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Me and Mickey James
A humorous and energetic novel about the importance of pop music in our lives. An unlikely pop duo strives for fame via a European theme park, Ho Chi Minh City, and WMDs in Iraq, to find that success is anything but a three-chord love song.
208 pages, Paperback
First published July 17, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 18, 2025
Before getting down to the serious review I just want to say that I love Drew Gummerson's writing and have since encountering an excerpt from this novel in a anthology, possibly one of the excellent ones put out by the now defunct 'Gay Times' (in the UK). I find his writing funny and direct and just brilliant. I will have read, and bought, most of his books very soon.
'This tale of two boys from up north coming to London to live the rock and roll dream is oddly affecting. Mickie James and his unnamed partner in music and life know enough to see that their "Leonard Cohen-inspired 'Suicide Would Be the Sensible Choice if it Didn't Involve So Much Pain' will never make it to the top of the charts", but are still surprised to find themselves in a room at the top of St Pancras station for which they have to buy their own rudimentary toilet. From there they embark on a series of adventures which, although never exactly living up to the rock'n'roll lifestyle they had envisaged, nevertheless takes them to Japan, Ho Chi Minh City, and even Iraq. The reader willingly surrenders to the mad tour and a cast of characters ranging from the magician Harlan Harlan to a sleazy European porn magnate. The novel, spun out of short stories written by Leicester police employee Gummerson, manages to avoid both cliché and sentimentality before coming to the conclusion that although pop music is life, fame isn't everything.'
The above is from a review in The Guardian newspaper and I couldn't agree more with it says and I don't see any point in trying to put into words, with less success, what has already been done so well elsewhere. What I can't resist adding is that I love the boys in this anthology because they are ordinary working class boys who love music and believe music means something, that they have ideas and ideals - of course it is a pure social media book but it wasn't like there was ever time free of trivial and the tawdry - they are wonderfully real and true.
A totally fun and charming book - though I must admit I adored reading various excerpts as short stories in a number of anthologies so I hope Mr. Gummerson continues to provide stories to future anthologies - one way or another I have read this book in part or whole many times.
'This tale of two boys from up north coming to London to live the rock and roll dream is oddly affecting. Mickie James and his unnamed partner in music and life know enough to see that their "Leonard Cohen-inspired 'Suicide Would Be the Sensible Choice if it Didn't Involve So Much Pain' will never make it to the top of the charts", but are still surprised to find themselves in a room at the top of St Pancras station for which they have to buy their own rudimentary toilet. From there they embark on a series of adventures which, although never exactly living up to the rock'n'roll lifestyle they had envisaged, nevertheless takes them to Japan, Ho Chi Minh City, and even Iraq. The reader willingly surrenders to the mad tour and a cast of characters ranging from the magician Harlan Harlan to a sleazy European porn magnate. The novel, spun out of short stories written by Leicester police employee Gummerson, manages to avoid both cliché and sentimentality before coming to the conclusion that although pop music is life, fame isn't everything.'
The above is from a review in The Guardian newspaper and I couldn't agree more with it says and I don't see any point in trying to put into words, with less success, what has already been done so well elsewhere. What I can't resist adding is that I love the boys in this anthology because they are ordinary working class boys who love music and believe music means something, that they have ideas and ideals - of course it is a pure social media book but it wasn't like there was ever time free of trivial and the tawdry - they are wonderfully real and true.
A totally fun and charming book - though I must admit I adored reading various excerpts as short stories in a number of anthologies so I hope Mr. Gummerson continues to provide stories to future anthologies - one way or another I have read this book in part or whole many times.
December 11, 2023
Quick, light read. OK.
Read
March 5, 2009No other book's availability has gotten me that excited, not even pleasanter or more anticipated reads. I'd thought of Gummerson a few times recently, and his website was not only appealing and smartly funny as The Lodger, it also made me get this, and read it the moment it arrived.
