Customer Reviews

Meet the Annas: A Musical Novel

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

 

 

There is still such a fan following for 1960s girl groups that it's nice to see a solid novel using that era as a backdrop. This story is mostly set in present day, with numerous flashbacks to the 1960s to reveal glimpses of the storyline.

Mostly it's the story of Dink Stephenson, who as a young songwriter in the early 1960s, penned girl-group songs with his school chum, Princess. The scenes of how they started writing together and eventually hooked up with an unknown girl group (and helped them become successful) were my favorite parts because they seemed so authentic and serve as a rare glimpse of what that life could have been like.

But most readers will be entranced with Anna herself, who by the photo on the cover seems designed to look like Ronnie Bennett, lead singer of the Ronettes. Like Ronnie, Anna was a good girl who just acted bad, dressing in tight dresses and using scandalous amounts of eye makeup. In fact, the Annas seem patterned heavily on the Ronettes, as the two other members are Anna's sister and cousin. It's no surprise that a leading character is "Punky" Solomon, whose initials happen to be the same as legendary girl-group producer Phil Spector. In fact, much of the novel centers on a trial for songwriting credits with Dink, our leading man, vs. Phil--oops, I mean Punky.

Like in the old days, producers slapped their own name and sometimes that of business associates on the songwriting credits to distribute the cash in the way they wanted. In this case, Dink and Princess are the sole writers of "Love Will Cut You Like a Knife," the last song of the Annas which flopped in the 1960s but in present day has come back as a retro hit and is widely used in commercials--thus prompting the lawsuit. In this story, Punky had added his own name as songwriter (if you didn't believe he was patterned after Spector, that should do it) along with that of his thug friend Manny.

Actually, the book is fiction, since in this story Anna herself died under mysterious circumstances back in the 1960s. As the trial unfolds, we learn how many of the men around Anna loved her--and the only one she really loved in turn.

The discovery of Anna's secret diary, Manny turning violent, and other twists really give the ending of this book a punch. If you want a captivating story, you have it here. If you want to re-live the 1960s from the inside perspective, that's here, too, in rich detail--writing songs on the old piano while Mom yells from downstairs; finding raw talent at a local club; being in the studio with a talented producer who creates a special sound; being young and less jaded and seeing the future as a bright pathway ahead.

Meet the Annas is the compelling story of a girl-group trio who had their 15 minutes of fame in the 1960s but who left behind a trail of mystery, heartbreak and mayhem that followed their collaborators into present day.

It's a well-written story that drives you page to page, the story beginning with songwriter Dink's lawsuit against legendary producer "Punky" Solomon over songwriting credits for a 1960s flop from the Annas that has since transformed itself into a gold mine for being used in current-day commercials.

Dink loved Anna back then but has since retreated to a quiet life as a high school music teacher in Arizona. The lawsuit brings him back to New York, back to the old gang, and back to old memories that uncover secrets of the past.

This novel has it all: the fun and innocence of bringing an unknown group to the top in the 1960s; the seamier side of music-business money; and a deep, changing mystery that surprises you at the end. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, there's even not one but two new twists that pitch the story to an even higher level. An engrossing, fun read!

I absolutely loved reading this novel! I read it in 9 days and had I not been required to go and earn a living everyday, I would have read it one sitting. It's a tense yet poetic yearning for a time, music and attitude long confined to the realms of memory. It's also a great murder-mystery story without stale cliches and with enough unexpected twists that will leave the reader (well, me at least) open-jawed. It's also punctuated by vivid characterisations and engagingly real human relationships. And this leads me to my one major criticism of Meet The Annas in that it's abundantly clear that story is pretty much a re-write of the real life stories of Phil Spector and The Ronettes with a few juicier elements thrown in for the purposes of the novel. Even the court case stems from the true story (The Ronettes sued Spector for unpaid royalties at some stage). So in that regard, there is a slightly disappointing lack of imagination at work in places and I feel that maybe Dunn could have done more to make his main characters more distinct from their real-life inspirations.

