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Savage Joy
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An East Village Tenement in the Beatdown Mid-’70s
New Yorker Magazine Literary Parties, Downtown Punk Bacchanals
Love, Music, Blood, and Madness
In 1976, Savage Joy author Robert Dunn (Meet the Annas, Stations of the Cross) moved to New York City, scored a $90-a-month East Village apartment, and got hired at The New Yorker magazine. All life-changing good fortune, and the fou ...more
New Yorker Magazine Literary Parties, Downtown Punk Bacchanals
Love, Music, Blood, and Madness
In 1976, Savage Joy author Robert Dunn (Meet the Annas, Stations of the Cross) moved to New York City, scored a $90-a-month East Village apartment, and got hired at The New Yorker magazine. All life-changing good fortune, and the fou ...more
Hardcover, 271 pages
Published
June 16th 2017
by Coral Press
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This novel is based on five characters COLE, SLATER, EMILY, SAILOR AND WENDELL WALTER. Narrated by Cole about his and his friend's life at the lower Manhattan, each one of them trying to fulfill their dreams.
Cole wants to be a writer and needs a girlfriend, Slater wants to rebuild her music band, Emily wants a new life away from her dark truth, Slater wants something different in his life (a reason to live) and Wendell needs a companion and a lover.
When these five people meet, it becomes a savag ...more
Cole wants to be a writer and needs a girlfriend, Slater wants to rebuild her music band, Emily wants a new life away from her dark truth, Slater wants something different in his life (a reason to live) and Wendell needs a companion and a lover.
When these five people meet, it becomes a savag ...more

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and open review.
I became a little nervous when I saw that ‘Savage Joy’ called itself a “music novel”, as I didn’t see how I could find that interesting. Boy was I wrong. What a beautifully written, heart-wrenching story about a bunch of kids trying to make their dreams reality while finding their way in the world. If that sounds a little saccharine, don’t let my perspective fool you. The prose is powerful and doesn’t hold
anythi ...more
I became a little nervous when I saw that ‘Savage Joy’ called itself a “music novel”, as I didn’t see how I could find that interesting. Boy was I wrong. What a beautifully written, heart-wrenching story about a bunch of kids trying to make their dreams reality while finding their way in the world. If that sounds a little saccharine, don’t let my perspective fool you. The prose is powerful and doesn’t hold
anythi ...more

I really enjoyed this book. It took me about two weeks to read it, but I don’t mean that as a criticism, I was savouring and enjoying the experience. I’m usually big on reading quickly, and I like fasted paced books. But this was a perfect slow burn for me.
My favourite part of the book was the atmosphere. Every time I picked up this book, I was completely enveloped into the time period. In my head I could picture New York City, mid 1970’s. The characters, the speech, the descriptions. It felt li ...more
My favourite part of the book was the atmosphere. Every time I picked up this book, I was completely enveloped into the time period. In my head I could picture New York City, mid 1970’s. The characters, the speech, the descriptions. It felt li ...more

Loved "Savage Joy"! It's fast and fun and vividly takes you into the worlds of NYC literary life and punk rock in its early days. Great characters and dialogue--wonderful all the way!
...more

Savage Joy follows a young aspiring writer as he learns to navigate not only the challenges of the New York literary world in the 1970s but also the raucous world of punk rock, which he falls into through mere coincidence.
Cole Whitman, coming from California, already feels out of place in New York, but as he encounters the burgeoning punk rock scene, he finds he has an awful lot to learn. He becomes involved with the band Savage Joy, which he helps name. Hardcore characters like the wild lead ...more
Cole Whitman, coming from California, already feels out of place in New York, but as he encounters the burgeoning punk rock scene, he finds he has an awful lot to learn. He becomes involved with the band Savage Joy, which he helps name. Hardcore characters like the wild lead ...more
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Robert Dunn is a writer, teacher, and musician. He has published widely, including work in the New Yorker and an O. Henry Prize story, as well as the musical novels Pink Cadillac (a Book Sense 76 pick), Cutting Time, Soul Cavalcade, Meet the Annas, Look at Flower, and Stations of the Cross.
Dunn has worked for the New Yorker magazine and Sports Illustrated, as well as teaching fiction writing at ...more
Dunn has worked for the New Yorker magazine and Sports Illustrated, as well as teaching fiction writing at ...more
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