A few pages in my worries about it not being a gay love story this times were assuaged. Then it seemed to be more a collection of stories than a novel though. The second half sees them more connected and culminating in a finale that had me so fucking scared.
Being genuinely gay lit, the words piss and shit are mentioned, but even though I'd privately say the natural dealing with toilets and people on/coming off them is a bit of a thing for Gummerson, it's neither detailed nor overbearing and never a kink, just something in the fabric of his stories. As is a similar "giving up" of the hero's body for his lover at some point, inconsequential. In that and the understated way the m/m just belong together he reminds me of Kenry. Otherwise he's of course more serious and funnier. Very British. I actually knew every single reference, of course all the bands (he mentions many blah ones, but the cover is XTC style); at one point he even admitted it was moulded on Geldof's bio, only the ending shows a different way out.
The stories take place in mainland Europe (cp. Last Temptation, Bullet Trick), Iraq and Vietnam (Geldof, Fielding), Japan and America. The band that might seem a joke initially actually convinces the reader by the end, not like Geldof but by their evolving lyrics and their melodies appealing to children, soldiers and opera stars.
I'm still no fan of m/m relationships burried under money-making antics (Keenan) and episodic stories, characters like "Roger Korman" and "Dr. Weissmüller" were funny for their understatement but some jokes were too pointless (like yesterday's John Moore) the frustration about Vietnam isn't, and funnily enough I wished Mickie James had shown his feelings for "me" (more?) - I think it should have been LONGER! Not like a 2.5 min pop song because there's that whole garret theme so like Lodger and - I'm just not good at pinpointing what was good and what I like if it's the overall thing.
I hope so very much that this police aide (I hadn't known that; might explain some down-to Earthness in Lodger) will be able to write more. Gummerson seems to want to stick to short stories (as this novel basically is a collection of), but I'd really like another novel, please?
A few pages in my worries about it not being a gay love story this times were assuaged. Then it seemed to be more a collection of stories than a novel though. The second half sees them more connected and culminating in a finale that had me so fucking scared.
Being genuinely gay lit, the words piss and shit are mentioned, but even though I'd privately say the natural dealing with toilets and people on/coming off them is a bit of a thing for Gummerson, it's neither detailed nor overbearing and never a kink, just something in the fabric of his stories. As is a similar "giving up" of the hero's body for his lover at some point, inconsequential. In that and the understated way the m/m just belong together he reminds me of Kenry. Otherwise he's of course more serious and funnier. Very British. I actually knew every single reference, of course all the bands (he mentions many blah ones, but the cover is XTC style); at one point he even admitted it was moulded on Geldof's bio, only the ending shows a different way out.
The stories take place in mainland Europe (cp. Last Temptation, Bullet Trick), Iraq and Vietnam (Geldof, Fielding), Japan and America. The band that might seem a joke initially actually convinces the reader by the end, not like Geldof but by their evolving lyrics and their melodies appealing to children, soldiers and opera stars.
I'm still no fan of m/m relationships burried under money-making antics (Keenan) and episodic stories, characters like "Roger Korman" and "Dr. Weissmüller" were funny for their understatement but some jokes were too pointless (like yesterday's John Moore) the frustration about Vietnam isn't, and funnily enough I wished Mickie James had shown his feelings for "me" (more?) - I think it should have been LONGER! Not like a 2.5 min pop song because there's that whole garret theme so like Lodger and - I'm just not good at pinpointing what was good and what I like if it's the overall thing.
I hope so very much that this police aide (I hadn't known that; might explain some down-to Earthness in Lodger) will be able to write more. Gummerson seems to want to stick to short stories (as this novel basically is a collection of), but I'd really like another novel, please?
March 21, 2015
Book Review
Me and Mickey James by Drew Gummerson
Jonathan Cape – ISBN –978 0 224 08244 0
£11.99 – 249 Pages
‘Me and Mickie James’ follows the career of Down at Law, a pop band made up of the novel’s unnamed narrator, and his boyfriend, Mickie James, a man with dreams, musical talent and a hunchback.
