Customer Reviews

The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Hunger Bone is a wonderful collection of short stories strung together with shorter stories, prose poems, to give the collection texture and contribute to the creation of a world -- the world of travelling rock and roll musicians. The characters are beautifully drawn, and the stories reveal the thrills and trials of such a life. There's lots of humor here, and cynical glimpses of the audience's behavior on a dance floor when energy is high and inhibitions are low. We see the economic struggles of the musicians, their loyalties to each other, and points when those loyalties break down. The details are clear and ring true, and the tales are moving. Any lover of rock and roll would love this book. It's great. The elegant prose is so beautiful -- musical, in fact.

This review is a response to Sara Brady's review, titled "This writer will never make any money!". While it's true that the stories in this collection lack life and death climaxes, I completely disagree with her statement that "Something needs to happen in a story--an abortion, a fight, an accident--SOMETHING." Many great stories revolve around the idea that "something" could happen, or that "something" has already happened.

If she is saying that in order to "make money" the author should start including more action into her work, she may be right, but perhaps the reviewer should consider the notion that an author sometimes believes so strongly in his/her style that changing it in order to please just enough morons to get rich is out of the question.

For those of you who enjoy good writing and a peek into a subculture that is rarely exposed, I recommend this book. Anyone who has ever been involved in the small time music scene should pick this up because it gracefully sheds a little light into the dark corners where most of the musicians in this country are piled atop one another, waiting and working their ass off for a break.

I spent more than 5 years slogging it out in a bar band myself, so I can identify with this book. Debra Marquart writes from such a unique perspective that makes this book a very entertaining read indeed.

I think that the average reader is in for a treat with this book. However, it really helps if you have been in a band, have seen This is Spinal Tap more than 5 times, and are on a first-name basis with the employees of your favorite local guitar shop!

The stories in here really hit home for me. And I got a really good laugh out of it too. The characterizations are dead-on accurate.

I read the stories of Debra Marquart's THE HUNGER BONE with great pleasure. The music, of course, is in the language, which sings in every story. These stories crackle with energy, with an alive mind that registers the crudities and the nuances of the rock scene. The stories are funny, laughing-out-loud funny, but the humor never obscures the sadness, sometimes the desperation, that always nags at Marquart's road musicians. The best moments, when the music is right or the landscape lights up at dawn after a long night's driving, are ephemeral. And the road spools on out in front of the van.

These stories might not make you want to be a road musician, but they will make you feel like you have been. It's a ride!

Another collection of actionless short stories by yet another tenured academic "writer." When will these academic authors learn that in order to make money as writers they must first tell intelligent, meaningful, gripping, action-packed stories? Don't look for a novel from Miss Marquart--she hasn't got the range. Something needs to happen in a story--an abortion, a fight, an accident--SOMETHING. Nothing happens here; the musicians go from town to town. Even more distressing is the author's obvious complexes and hatreds relating to men. Pass this one by!