From Publishers Weekly
Recent college grad Gary Benchley leaves dull-but-secure Albany for the rock hopeful's paradise of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in Harper's editor Ford's debut. By day, Gary slaves as a temp at consultancy BrandSolve. In his off hours, he forms Schizopolis, Brooklyn's most diverse indie-prog band, with his gay co-worker on synth, a black music journalist on bass and a "hot chick" drummer. Gently mimicking MTV's Behind the Music, Ford follows Schizopolis as it comes together, does small gigs, signs with a small label, records an album and sets out in a van to tour as an opening act. Girlfriend Para, a few years older, obsessively blogs each stage of her and Gary's tepid romance, talks of pregnancy and performs potential groupie cock-blocks, while bandmate Katherine sends sparks Gary's way. Ford, who is also an NPR commentator, nicely captures the smalltown feeling of Williamsburg, where the 20-something rock and arts scenes are incestuous, shallow and deadly serious. Gary's first person is breezy and believable (the novel was first serialized online with Gary's byline, and people wrote in to cheer him on), and the rock minutiae, immature personae and clotted relationships are dead-on. For anyone now in their 30s with past musical ambitions, it's a funny, rueful read. (Oct.)
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Twentysomething aspiring musician Gary Benchley moves from dead-end Albany to "hip" Brooklyn with one goal in mind: "Rock out." However, it turns out that it's a "terrible time to rock, but a terrific time for data entry." While working a temp job, Gary holds firmly to his dream; first he has business cards made up identifying him as a rock star, and then he meets a gay synth player and decides to put together the world's most inclusive band, recruiting a sexy female drummer and a dreadlocked black bassist (who accuses Gary of racial profiling but agrees to join the band anyway). They call themselves Schizopolis, write and record songs such as "We're All Annoying Together," and ultimately land a recording contract and a tour. But even the wildly optimistic Gary has to concede that he is disappointed, especially when his one groupie turns out to be a registered Republican who is a big fan of the Left Behind series. Out of his exceedingly droll take on the indie music scene, Ford fashions a novel that just keeps getting funnier. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