It follows their attempts at a musical career, starting from a cubby hole in a Railway Station, where they get jobs supporting themselves in a Cheese Shop, and as the Hunchback in a Pantomime, and record their demo on a Dictaphone.
The closest the duo gets too Christmas spirit in the first half of the novel is the gig they play to an orphanage full of children in Southend on Christmas Eve, but they only play this because their promised gig as support act to Showwaddywaddy has fallen through, thanks to the dodgy business dealings of their manager,Ivan Norris Ayres.
The duo’s trip takes them across the world, playing Duran Duran songs to an audience in Ho Chi Minh City, through an event packed sea voyage where they assume their job is to be the onboard entertainment, when in fact they are employed to simply peel potatoes. They travel through Iraq, in an episode that involves weapons of mass destruction.
Throughout the novel, the love that the two have for each other is never in doubt, and their developing stage act, where they do everything to push sales of their records, from performing on foreign television shows before magicians and a troop of monkeys. The ending of the novel shows that hope has not deserted the pair, even though it would have deserted others, with Mickie Jones in a hospital, having had the first of many operations that would fix his hunchback.
The writing style of the novel fits with the story that is being told, although at times it is a little irritating. The fact that all of the character’s full names are used should be reduced as well, and some of the episodes feel like they have just been added on as some form of padding to the novel in general. I also felt that the length of the book does not justice the high price that the novel has.
The book shows why so many people want to become Pop Stars, but this goes story goes out of it’s way to rob the Pop lifestyle of some of the glamour that Pop has in the eyes of the general public. It shows that Pop music takes an adventure of its own, and that even a band which only consists of a lead singer, a hunchbacked Keyboard player, and song titles such as ‘Hunchback Christmas’, ‘Alien Amore’ ‘Monster Movie’ and Manos Sucias’ can get gigs if they try hard enough.
Me and Mickey James by Drew Gummerson
Jonathan Cape – ISBN –978 0 224 08244 0
£11.99 – 249 Pages
‘Me and Mickie James’ follows the career of Down at Law, a pop band made up of the novel’s unnamed narrator, and his boyfriend, Mickie James, a man with dreams, musical talent and a hunchback.
It follows their attempts at a musical career, starting from a cubby hole in a Railway Station, where they get jobs supporting themselves in a Cheese Shop, and as the Hunchback in a Pantomime, and record their demo on a Dictaphone.
The closest the duo gets too Christmas spirit in the first half of the novel is the gig they play to an orphanage full of children in Southend on Christmas Eve, but they only play this because their promised gig as support act to Showwaddywaddy has fallen through, thanks to the dodgy business dealings of their manager,Ivan Norris Ayres.
The duo’s trip takes them across the world, playing Duran Duran songs to an audience in Ho Chi Minh City, through an event packed sea voyage where they assume their job is to be the onboard entertainment, when in fact they are employed to simply peel potatoes. They travel through Iraq, in an episode that involves weapons of mass destruction.
Throughout the novel, the love that the two have for each other is never in doubt, and their developing stage act, where they do everything to push sales of their records, from performing on foreign television shows before magicians and a troop of monkeys. The ending of the novel shows that hope has not deserted the pair, even though it would have deserted others, with Mickie Jones in a hospital, having had the first of many operations that would fix his hunchback.
The writing style of the novel fits with the story that is being told, although at times it is a little irritating. The fact that all of the character’s full names are used should be reduced as well, and some of the episodes feel like they have just been added on as some form of padding to the novel in general. I also felt that the length of the book does not justice the high price that the novel has.
The book shows why so many people want to become Pop Stars, but this goes story goes out of it’s way to rob the Pop lifestyle of some of the glamour that Pop has in the eyes of the general public. It shows that Pop music takes an adventure of its own, and that even a band which only consists of a lead singer, a hunchbacked Keyboard player, and song titles such as ‘Hunchback Christmas’, ‘Alien Amore’ ‘Monster Movie’ and Manos Sucias’ can get gigs if they try hard enough.
