Banned for Life

Banned for Life

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4.53 of 5 stars 4.53  ·  rating details  ·  74 ratings  ·  29 reviews
For almost two decades, rumors have swirled around Jim Cassady, the quasi-legendary punk-rock frontman who disappeared without a trace after his girlfriend’s apparent suicide. Though largely written off as dead, some claim to have had brushes with Cassady, now said to be homeless and bumming change on the streets of his native Los Angeles. Intrigued, Jason Maddox, a would-...more
Paperback, 416 pages
Published May 5th 2009 by And/Or Press
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Kerry
I'd read D.R. Haney's collection of personal essays, Subversia, and really enjoyed it. This naturally lead me to buy a copy of this, his novel. And guess what? I loved it! There is so much STORY in this story! Many people will tell you this is a punk rock novel, but that is so misleading! It's about family and where you come from and where you want to go and how you get there and don't get there. It's about friendships, good ones and bad ones and ones that are both. It's about music and movies a...more
Maureen
duke haney's writing voice is completely intimate, and mesmerizing, and this is a remarkable debut novel. banned for life moves along at a good clip, keeps you guessing, and pushes you deeper into the lives of his wonderfully wrought characters until you are completely immersed in the world of his book. i talked a lot to this book while reading it: arguing with the characters, who felt like friends of mine, nodding with satisfaction when they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, cringing wh...more
Allie
Banned for Life starts out much like other memoir-style stories, with the main character Jason relating some tale from his past that's bound to lead someplace, but quickly becomes something more. After you've found yourself hooked by the story you realize that what's really holding your attention is not just the story, but also the way it's told. The writing is so honest, so raw and truthful as Jason tells of his experiences and feelings and the complicated situations that all eventually brought...more
Dane O'Leary
I enjoyed this book so much that I don't even know where to start this review.

I suppose I could start by saying that I'm extremely picky about the fiction that's written today. Oftentimes it's unoriginal, uninspired, formulaic garbage that lacks any romance and leaves me feeling frustrated because it's clear that the author is trying far too hard to write the next Harry Potter or Twilight series with the movie and merchandising deals that come along with it. And actually, that's another thing I...more
Ben Loory
this book is remarkable for two reasons. first, because it has a character in it that is absolutely real. i don't generally read for character, but every now and then one of them leaps out at me and i go, oh, look, a character, that's great! i mean like holden caulfield or tarzan or queequeg or whatever. the character peewee in this book is one of those. really; he's gonna live in my head now. him and his buddy sammy glick (who maybe are cousins? they have a lot in common).

second reason this boo...more
Jessica
Surprisingly, I enjoyed this book very much! It was fast paced and despite my reservations about not being able to relate to a punk rock novel, I found myself drawn into the story. It's not just the plot, the characters were so real and alive that I felt like I knew them. Sometimes it was as if I had just met Jason and he was running his mouth off telling me about his life. Although he is practically a stranger, he spared no details and yet I was not offended.

* I received this book through The N...more
Leslie Wilkins
I read this for GoodRead's The Next Best Book Club, where the author participated in the discussion, which definitely added to my enjoyment of the book. Honestly, I liked the book much more than I expected to, not having much to related to the underground punk scene of the late 80's / early 90's. But the book is about much more than that. It's about relationships, and about the influence of music, no matter the genre.
Scott
D.R. Haney's novel Banned for Life, may be the best rock & roll novel ever. It is actually one of my very favorite novels I have ever read of any genre. Rock & Roll/Punk is kind of the overall arch of the book. However, much more importantly, the novel has to do with growing up, and how one deals with the changes of the people growing up around them and their own changes...letting go, moving on, keeping parts of our past with us. I know I am not making this sound like the most spectacula...more
Ethan
As a teenager, I read the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I remember being attracted to the idea of kids who went against the social norm and really enjoyed reading the novel. Now, many years later, I find myself in awe at the power of another novel about young "punks" and growing up. In Banned for Life, author D.R. Haney captures the realism and grit of growing up an outsider, on a level I have never experienced before.

The novel is narrated by Jason Maddox, a struggling filmmaker who recall...more
Rebecca
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. However, I feel like I need to make a disclaimer here because I know many of you are sensitive about profanity in books and this one has A LOT. You don't even get through the first line without encountering the f-word (best first line of a book ever, by the way). Personally, I wasn't offended by the language in the book. I thought it added a genuine voice to the character, much as I felt toward the profanity used in Lush Life by Richard Price. But, I felt like...more
Sean Beaudoin
This is a love story. A story about embracing people you can't have, music you can't contain, movies you can't make money off of, and people too damaged by the sort of self-destructive brilliance that makes great art. We worship these people from afar, but are rarely in the car or the alley with them, mopping up teeth, realizing what the day to day cost of a true lack of compromise really is. This book captures that feeling, as well as a period of time when punk was vital, the Corporatocracy was...more
Lori
Review copy.

Every once in awhile, I find myself reading a book that surprises me. A book that amazes me. A book that demands attention. A book that forces me to read it slowly, and thoroughly, in an effort to make it last. This is one of those books.

D.R. Haney's book was recommended to me by Greg Olear (author of "Totally Killer") - and I am so glad that he did, because had he not, I fear I may never have come across it on my own. And I want to thank Haney for mailing me a copy to review.

