Ten darkly funny stories that explore hoser culture, coming of age in gravel pits, and parenting in the Sixth Extinction from author and filmmaker Jude Klassen. The stories of Toxic Shock and Other Family Gatherings span the country, three decades, and multiple incarnations of their common protagonist, Kerry Wiebe. In the tragically funny "Big-Snouted Dog" Kerry is terrified and flattered as she is crudely singled out as the Crotch of the Day by an older teen at a basement NYE party. In the poignant "The Not-So-Secret Secret Life of Angus McFee" Kerry discovers her ex-boyfriend has fathered a secret baby when the infant is thrust into her arms by the triumphant mother. "Pride of Alaska" takes Kerry into the belly of a low-rent ocean liner as an apprentice to the popular girls while they fend off the middle-aged crew on their field trip to visit the fish factories of the northwest. Raised in the wilds of BC by a practicing Catholic mother and an ex-Mennonite father, Kerry is the baby, and lone left-leaner, in a large, messy family. From her redneck beginnings in the lush, claustrophobic Fraser Valley to the smog, gridlock, and glamour of Toronto, Kerry continues her struggle to evolve in a world bent on self-destruction.
