Lewis Shiner

The form was perfectly fitted to content in this testosterone-driven novel. The prose was sparse, and the scenic description was apt and appropriate. I was biased in favor of this story because of my own ideological leanings, and was therefore selfishly disappointed when the story did not follow what would have been my authorial intent. I found that it did not resolve what I wanted to have answered, and it tied in neat bows several aspects of the novel-Dave’s involvement with the skaters, his constant flipping between romantic relationships-in ways that felt excessively neat.… (més)

This was a shaggy-dog rock’n’roll time travel fantasy, with appearances by Jim Morrison, Brian Wilson, Jimi Hendrix, and the Beatles (briefly), so—right there you can probably figure out if it’s your jam or not, and though I had some quibbles, it was definitely enough my kind of thing to be fun. The plotting was all over the place, and looks like it was set up to include as many elements of the author’s autobiography as he could cram in—and for all his characterizations of their various neuroses and challenges, the novel’s women are all pretty much two-dimensional fantasy projections, plus one slightly complex difficult WIFE, ahem. OK, the protagonist is a bit of a dick. But despite those criticisms, to overuse an overused phrase, it is what it is—an enjoyable music-geeky tale, the kind of book you would have picked up on the wire rack of the candy/smoke shop on the corner in 1995 and definitely have gotten your $7.95 worth.… (més)

I was already on board with this novel when I knew it was an exploration of music nostalgia and What-Could-Have-Been with certain albums by giants, from Jim Morrison, Brian Wilson, or Jimi Hendrix.

Let's skip big events in the whole time-travel setup and move right into ART. Culture. The meaning of what particular pieces could mean for us all. How music still has the power to change the world.

If ONLY some of these ALMOST albums had been made...

Yeah. I was right there. Totally on board.

But if that had been all there was to this novel, I'm absolutely sure that it wouldn't have been half as good or as emotional or self-reflective if we hadn't gotten to know Ray... the man working on the old demo sessions, his failing marriage, his alcoholism, and his relationship with his dead father.

This IS a nostalgia novel, by all means, but it's also a rather awesome novel of obsessions, working through issues, and learning to grow. And I don't think that could have happened without his music obsession. The whole time-travel, helping the young musicians work through their own problems or nudge them in just the right way to help them MAKE those lost albums and even make some money by "restoring" them in the present-day early '90s is only a side-story.

I loved the mirroring of self-to-artist and the push to grow despite all the baggage that holds us back. It was not only charming... but edifying. :)… (més)