The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

This book of Leroy’s short stories is a great collection to revisit for summer reading, though it’s not for the faint of heart. Young Jeremiah’s life is going along just fine until his teenaged mother, Sarah, regains custody of him and wrenches him into her world of sexual, mental and physical abuse. Leaving his caring foster parents to live with a troubled and insane mother is a shock to the system. Sarah is a teenage whore dragging Jeremiah through her wretched life, as she rebels against her severely religious parents. Ever vying for his mother’s love, Jeremiah tells his tale in a voice that is young, innocent and tragic. Leroy’s prose places the reader into unavoidable emotional situations and is heart-wrenching, painful and beautifully crafted. The stories offer wickedly clever humor and social commentary and are all based on Leroy’s own tragic life.