Review of The Last Mad Surge of Youth on Tad Williams' 'blog
British writer Mark Hodkinson’s debut novel The Last Mad Surge Of Youth (Pomona Books), for instance, manages to finesse a difficult deed. Its focus is the career of Killing Stars, a British post-Punk group of the early 80s, from DIY, John Peel-fixated, cassette-and-Xerox-fanzine origins to a meagre blip of commercial success mid-decade.
Flash forward to The Oughts: Killing Stars' front man John Barrett is coping poorly with a rapidly crumbling solo career, alienated from family and dulled by drink. Eventually, Barrett manages to earn an extra 15 of media attention, with his booze-fueled truth attack on a daytime TV talk show. His teenage friend and band-mate Carey, now a reporter for a local daily, reconnects to help his old pal write a cash-in memoir. Most of the book ping-pongs from the unfortunate reality of Carey and Barrett’s present state, in which reopened wounds to their friendship figure highly, to the musical aspirations and social activism of their earlier lives.
It’s never easy, when it comes to novels about Rock, to vividly convey
the enthusiasm, hope and intent being young and anywhere near a mike or guitar
can generate. Many such books by those who’ve tried end up reading like
the product of a slumming, or worse, uninformed author. This book clearly
comes from a place of memory still fresh in Hodkinson’s mind (and his
potential reading public, with luck), and is all the better for that knowledge.
A sharp read.
by MLH, published on 10 October 2009.