Customer Reviews

You Think You Hear: A Novel

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

 

 

In his debut novel Matt O'Keefe presents an engaging cast of characters - some likable, others not - but all of them real. The details of life on the road are funny and poignant and perfectly drawn - I read this book while driving across the U.S., and kept hoping to run into Matt O'Keefe's narrator along the way. "You Think You Hear" is a great book that deserves a big audience.

I discovered this book at a discount book store in the clearance section, and took a chance. I began reading it the same night, and was unable to put it down. Matt O'Keefe's characters are personable, funny, and the story keeps you on your toes, wondering what will happen next. While reading, you almost feel as though you are on the road with these characters, experiencing everything they are. Take a chance, as I did, and go on the road with these four young people as they come into their own.

Matt O'Keefe's book is hysterical, but more importantly, it is honest. His characters: Lou, Cree, Tim, Joey and dozens of other colorful people say funny things, they say unfunny things, they say mean things, they say flawed things. They are human. How often do we as readers come across a piece of literature that is as reflective of ourselves and our society as this? It's as if Matt O'Keefe has known me all his life and knows MY friends. Through a vast knowledge of music and the beautiful landscape of America, O'Keefe does not set out to change the world nor does he intend to solve anything that incredibly important in the whole scheme of things. What he does accomplish, though, is an adventure into the minds of America's youths. You do not have to be music literate to love this book. But you have to have once been 18 or 30, or somewhere in between when you didn't know exactly what you were doing or where you were going, but you were loving the ride!

I found this painfully dull to read. The descriptive just went on and on. Do we really need to know how much time each member spends in the restroom, etc? I kept reading anyway to find that maybe something cool would happen and it never really did for me.

O'Keefe does a stupendous job with setting and detail. They draw the reader right in. But the characters he's created just aren't enough to carry the story. That was my biggest problem with the book. The roadie and the three band members are not enjoying themsleves. They're on tour, they are doing well, the band they are touring with has the number one song in the country and all they still can't seem to enjoy themselves. By the end of the story I was so disgusted with the hypocritical Cree and Lou the Loser that I didn't want to see either of them get what they wanted.