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A review by captainfez
I Play the Drums in a Band Called Okay by Toby Litt
5.0
This is the first of Toby Litt's books that I've read. It's pretty much ensured that it won't be the last.
The novel charts the course of a [fictitious] Canadian indie band called Okay (though it's lowercase italics, thanks) through the recollections of its drummer. (He's named after a sexually transmitted disease, as are all of the quartet.)
It's structured as a series of short stories, and they cover the gamut of band experiences: shitty venues, groupie-shagging, drugs, death, religion, booze, marriage, music and friendship.
While it's deceptively easy to read, and features a lot of namedropping (from Bono to Leonard Cohen, via Dylan and Anal Cunt), Litt's writing ensures that you never question the authorial voice. He's so tuned in (!) to what happens between bands, their fans and their families that I still have to remind myself that the narrator is a creation.
Litt's taken a tale about music and made it the vehicle for a story that's really about maturity - or coming to terms with the struggles that face one on the path to it. There's deep meaning - or the search for same - inside these tales of excess and 4/4 beats.
If you're a music nerd of any sort, then you MUST read this book. Must. Particularly if you're an Indie music nerd. Or Canadian.
The novel charts the course of a [fictitious] Canadian indie band called Okay (though it's lowercase italics, thanks) through the recollections of its drummer. (He's named after a sexually transmitted disease, as are all of the quartet.)
It's structured as a series of short stories, and they cover the gamut of band experiences: shitty venues, groupie-shagging, drugs, death, religion, booze, marriage, music and friendship.
While it's deceptively easy to read, and features a lot of namedropping (from Bono to Leonard Cohen, via Dylan and Anal Cunt), Litt's writing ensures that you never question the authorial voice. He's so tuned in (!) to what happens between bands, their fans and their families that I still have to remind myself that the narrator is a creation.
Litt's taken a tale about music and made it the vehicle for a story that's really about maturity - or coming to terms with the struggles that face one on the path to it. There's deep meaning - or the search for same - inside these tales of excess and 4/4 beats.
If you're a music nerd of any sort, then you MUST read this book. Must. Particularly if you're an Indie music nerd. Or Canadian.