Winner of the Pulitzer Prize (2001) and on the 1001 Books List.

Readers will be pleased to discover that the star-crossed marriage of lucid prose and expertly deployed postmodern switcheroos that helped shoot Egan to the top of the genre-bending new school is alive in well in this graceful yet wild novel. We begin in contemporaryish New York with kleptomaniac Sasha and her boss, rising music producer Bennie Salazar, before flashing back, with Bennie, to the glory days of Bay Area punk rock, and eventually forward, with Sasha, to a settled life. By then, Egan has accrued tertiary characters, like Scotty Hausmann, Bennie's one-time bandmate who all but dropped out of society, and Alex, who goes on a date with Sasha and later witnesses the future of the music industry. Egan's overarching concerns are about how rebellion ages, influence corrupts, habits turn to addictions, and lifelong friendships fluctuate and turn. Or as one character asks, How did I go from being a rock star to being a fat fuck no one cares about? Egan answers the question elegantly, though not straight on, as this powerful novel chronicles how and why we change, even as the song stays the same.
Publishers Weekly (Jan 31, 2011)

Based on what I'd heard about this book over the years, I went into it expecting to be vaguely disappointed. But I wasn't at all. After the first few chapters I did wonder what all the fuss was about, but then it grew on me. It certainly is different. The chapters are from different points of view, in different time periods, including a 75 page "slide diary" by a young girl about her family. It's at times weird, funny and sad, as the narrative weaves in and out of the characters lives over time, going forward and backwards, showing us the connections at the same time as the rifts and tragedies. By the end I was really enjoying it and overall thought it clever rather than pretentious. It's a very humane look at how we as individuals connect with each other, and how we all grow up, change, and grow older.

Heading off with friends to mcsar as a 1001 wishlist tag.

Thanks for the tag. Quite intrigued by your journal entry. I look forward to reading it.

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Reserved as a tag forward to bookfrogster for shnedwards.

Just finished this. Like crimson-tide, this one grew on me. The first few chapters were still good, it's just not something I think would make the 1001 book list, and then something clicked. Very happy to have read this. And now it is going to bookfrogster as a wishlist tag. Happy reading!

Received in a huge book parcel from Mcsar. Thank you for granting one of my wishes!

This was really interesting as I've just read The Words of Every Song by Liz Moore which has a similar group of narratives over time. I really enjoyed the links between the stories and that it wasn't a straight timeline. I really liked how the characters changed over time too, some happier than others. I enjoyed the different voices of the characters, especially the slide diary. Thanks very much for sending this one.

And off it goes to Cross-patch for the wishlist tag game. Happy reading!

Much anticipated. Thank you