July 16, 2009
Bit of a weird one. I picked up randomly at Oxfam and bought it purely on the cover which is basically an entire synopsis of the book. It's not bad it pretty much goes 'me and Mickie James are skint, we bump into some random/weird guys, go to some bizarre part of the world, play our 80s-inspired pop, meet some more random/weird guys,go to another bizarre part of the world, play our 80s-inspired pop etc etc'. I didn't feel that the story went anywhere.
Another thing that riled me was the narrator/main character kept saying Mickie James' (his boyfriend) name in full. All the time. Yet we don't find out what his name is. There wasn't really much background into the characters either which I would have liked. But overall it wasn't too bad a read, I wouldn't heartily recommend it though.
As you might have picked up on the main characters - Mickie James and the unidentitied narrator - are a gay couple. After a brief dig around the internet I found out this is a 'gay' book, if such a term even exists. In a way I'm glad I didn't know that until I read it. Not that I'm saying I wouldn't have read it otherwise but it felt good to read a genre of fiction which I've never read before without having any misconceptions.
Oh yeah, Wacky Iraqi sounds like a wicked song :)
Another thing that riled me was the narrator/main character kept saying Mickie James' (his boyfriend) name in full. All the time. Yet we don't find out what his name is. There wasn't really much background into the characters either which I would have liked. But overall it wasn't too bad a read, I wouldn't heartily recommend it though.
As you might have picked up on the main characters - Mickie James and the unidentitied narrator - are a gay couple. After a brief dig around the internet I found out this is a 'gay' book, if such a term even exists. In a way I'm glad I didn't know that until I read it. Not that I'm saying I wouldn't have read it otherwise but it felt good to read a genre of fiction which I've never read before without having any misconceptions.
Oh yeah, Wacky Iraqi sounds like a wicked song :)
October 5, 2011
I picked this up based on it's cover, which proves that whilst this can diversify your reading habits, you can't judge a book by it's cover.
I had no inkling this was a weird tale of a pop duo, who end up in strange places, doing strange things.
Whilst other reviewers have mentioned the gay relationship, to me it was merely incidental, their relationship is in perfect context with the tale, without anything extremely salacious or extreme in it. (Although I have never used black bean sauce in the same context these characters do)
The book has some humourous moments, but overall I found it slightly disappointing, not awful, but not great. The characters feel cartoonish, and therefore I cared little about them.
The story meanders all over the place, which made it feel as though the author had some "set pieces" which he tried to shoehorn into one novel.
I had no inkling this was a weird tale of a pop duo, who end up in strange places, doing strange things.
Whilst other reviewers have mentioned the gay relationship, to me it was merely incidental, their relationship is in perfect context with the tale, without anything extremely salacious or extreme in it. (Although I have never used black bean sauce in the same context these characters do)
The book has some humourous moments, but overall I found it slightly disappointing, not awful, but not great. The characters feel cartoonish, and therefore I cared little about them.
The story meanders all over the place, which made it feel as though the author had some "set pieces" which he tried to shoehorn into one novel.
July 18, 2008
An adorable book with lots of heart! Me and Mickie James is the story of a pop duo with a talent for both getting into trouble and writing catchy songs as they travel the world. They sing for a duchess, orphans, the vietcong, become embroiled in a porn movie (featuring a donkey), become friends with a giant, a transvestite and a wannabe castrato, and through it all, the good natured characters weather all storms. This book made me laugh out loud and fall in love with the characters. I can't wait to read more from Drew Gummerson.
January 4, 2012
Ok, so I missed something. I mean, I must have; everybody simply loves this book but it just didn't do anything at all for me. I didn't find it funny and wasn't really interested in the story at all:( Actually I'm quite disappointed I didn't like this book because I just love anything madcap or wacky. Oh well, it might not have been the right time for me to read this, who knows?
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews