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58th out of 110 books
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34 voters
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How Soon Is Never?
by
Marc Spitz
There is a light and it never goes out . . . or is there?
Welcome to the big Reagan ’80s, where ketchup is a vegetable and the Cold War looms large and chilly. If like Joe Green you were coming of age during this boom era, your main concerns include one or more of the following: a rainbow assortment of Polo shirts worn with the collar flipped up, K-Swiss tennis shoes, a new...more
Welcome to the big Reagan ’80s, where ketchup is a vegetable and the Cold War looms large and chilly. If like Joe Green you were coming of age during this boom era, your main concerns include one or more of the following: a rainbow assortment of Polo shirts worn with the collar flipped up, K-Swiss tennis shoes, a new...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
May 5th 2010
by Three Rivers Press
(first published September 23rd 2003)
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This is sort of like readable crack for someone like me...a coming of age novel whose main character is about my age (maybe 5-8 years younger) and obsessed with music in general and the Smiths in particular. As he goes off to Bennington (!!), a guidance counselor warns him, "Stay away from the cocaine." Spitz observes. "I did stay away from the cocaine. It was the heroin that was a problem."
I don't expect this book to teach me anything or to improve my life i...more
I don't expect this book to teach me anything or to improve my life i...more
Yes, this is a book for Smiths fans, and I love their music especially the guitar sounds created by Johnny Marr.
The book is also a coming of age book, a geeky high school kid becomes a lonely thirty year old. It has some attractive romance elements. But at its core this is a book that is passionate about rock and roll music, and that's why I liked it.
And, although the book focuses on the Smiths, it has this to say about the Clash:
"The ice age is coming, the sun...more
The book is also a coming of age book, a geeky high school kid becomes a lonely thirty year old. It has some attractive romance elements. But at its core this is a book that is passionate about rock and roll music, and that's why I liked it.
And, although the book focuses on the Smiths, it has this to say about the Clash:
"The ice age is coming, the sun...more
The only reason I am even mentioning this book is because there are so few devoted to one of the greatest bands on earth, the Smiths. If it were about anything else, I would absolutely abhor it.
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a boys-eye-view of what life is like as someone who has their entire world turning on a musical axis. well, with several sides of illegal substances and heartbreak added in....
Barry
rated it
Recommends it for:
loafing oafs in all-night chemists, loafing oafs in all-night chemists
Recommended to Barry by:
A (gf), Grant (old bandmate who got me into Smiths/Moz)
Shelves:
contemporary-novels
3/26
Ultimately: decent novel, great fun for a fan, I'm glad this book does exist as I read that snoozer Girlfriend in a Coma thinking it was this, bleh...
(Oh I skimmed the beginning and all the non-Smiths parts at the end, so I won't count this for my 10,000 Pages project)
3/22
"I felt like the songs had been there my entire life but I couldn't hear them until that moment."
"These songs made loneliness, sadess and outrage seem so ...more
Ultimately: decent novel, great fun for a fan, I'm glad this book does exist as I read that snoozer Girlfriend in a Coma thinking it was this, bleh...
(Oh I skimmed the beginning and all the non-Smiths parts at the end, so I won't count this for my 10,000 Pages project)
3/22
"I felt like the songs had been there my entire life but I couldn't hear them until that moment."
"These songs made loneliness, sadess and outrage seem so ...more
How Soon is Never? is primarily fan fiction for Smithophiles. It posits the ultimate dream for us: The Smiths reunited once again. Wouldn't anyone who ever gelled their hair into a perfect quiff, wrapped strings of faux beads around their paisley clad necks or rejected meat as murder move hell or high tide to make that happen if they could?
I liked this book...not because it was a great book...but because it was not much of a stretch to put myself and the friends of my youth into t...more
I liked this book...not because it was a great book...but because it was not much of a stretch to put myself and the friends of my youth into t...more
I'm not ashamed to admit my history with The Smiths and this fictional story takes one fellow fan's obsession to the next level as he tracks down the members of the band to talk them into reuniting one last time. Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll follow in kind. Delivers a good does of nostalgia for those of us still living in 1986.
This book is a combination coming-of-age high school story and dealing with turning 30 story. It could kind of be two books, actually, although the two time periods of the main charcter's life are tied together.
It's a fine story, but there isn't much to it beyond what's printed on the page. The author spells out pretty much everything the main character is going through and if you've read any coming-of-age stories or come of age yourself, it's easy to get ahead of what's going on in the ...more
It's a fine story, but there isn't much to it beyond what's printed on the page. The author spells out pretty much everything the main character is going through and if you've read any coming-of-age stories or come of age yourself, it's easy to get ahead of what's going on in the ...more
Clive Young
rated it
Recommends it for:
Smiths fans, people who foam at the mouth for Catcher in the Rye
Recommended to Clive by:
no one
Once you make it through the first 40 pages--a full-blast onslaught of depressing, occasionally gross material with no humor at all--the book sparks to life and becomes a fairly fun 'chick lit for guys' (something I bet the hero of the book would probably refer to as 'dick lit'). You don't have to be a die-hard Smiths fan (I only ever owned two albums, and don't know them backwards and forwards), but it'll definitely help.
