Unclaimed, But Loud

Unclaimed, But Loud: The Memoir of a Shy and Retiring Boy Who Was Neither

By Keith Howard

A mischievous, moving, and darkly funny memoir about growing up strange in small-town America-before the fall, before the drugs, before the booze, before it all came apart.

Keith Howard wasn't supposed to be here.

Adopted at six months old. Fired from Orange Julius for laughing. Arrested three times before he could legally vote. A class clown with a taste for acid, mischief, and burning questions, Keith was the kid who pulled down his pants in kindergarten, who founded a cult (sort of), who nearly bankrupted the Catholic Church by knocking over a font of Holy Water.

But behind the antics was a boy desperate to be seen, to belong, to understand where he came from-and where he might be going.

Unclaimed, But Loud is a wildly original coming-of-age memoir told in sharp, self-aware prose with laugh-out-loud lines and gut-punch moments of unexpected grace. It's a story of basements and bonfires, chickadees and shame, dangerous islands and minnow sacrifices. It's about trying to make meaning in a world that never quite makes sense.

Before the addiction, before the recovery, before the redemption-there was this. The boy who refused to disappear.

For fans of David Sedaris, Mary Karr, and readers who prefer their memoirs with bite, heart, and just enough Holy Water to make you flinch.