Love Songs of the Tone-Deaf

by Asher Brauner

A funny, hip, and compelling contemporary novel. Ronnie is an aimless college graduate navigating California's crossed cultural currents with the wide wooden paddle of sarcasm but no boat. His companion, Karen, is a member in good standing of the tribe that provides Ronnie with his best comic the 90's hippies. At the helm of Great White, the world's least reliable car, the drive fearlessly into the foggy future, headlights busted. Along the way they run into roadblocks as large as elephant the pain of loved ones who do not love themselves, the pulse-pounding suspense of police brutality, and the disturbing legacy of a forgotten genocide. Set in Santa Cruz, CA, Love Songs of the Tone-Deaf is as regionally accurate as a street map, but much more fun to read speeding 80 mph. down Highway 1.

Genres: Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[B Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book much more when I read it as a teen. Picks up towards the end, but I almost did not finish the second time around. Never saw anything else published by the author. Seems like he hit it hard with this semi-autobiographical tale and then went on to live his post-collegiate life. A side note is that this book had sat on my shelf for over a decade after my first read through and the binding was deteriorating, loose pages falling out. I soldiered through the thing and it will now live new life as recycled material somewhere.

[Jess Fawcett · Rating 1 out of 5]

another book given to me by my friend gregorio...i suspect merely for the reason that it was set in santa-cruz, where we met, and was written by a guy who worked in the same book store as him...
i don't like to give up on books, but this one made me do it...

[Debs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has probably the worst cover I have encountered in a long time. I read this as a teenager and remember enjoying it; it would be interesting to reread it again now more than ten years later and see if my opinion still holds.

[Kari Knowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this when I read it in 1999. I liked it upon reread... not loved. But I guess that's the difference between being 25ish and 42ish.