Geniuses of Crack [Paperback]

Jeff Gomez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 1997

For Bottlecap, the Virginia-based band introduced in Gomez's cult favorite, Our Noise, the contract with a big Los Angeles record company is irresistible. With humor and insight, Gomez limns the lives of three young men desperately unsure about what they want their lives to be. "A wry, vivid cultural snapshot of the way twentysomethings live now . . . Gomez gets the details just right."--Booklist.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In his sequel to Our Noise (1995), Gomez follows the fortunes of Virginia-based rock band Bottlecap. After coming off a near-disastrous tour, Mark, Gary, and Steve have decided to accept a lucrative contract with an L.A. record company. Their excitement is short-lived as all the usual suspects conspire to short-circuit their plans: Mark can't seem to perform the songs he's played a million times when it comes down to recording them in the studio; Gary sells Mark down the river when it looks like the company honchos want Mark out of the band; and Steve has graduated from drinking whiskey sours to shooting heroin. Gomez has a tough time pacing his material, for readers will surely tire of wading through paragraph after paragraph describing, for example, just how Gary sorts his laundry. Still, there are some stunning moments as Gomez, in his plainspoken and earnest prose, offers scenes revealing his characters in all their touching awkwardness. Joanne Wilkinson

From Kirkus Reviews

Deftly beguiling sequel to a Gen-X soap opera (Our Noise, 1995) about the misadventures of the Virginia bar band Bottlecap. Beginning where Our Noise left off, Mark, Gary, and Steve have ditched their hometown manager, jilted their girlfriends, and burned every bridge they can to take an all-expense-paid trip to Los Angeles, where they plan to record their first CD for Subterfuge Records, a trendy ``alternative'' label now owned by a giant Japanese entertainment conglomerate. While bassist Gary and drummer Steve pillage the mini-bar of their way-cool Mondrian Hotel suite, guitarist Mark naively signs a deal memo with weirdly blue-eyed Henry James, a record company executive who then announces that, after listening to a tape of Bottlecap's earlier songs, he doesn't ``hear a single'' that radio stations would want to play. Wondering if he hasn't made a deal with a devil, Mark bumps into Corrine, a film studio production assistant, who seems to enjoy him for reasons that have nothing to do with his affluent parents or the music he plays. While moving into a condo owned by Subterfuge, Steve meets Sam, an unemployed actor and drug dealer whose neurotic friendship will ultimately doom the band. Meanwhile, Gary, envious of Mark's success with women, finds salvation in doing his laundry. The collision between Bottlecap's artistic pretensions and the record company's commercial interest is no surprise, but Gomez inventively dodges every clich‚: His Hollywood settings find depth in the very fact of so much shallowness, and his clueless slackers find far more than they deserve as they traipse down the boulevard of broken dreams. A gentle, broadly appealing tale of fumbling love and slick betrayal from a writer who's been there, done that, and still has plenty to say. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (October 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684831945
• ISBN-13: 978-0684831947
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,174,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting premise, weak execution, February 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Geniuses of Crack (Paperback)

While this book begins with an interesting and engaging scenario, it quickly fades into a stereotype of LA-isms vs. small-town Virginia life. Mark, Steve, and Gary are practically interchangeable in their personalities, with minor details etched out and changed, and the book is riddled with stereotypical California earth-children. Gomez' descriptions of Virginia life make me wonder if he's ever actually lived in the state, as he's horrifically inaccurate in his descriptions of the area that Bottlecap is supposed to hail from, and if he basically set out to make the majority of the state appear as country bumpkins.

His most interesting character, Steve, is given short shrift in the book, as most of the pages concentrate on the shallow and mainly unappealing Mark.

While it wasn't a difficult read, it's certainly not something I look forward to picking up again.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not so suave indie rockin kids, May 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Geniuses of Crack (Paperback)

As i read through the negative reviews that have been posted here, I can't help but wonder A) how old they are, and B) what sort of kind of music they listen to. I wonder about these things because (hallelujah!) both GENIUSES OF CRACK and OUR NOISE focus on one specific subculture/age group. And thank God! For once I can really see myself in the characters of a book. I listen to the same music, I do the same things and I hang out with similar people. I have yet to read anything else that so accurately portrays, well...me and my peers! And what a nice change of pace! What other book can you read about a character who gets a tattoo of a Palace Brothers album title?! The characters may seem trite and foolish to those who are outside of this subculture (I can sorta see why people might not like this book, not everyone can relate), but I assure you...the characters are very real! Not all of the characters are very bright and they are not always cool, but then again not everyone can be so suave all the time! I'm hoping there is another sequel...I read OUR NOISE and GENIUSES.. back to back and now I miss the characters! I want to see what happens next...you see how they flounder...now i want to see how they get it together!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars How did this get published?, August 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Geniuses of Crack (Paperback)

Absolutely dreadful writing. Far too verbose with shallow characters and a weak plot.
On a positive note, it gives me hope that one day I can get published.