D.R. Ha...more
J.M.
Jun 25, 2009 J.M. marked it as wishlist
Saw this on the Goodreads Giveaways and thought it looked neat.
Molly
This book began with a great (if profane) opening line and managed to keep a frenetic pace as we journey through through the youth and early adulthood of the narrator, who we meet in high school as a preppy jock and follow into the punk rock scene and beyond. Banned For Life is an authentic and faithful representation of this musical movement in the late '70s and early '80s, and as someone who was on the tail end of that trend, it brought back a lot of memories of bands I haven't listened to or...more
Gillian
“Banned for Life” is an amazing book; it well deserves all five stars. The book is written like a memoir. I felt like I was sitting with the author while he told me about his crazy past. I especially loved the characters in ”Banned.” They seemed so real. I had a clear picture in my head of who they were and what they looked like. Some of the characters in this book reminded me of some of the crazy friends I’ve had in the past.

“Banned For Life” is the kind of book I’d love to see been made into a...more
William
In last January's issue of TANK*, D.R. Haney quoted Marlon Brando as saying "We've come to replace art with craft and craft with cleverness."

Haney's first book 'Banned for Life' seems hellbent on destroying all three. Born out of this is a type of raw fiction which redeems itself in the telling--a cocky confessional as introspective as it is explosive. It's a whopper of a book at 405 pages and crammed with enough story and cinematic scope to give peter jackson wet dreams, but reads like a devil'...more
Stephen Bramlett
A friend sent me the book. Though it didn't look like something I would embrace, once I started I was driven by the compelling story, the well developed characters, and the marvelous prose. Haney's story development and style reminds me of Doctorow. The main character is one of those men-on-a-mission to cast off the tag of being damaged goods while working within his own value system - all this in a setting of LA's soul-less one-dimensional lifestyles. This book deserves a wide audience.
Kim
This is the first book I've read in a long time that I’ve felt a personal connection to. That’s the main reason why I’m giving Banned For Life 5 stars. To me, a good book will suck you in and hold you as an interested spectator. A great book, will reach inside and hold you by the heart until the end—and then some.

For anyone who has ever worked towards artistic pursuits, I think you will find the book inspiring. Maybe even validating. I did.

I also love the realities of the book. Artistic pursuits...more
Greg Olear
Banned For Life is about punk rock? Sure, just like Moby-Dick is about whales. This is the thrilling story of Jason Maddox, 80s musician turned 90s screenwriter, who embarks on an Ahab-like quest of his own -- although the blubbery object of his fascination is a vanished punk-poet.

Like Melville, D.R. Haney has created a world so rich in detail, so authentic, so damned cool, you want to take up a harpoon -- or, in this case, a guitar -- and join the fray. Banned For Life is literary fiction at i...more
Khris Sellin
How could I not love a book that somehow mentions Joey Shithead of DOA -AND Wanda Jackson???
No, this book is so much more than that. It's about the '80s punk rock scene, it's about friendship, love, loss, grief, the excesses of LA and the Hollywood wannabes scene, life quests, soul-searching...
This book has it all. The characters are so real.
Joe
Loved it. Great story packed within realistic vignettes of life in a band, as well as the realities of post-band adulthood.

The story reads at a furious pace, alternating between present day life and the protagonist's past. Super inventive plot points buck cliches like a bronco on steroids- nothing is trite in this book. Characters are developed well, and the undercurrents of music and relationships are powerful and extremely well-done.

Music fans will enjoy the backstories of the author's bands a...more
D.R. Haney
May 29, 2009 D.R. Haney rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  (Review from the author)
I'm not going to review this book, as I'm the author, except to give it five stars. It took me nine years to write, and I figure for that reason alone I've earned my own high rating.
Sara Habein
Apr 01, 2012 Sara Habein rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Sara by: Lori
Shelves: own
If anything, Banned For Life is about how one does not have to sacrifice a punk mentality with age, and that punk does not come at the expense of happiness. Yes, punk is a reaction, and often an anger against the perceived wrongs in the world, but it's also this: If we weren't so hellbent on screwing each other over, if we were all able to do what we want, we might be happy.

(My full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)
Nick Belardes
Great fiction book on the counterculture of the 1980s and 1990s that reads like an autobiography...
Art Edwards
Easily one of the best rock lit titles I've ever read.

People talk a lot about Peewee, but for my money, I loved the rendering of Irina, a lovely girl who learns her own mind and unconscious motives as the drama unfolds. So many riveting characters. Such tough language. This is not MFA writing.
Darcia Helle
This is a coming of age story that explores human nature and the choices we make through a journey of sex, drugs and rock & roll. Haney takes us through the punk rock movement, the challenges and rewards of starting a band, and the difficulties of finding a balance between doing what we love and becoming responsible adults. Mixed in there is heartbreak and love, friendship and loss.

Banned For Life is a well written, captivating story with memorable characters. Not only is this an excellent...more
Donna
read with a group - didn't like the language, which stopped me from feeling or seeing the story
Sydney
short review is: this book is sincerely incredible. I consistantly push this book onto friends, forcing them to also bask in its glory.
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“It all began with a fuck. What doesn't? I fucked the wrong person; I fucked up the right one; somebody played me a song. It changed my whole life, that song. That's why I later went to so much trouble to find the guy who wrote and sang it.” 6 people liked it
“[...] nothing comes from comfort but the fear of losing it, and that's exactly where my generation made its big mistake. Yet discomfort's no good either. There's just no winning, is there? Do it one way and lose your soul; do it the other way and lose your livelihood. You guys who run the world, you've got all the bases covered.” 4 people liked it
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