A while back, I read Joe Pernice's Smiths-based novella in th...more
A while back, I read Joe Pernice's Smiths-based novella in th...more
This book seemed awesome, as I'm a Smiths fan. But the end is a total WTF. Waste of time. The interviews with various band members are kind of worth it. Unless you're not a Smiths fan. Then just walk away now.
Johnny
rated it
Recommends it for:
fans of The Smiths. ex and current punk rockers over 30. The class of '89
Recommended to Johnny by:
Amy
Shelves:
rock-music-stuff
Marc Spitz has succeeded in basically telling my life story. From the suburban nerd turned punk turned new-waver to the 30-something NYC semi-sleaze picking up girls who weren't even born when the first Smith's LP was released. It's like he's reading my mind. Though not stated, this is obviously an autobiographical novel. Filled with details that only someone who came of age in the 80's could describe with such intricacy and emotion. This book made me both miss those innocent 1980's days of hig...more
Este libro es para fans de los Smiths. Me lo regalaron y tengo la obligación moral de prestarlo a quien me lo pida...
Light and funny, but with a strong yearning underneath. Why aren't there more books about the Smiths?
A good coming of age tale, makes one feel nostalgic, just wish the overall story didn't feel so rushed.
One of my fav books ever, a must read for any smiths or morissey fan.
Loved it! nostalgic, great coming of age novel set in the 80's.
Lauren Jones
added it
Great teenage angst book with a wonderful effect.
so much more satisfying than Spitz's Too Much Too Late, this book feels complete--the narrator's an honest, self-conscious music journalist who has constantly tried to run away from his life, even in the task he's set himself up with, reuniting the Smiths. (Having never been a Smiths fan--I know I know many of you 40 somethings are saying "How is that possible!?!?"--this premise seems amusing to me and gives the novel a fantasy appeal). The narrator is so candid, so vulnerable, so re...more
The last half of this book, when the protagonist finally sets about trying to reunite the Smiths, is pretty fun. The first half... ehhh. And I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who isn't a fan of the band.
I enjoyed this one. It was a pleasant surprise (seeing as how is was an accidental gift), but one that hit home. At least the first have I could relate to very well; the second half tended to lose me for a time, but would pick back up. In the end I enjoyed it all.
The main character was terrible self-absorbed and irritating and reminded me of many spoiled jewish boys I grew up with and probably dated in high school. however, I ate up the love story and now I can't stop listening to the smiths. so a good thing came out of it!
Ridiculous story of an alcoholic rock journalist obsessed with The Smiths who sets out to reunite the band with the help of his coworker crush. Some funny/true moments reflecting on music obsession, but in the end the main character's unlikeable and too fictional.
I thought I was going to hate Spitz--er, the narrator who coincidentally bears a more than uncanny resemblance to Spitz--but his candor and honest self-evaluation make him transcend the Whiny Gen Xer trap. (See "Chuck Klosterman.")
“I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar. I am the son and heir of nothing in particular”. The Smiths are one of my favorite bands. “How Soon Is Never” is a fun book for anyone that loved The Smiths.
The reason I like this book is because I'm a huge Smiths fan and because I love how they are trying to reunite the Smiths. I haven't finished reading yet, but when I do I think that I will be satisfied with this read.
If you love Morrissey, like I do, this book is incredible. It's like uniting with a devotee of Morrissey that gets him on the religious/sacred level that you do. I'm going to have to eat this one up again soon!
One of my favorite books ever. Great read for any Smiths or Morrissey fan or just any music fan. Reminds you of what it is like to be a teenager and have a band that changes your life forever
If you are an obsessed Smiths fan, you have to read this. He just GETS us. He gets, and had the moment, the first time you heard them and said "yeah, this is the soundtrack of my life."
If you like The Smiths, or early/mid '80's alternative music in general, you'll like this. If you love the smiths, or early/mid '80's alternative music in general, you'll love this.
Enjoy The Smiths? Think The Smiths' music is just "for lonely people"? Ever dreamt they would reunite? Well, this slice of fiction is the book for you.
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Marc Spitz is a former senior writer at Spin magazine. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Maxim, Blender, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Nylon and the New York Post. Spitz is the co-author (with Brendan Mullen) of the 2001 LA punk oral history We Got The Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk. He has authored two novels, How Soon is Never (2003) and Too Much, Too Late (2006), as w...more
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