From Up River and for One Night Only

by Brett Josef Grubisic

Meet The Gorgons, The Legionnaires, Chicken Treblinka, The Statistics... Meet Dee, Gordyn, Em, and Jay, indecisive members of the greatest New Wave band to ever spring from River Bend City. Before they graduate from high school and flee a mill town that's seen better days, these ambitious friends (two sets of siblings) aim to make something from nothing as a test-run for planned careers of total glamour in New York City. Set between Labour Day 1980 and a Battle of the Bands contest in February 1981, From Up River and for One Night Only traces the unsure but determined steps of the gang's hopeful act of creation. The darkly comic and autobiographical story memorably captures the detours, setbacks, compromises, ethical quandaries, and illicit opportunities encountered along the twisty highway to the band's fifteen-and-a half minutes of fame.

347 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2016

About the author

Brett Josef Grubisic teaches contemporary literature at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He is the author of Understanding Beryl Bainbridge as well as the novel The Age of Cities. He is the co-author (with David L. Chapman) of American Hunks: The Muscular Male Body in Popular Culture, 1860–1970 and co-editor (with Andrea Cabajsky) of National Plots: Historical Fiction and Changing Ideas of Canada (WLU Press, 2010).

Reviews

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while for me to warm up to this book but I'm glad I stuck it out because once I got it, I loved it. Depicts the ennui of a small town for kids who don't fit in and the desperate measures taken to break free even for just one night. Great pop culture references and piercing social commentary.