Amazon.com Review
Twentysomething New York had its
Bright Lights, Big City. Pre-grad L.A. had its
Less Than Zero. And now thirtysomething, post-grunge Seattle has its
Never Mind Nirvana (a less-than-clever twist on the title of a seminal album). In Mark Lindquist's third novel, we find Peter Tyler at a crossroads. He's traded in his gig as a bassist with a quasi-successful grunge band for a respectable career in law. Instead of flannel he wears suits, and instead of taking the bus he zips around town in a Volvo. Emotionally, however, this paragon of maturity is still a kid: he hangs in the same bars, treats women merely as potential conquests (only now he's dating the little sisters of the strippers and groupies who used to notch his bedpost), and still slips the same old CDs onto his stereo.
In the midst of this adolescent purgatory, a date-rape case lands on Peter's desk, and he finds himself prosecuting an old rock-star friend for committing an act he himself may have committed in the past. Time to grow up? Unfortunately not: throughout Never Mind Nirvana, the intricacies and ambiguities of the case often take a backseat to Tyler's drunken angst. When his hero is grappling with the grayest, most subtle aspects of the trial, Lindquist does imbue him with a certain depth and compassion. Otherwise, his novel can seem a mere exercise in name-dropping: the washed-up rock stars who populate Seattle's nightlife, the bartenders who serve their scotch, and the bouncers who toss them out into the rainy streets. And it's no consolation to discover that Lindquist's portrayal of Seattle is technically accurate. Substituting fact for fiction, he's used a map and a phonebook--and not enough imagination. --Tod Nelson
From Publishers Weekly
A former star of Seattle's legendary grunge scene is forced to grapple with his past in this poorly imagined novel about youth passing into angst-ridden middle age by the author of Carnival Desires. Like the author, Pete Tyler is a deputy prosecutor of sex crimes. In his late 30s, he has a comfortable albeit empty life in Seattle that revolves around getting drunk and flirting with grunge's female disciples. But he is forced to confront his past directly when he becomes the prosecuting attorney in a date-rape case in which the defendant is a fellow musician from the days when Pete was also in an underground band. Now in a suit and tie, Pete is forced to reexamine what he was and has become. After excessive drinking and meaningless sexual encounters, Pete concludes he will marry to avoid vacuity, though he doesn't know when or to whom. His affluent sister and mother approve, but his attempts to act like a committed adult all end in disappointment. Hitting bottom when his romantic interest, Esm?, abandons him for the safety of law school, Pete abandons himself to a dissolute life. The reader is exposed to wearying lists of bands and ex-girlfriends and detailed directions to clubs and bars as Pete indulges in memories of being a young musician living with a punk girl named Beth. After the rape case closes, Pete is still alone and hung over, confident that beyond happiness lies "emptiness and pain and regret." With chapters as short as one page, this is a fast-paced study of puer aeternis overflowing with relatively obscure references to pop culture. But for those who were or are part of the scene Lindquist chronicles, the colorful legal battle and the hordes of monosyllabic hipsters who swarm through this world-weary paean to Seattle may indeed resonate. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
