Customer Reviews

Spider Kiss

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

 

 

Well, maybe not Elvis, but Elvis could play him perfectly in a movie version (if there were a movie version, and if Elvis would take such an unflattering role, and if he weren't old and, not to mince words, dead). Where was I. Yes, it's a full-length Ellison novel, one of his earliest, about a country boy who becomes a huge rock star. The interesting stuff is Ellison's creation of a character who is able to come across as a charming kid and a glamorous star, while gradually being revealed to us as a real scum of a human being. Ellison does it beautifully, from his vantage point as someone who has clearly spent too much time hanging around people in the showbiz industry

I suspect that some of the reviewers here were not born yet when this book was written (1961). It is very much a piece of its time and era, back when Ellison really *was* an Angry Young Man (and not a Cranky Old Fart). It wasn't his best book, by any means, but it gives a cynical view of an industry that even then, used people. Yes, the rockabilly star might remind you of Elvis, but what happens might also remind you of the much older tale of Fatty Arbuckle. I read the book in the early 70s, and some of the imagery is still with me. I can still remember the off-hand comment about the visual effect of one-piece girdles, and I remember having to ask someone what it meant to have the cylinders in one's Mercedes re-bored. If you've read The Web of the City, you should read this too.

I can't believe the bevy of 2-star reviews regarding this work! by people who claim to be H.E. fans, no less!! should i mention this is routinely cited as one of the best rock & roll stories EVER?! people, this novel was published in 1961, it's one of Harlan's early works & like many such pieces it has a very gritty & urban quality about it. the story may seem trite in this day & age, but remember that 1961 was far before the whole "debauched rock star" persona was etched into the collective American unconscious. and even though the story might be familiar, don't forget that the protagonist of the tale ISN'T the rock star! and his story makes the book that much better (btw, it wasn't Elvis that the rockstar character was based on, it was Jerry Lee Lewis.) i believe there are a cabal of "Harlan purists" who chafe at the idea of a young H.E. cranking out such hardboiled non-fantasy-oriented material, and as such seem to roll their eyes at anything this isn't I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, or Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World. possibly because Spider Kiss is one novel that you don't have to be a rabid H.E. fan to enjoy. pick this one up and judge for yourself. not to mention, it's always worthwhile picking up an Ellison book before it goes out of print, as they all-too-often do.

Some books introduce us to characters we come to love and adore. In our minds they transform into parents, teachers, siblings or lovers. These are the characters that grab our imagination and continue to move us through the story with a strong, swift hand. And then there are books who give us characters that we know a little too well to like, characters that are more comprised of bits and pieces of ourselves than we'd like to acknowledge. And then there are books that give us characters we hate so strongly that they hold more power over us than the other two combined. Spider Kiss possesses the most striking example of the third and more than a healthy dose of the second, so naturally, I found it impossible to put down.

Music from this era has never completely done it for me. I like it, it's nice, I have plenty of it on my ipod. But an entire book centered around the subject based in a time period I think is rather dull? Not very exciting stuff. And yet as the story progresses, as the characters fall into a never ending cycle of greed and depravity all of this slips away because really, the story is universal. The basic frame of the plot is only a cleverly built vehicle for the real meat of the story. Ellison could have based it anywhere on anyone and it would have packed the same punch.

There's really not much more to say other than for me to express my utter awe that this book doesn't have more reviews yet. Ellison's prose jack knifes off the page as he tackles his subject. The novel its self is an eerie blend of social criticism, moral rebuke, demonology, feminist telling and good old fashioned noir pulp. If you haven't read it do so now.

I picked up this novel over the summer and couldn't put it down except for those frequent moments when I simply had to bask in the glory of how great the writing is. It's one of Ellison's best.

Having read most of the works of Harlan Ellison, I was a little scared by all the low-star reviews about this book before I started reading it. I am also from a different generation from the one portrayed in this novel and don't particularly care for "Rockabilly"-type music.

I kept my expectations low going into this novel.

In spite of this, Harlan Ellison's "hold nothing back" way with words grabbed my attention like a tractor-beam and sucked me in all the way to the end of the novel.

The story is your basic, "country bumpkin gets a taste of the fame-drug and rides that roller coaster as far as it will go" sort. What adds a nice extra dimension to the work are the perspectives of the "puppet masters", the guys who hold the contract of their budding young talent.
Add in to the mix a series of unfortunate events and some unique observations about the human condition and you have yourself another superb story by Harlan Ellison.

But what really makes this book worth reading comes only after one has finished reading it. When you read about the fate of this 50s and 60s-era protagonist you can't help but realize that so many of the things that happened to him are just as pertinent and relative when one looks at the tabloids and Hollywood scandals of today, 2010.

Some things haven't changed in 50 years.

Ellison's novel of a 50's-era rockabilly star (the book was originally titled "Rockabilly") is energetically written and a page-turner, but it's marred by Ellison's own outlook. Ellison's contempt not only for the character but also for rock`n'roll in general drips off every page. It spoiled the book for me, one that I genuinely tried to enjoy.

Pre Fab Four novel of the ups and downs of being an up and coming "Rock" star. Not for the Sci Fi fan, more of a Stephen King novel in some ways.