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| Category: Fiction:Literary |
(requires Adobe Reader)
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| About the Book | |
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Devin Thomsen and Steven Matchik seek intensity, and unity of body and spirit. Their demanding coach Sean Cardsen shows the way on the wrestling mat –will it be enough? Devin’s existence is steeped in violence. His alcoholic mother and crank-addled stepfather have given him little. He’s drawn to stories of Jesus and he fights what could be an inner demon. Steven’s middle-class home has disintegrated in a fog of deception, betrayal and misplaced disgust. His mother can’t stand the sight of him. The physicality and family of the Braxton Junior High wrestling team provide a place to fit in. Through a season equally funny and disturbing, the boys lead their team toward a championship. Are the boys in charge of their bodies, or are their bodies in charge of them? One thing is certain; blood and sweat have bonded them to Cardsen. Risk-takers to the core, Devin and Steven find methamphetamine. Can bonds hold under such an assault? Violence, sex, and ceaseless energy contend with love and salvation. As lives spin out of control, Cardsen gropes for faith and answers. Confronting those who question his methods, Cardsen goes deeper to stay connected with the boys. When the action goes Off the Mat, competing requires everything they’ve learned, and some help from above. By way of crank houses, a meth lab, jails, rehabs, and a prison work gang, the path leads inevitably back to the wrestling mat, where some resolution may lie with Steven’s little brother Alan. Set in the rain-drenched atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest, Off the Mat is an honest and savage journey through addiction, loyalty, and attachment to youth.
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| About the Author | |
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Jeff Bibbey has been a teacher, coach, and mentor for over twenty years. He resides with his family in Laporte, Colorado. |