Crazy Heart: A Novel [Paperback]

Thomas Cobb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2010

At the age of fifty-seven, Bad Blake is on his last legs. His weight, his ticker, his liver, even his pick-up truck are all giving him trouble. A renowned songwriter and "picker" who hasn't recorded in five years, Bad now travels the countryside on gigs that take him mostly to motels and bowling alleys. Enter Ms. Right. Can Bad stop living the life of a country-western song and tie a rope around his crazy heart?

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Singer and guitarist Bad Blake was once a first-rate country-and-western star, but now he's 57, an alcoholic, a failure at four marriages, and playing in third-rate clubs. The biggest gig he can get is opening for Tommy Sweet, the kid Bad got started and whose career has now eclipsed Bad's. Bad meets Jean Craddock when she comes to interview him and they fall in love. Her little boy, Buddy, inspires Bad to search for his own long-lost son, but there's no happy ending there. And when Bad, hungry for a drink, loses Jean's son, things take a downturn, despite Bad's fling with AA. This first novel has the authentic patter and ambience of those seedy one-night-stands, but the plot is thin and the ending is very downbeat. There will be heavy promotion and advertising, so requests may warrant purchase. Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Lib., Seaside, Cal.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“You can almost hear the whining twang of a pedal steel guitar and the droning of a mournful singer while reading Crazy Heart.” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram )

“Crazy Heart is a beautiful book….The characters are cut cleanly out of America….Bad Blake is a man you will not soon forget.” (Washington Times )

“In producing as nearly a masterpiece as the subject has yet attracted, Cobb seems to have triumphed….Cobb has created an unforgettable character who engages not only your interest but your emotion…and who proceeds to take you on a roller-coaster ride through his tawdrily tumultuous life.” (Chicago Tribune )

“[Cobb’s] picture of the scraggly underside of Western music is brutally convincing.” (The New Yorker )

“Thomas Cobb’s marvelous first novel doesn’t just play on your heartstrings, it breaks them.” (San Francisco Examiner )

“This is a heartfelt book: the descriptions of writing songs and playing them, of finding love and ruining it, of sweet, painful memories. There’s nothing startling in the plot or the characters, but they are alive.” (Houston Chronicle )

“Crazy Heart just might be the finest country-western novel ever written, bar none.” (Houston Post )

“Blake’s dedication to, and integrity towards, his country music is more than matched by Cobb’s moving, respectful evocation of the world of country music, and the life and times of Bad Blake.” (Boston Herald )

“Thomas Cobb has produced a piercing, keenly observed chronicle of modern Americana, getting across the current mores and attitudes as experience by C&W musician Blake.” (Los Angeles Times )

“Thomas Cobb has written a bitter, witty psychological profile of an aging genius that is also a wonderful celebration of country music. Bad Blake lives at the poor end of the rainbow, but you’ll never forget him. Crazy Heart is a splendid achievement.” (Donald Barthelme )

“A measure of Thomas Cobb’s talent is that he can make Bad Blake’s story amusing even as we watch him fall. Bad is entirely sympathetic, and this crazy heart is vivid; the milieu is as resonant as a steel guitar, and the plot moves along without skipping a beat.” (New York Times Book Review )

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060915196
• ISBN-13: 978-0060915193
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #428,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Cobb was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. He is also the author of Acts of Contrition, a collection of short stories that won the 2002 George Garrett Fiction Prize and Crazy Heart, his debut novel. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars overlooked gem, April 13, 2006

By 

Sean R. Mitchell (Los Angeles CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crazy Heart (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book reeking with authenticity about the hard lives lived in country music before the glitter of CMT. Cobb is a beautiful, spare stylist whose penchant for the truth keeps him from jumping on a glib music business plot and adorning it with with easy ornamentation. He's after something deeper here about tragedy and human limitations. I never could understand why this novel failed to garner a larger following other than the usual vagaries of the book business that sheds non bestselling titles within three weeks. "Crazy Heart," I suspect, is one that is destined to be rediscovered.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Given a second chance, would you do things differently?, February 6, 2010

By 

L. Burns "Bigdog Mom" (New England) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crazy Heart: A Novel (Paperback)

It's the 1980's and Bad Blake's glory days as a Country Western star are decades behind him. At 56 he scratches out a living playing one night stands in a series of interchangeable dives. Years of hard living have taken their toll. Bad is overweight, his health is failing and his personal relationships consist mainly of drunken sex with mostly anonymous women that he meets in bars. A reporter for a small local paper interviews Bad after a show in Santa Fe. Bad falls for Jean Craddock and has to consider whether he can make a place in his life for the straightforward woman and her four year old son.

Bad is an interesting character. While he's willing to take the blame for the disintegration of his personal life, he also shows a profound lack of self awareness. He seems genuinely confused when people are unwilling to offer forgiveness for years of neglect or appalling irresponsibility. He's self-centered but basically kind; views his years on the road with fond nostalgia even though he blames the lifestyle for robbing him of his wife and son.

As much as anything else this is a story about alcoholism and the havoc it wreaks on one man's life.

This was a good read - thought provoking, sometimes sad and occasionally even funny. The story felt authentic, almost like a particularly honest autobiography. Early on I felt like I knew where the story was heading but was content to sit back and let the author take me there in his own time. Well done and highly recommended.

There is occasional swearing (including racial slurs) and some mild sexual content.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazy Good, January 6, 2010

By 

Samantha Hoffman (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crazy Heart (Hardcover)

A beautifully crafted story with a flawed protagonist who grabs your heart. Bad (that's his name) is just that...bad. He's an overweight, alcoholic, womanizing has-been with such heart that you can't help but fall in love with him. Thomas Cobb is an incredible writer. This was his first novel and it's an amazing piece of work.