Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me [Paperback]

Martin Millar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

Glasgow, 1972. All the coolest kids in town are lining up for Led Zeppelin tickets. Overhead, a Zeppelin approaches. Its passengers—Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Hank Williams—think it’s worth leaving heaven to see the greatest rock band in the world. Even the fairies are fans. Meanwhile, nerdy Martin and his equally nerdy best friend Greg have overactive imaginations. When they aren’t fighting the monstrous hordes of Xotha, they are competing for the attentions of a popular (read: unattainable) girl named Suzy. She’s not likely to ditch Zed, the hippest boy in the school, for the likes of them, is she? Then again, with Led Zeppelin on the way, it feels like anything can happen. Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me takes readers on a ride through Martin’s angsty and fumbling youth, when Led Zeppelin comes to Glasgow and rocks Martin’s world, and through his angstridden and fumbling adult years, when he learns what can’t be denied: love may break your heart, but Led Zeppelin will never let you down.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Millar (Lonely Werewolf Girl; The Good Fairies of New York) is laconic as ever in this loving tribute to disaffection and the hopefulness of youth. It's 1972, and for 15-year-old Martin Millar, who narrates, it's a time of hazy ambivalence and chronic dissatisfaction. Millar and his best friend, Greg, vie for the attention of Suzy (though she has a boyfriend) and play make-believe games in which they are masters of the Fabulous Dragon Army of Gothar. The defining event of their young lives, a Led Zeppelin concert in Glasgow, is, of course, awesome, but after the postshow glow dims, Millar's personal life takes a few harsh blows. The author's prose is deliberately oversimplified (I know you have a short attention span, he explains), and while the result effectively portrays his resigned melancholy, the reader is often left in want of deeper self-reflection. Still, the character's passionate nostalgia for his one encounter with the best band in the world is an endearing reminder that fleeting happiness is better than none at all. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

World Fantasy Award winner Millar takes a break from sf with this funny look at teenage angst in 1972 Glasgow. Reading, at times, like an autobiographical account, the novel has two narrative strands, one following 14-year-old Martin, who is painfully self-conscious bordering on self-loathing; the other strand follows the adult Martin, who proves himself a stalwart friend to depressed single mother Manx and looks back at his awkward teenage years with a good deal of tenderness. Fourteen-year-old Martin is a Led Zeppelin fanatic who turns to the band to escape the pressures of school and his crush on Suzy, who, by virtue of her waist-length blond hair and trendy afghan coat, is going out with the coolest kid at school. Then, much to the teens’ amazement, Led Zeppelin announces their concert tour will pass through Glasgow. That pivotal evening not only shakes up the teens’ social dynamics but also provides Martin with the most satisfying two hours of his young life. Millar’s self-deprecating humor and wild enthusiasm for the music of his youth deepen the pull of this bittersweet read. --Joanne Wilkinson

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Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press; 1ST edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593762003
• ISBN-13: 978-1593762001
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #961,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can't argue with that, August 25, 2008

By 

J. Johnson (Yorba Linda, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me (Paperback)

I'm a fan of Martin Millar, so I was fully expecting this to be a good book. What I wasn't expecting was for it to be as emotionally involving as it turned out to be. Or how much it would end up meaning to me.

For one, it was shelved in the Science Fiction section of my local book store, which I can't for the life of me wrap my head around having now read it. While the book does feature dragons, fairies, a zeppelin full of ghosts, and the questionably mythical city of Atlantis; it's actually a beautifully honest, simple memoir of a teenage boy's romantic and social struggles on his way to see his favorite band in concert. (The account of that concert is also one of the most perfect descriptions of what it feels like seeing the band you idolize live that I've ever read.)

It's not just a book for Led Zeppelin fans. It could have been about any band, honestly. It is, however, a book for anyone who has ever been young, awkward, hopelessly in love, and turned to a band for comfort and salvation.

And it's my new favorite book. Period.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For fans of Zep... or, just fans of wonderful writing, July 2, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me (Paperback)

I started reading it last night, and read 33 chapters before having to put it down. It is excellent! Mainly because of the author's writing style. Cynical, funny, and to the point. It's the semi-autobiographical memoir of a 14 year old Led Zeppelin fan living in Glasgow, Scotland in 1972. I, for one, really like it. And when an author does a good job, I like to spread the word. So there it is!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than I could have hoped!, May 6, 2009

By 

Coy R. Powers - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me (Paperback)

Having only lately discovered Mr. Millar, I wasn't sure if Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me would be as ...er... up to snuff as his other works.
I was way off base with this worry. This title is far above and beyond what I could have dreamed.
It's a painfully honest look at what it means to be an adolescent boy, complete with all the humiliating flights of fancy, vicious spiteful wishful thinking, and ludicrous plotting that goes through a 14 year old's head.
Led Zeppelin is NOT the focus of this book, it could have been about any band. The point is more about how they affected him as a child, not what they sound like. Fill in your own favorite band, if Led Zeppelin doesn't do it for you.
Unlike most of what I read, I strongly recommend this to everyone.