However, the positives of this novel ultimately outweigh that (very) minor quibble. The embellishments that he adds to the "true" story are so clever and well-thought out that while you're reading it, you hardly notice that the templates for the characters were real people. Structure-wise, the story is told in Godfather II-style timeshifts, flitting effortlessly from the youthful optimism and dreaminess of '60s Queens and LA to the burnt-out, regretful middle-age of '90s Manhattan. Throughout the novel, there is an undercurrent of sadness, of places and people gone forever through the ravages of time. There's a great scene when the central character finds himself walking around the city one evening and finding a record store with outrageous prices for girl group memorabilia and wondering to himself how this "old stuff" came to have such tremendous monetary value, a situation I'm sure we've all found ourselves in.

Another great thing about this book is that Dunn clearly loves the old Rock 'n' Roll and Pop of the '60s. How many people writing about this kind of stuff these days can you say that about? And all the little details, the fashions, recording sessions, what music meant to people back then etc, he gets bang on, absolutely right.

I'm really glad someone like Dunn exists, someone who has such a sharp imagination, engaging literary style and a genuine love for Rock 'n' Roll, a love that's going increasingly out of fashion as each year goes by. Not to mention a story telling ability that lingers with you for days afterwards.

4.8 stars.

Meet The Annas is a very entertaining novel that was inspired by the story of real life group The Ronettes. The narrator is a songwriter who is suing an eccentric producer for royalties on a song that he wrote back in the 1960s. The song originally flopped upon it's release, but in modern times, has become a staple in many commercials and movies.

The story goes back and forth from modern day NYC, to the 60s scene in NY and LA. This book is a must for any fan of 60s nostalgia. It is very well written and contains many surprises throughout.

"Meet the Annas" is, by far, one of the best novels to come around in a long time, and showcases a forgotten genre of music, the girl groups of the 1960's. Robert Dunn has written a novel that completely immerses the reader into those early years. A fictional account narrated by the songwriter Larry "Dink" Stephenson about the love of his life, Anna Dubower, lead singer of The Annas, we get a glimpse, through his eyes, of what the rock-n-roll industry must have been like in those early days, and how it all came crashing down at the beginning of the British Invasion.

The story is so well written that the reader actually becomes Dink Stephenson and lives his life as if the reader was actually there, experiencing the successes, happiness, longing, and deep sense of loss he felt. The reader will also observe the lawsuit that Dink has brought against his old "friends," Punky and Manny, and be moved by the torrent of those forgotten "perfect dreams" Dink thought he left behind that the trial brings back to the surface for all to see.

"Meet the Annas" is chock full of raw emotions, half-truths barely spoken, and secrets that keep themselves hidden until finally, when you're sure the secret will never be revealed, it suddenly springs upon you like a tiger on the hunt.

Flash backs and flash forwards will keep the reader reeling like a punch-drunk boxer, alternating between the 1960's recording sessions in LA, Dink's home in Kew Gardens, and the lawsuit 30 years later. Yet the reader never gets lost, easily keeping pace with the frequent time warps back and forth, while the two main characters fairly drown you in the flash flood of their thoughts, their desires, their unbridled passions.

Mr. Dunn must be congratulated for writing a story that is virtually impossible to put down. Once you start reading, you'll find you just can't wait to see what will happen on the next page. You'll never quite be able to steel yourself against the soaring wonder, the passionate love that catches you in its grip and won't let go, the dark and seemingly bottomless pit of loss and remorse, and the constant roller-coaster ride between them all.

Mr. Dunn's story is much more than an experience -- it's a transfiguration brought about by the projections of love and fondness from Dink and Anna that will surround you in their warm embrace. What more can one say? Read the book and find out for yourself.

But be warned -- once you start reading, you won't want to stop. Even when the story ends, you'll be left hanging by the songwriter and his love, as if they had more to say but couldn't, or wouldn't, say it. I doubt that anyone who reads this narrative will have a dry eye when they get to the end, compelling the reader to read the narrative again from the beginning, and you'll learn why love can sometimes "cut you like a knife."